Alec McNab: Zoe Hobbs made New Zealand athletics history

Zoe Hobbs gave us a preview of her excellent form a week earlier in Wellington. Photo / Dean Purcell.

New Zealand sprinter Zoe Hobbs made New Zealand athletics history at the weekend in Sydney by becoming the first New Zealand woman to run under 11 seconds for the 100 metres (10.97 seconds) and in the process set a series of records including the Oceania and New Zealand record and also the Australian all-comers record, significant in the fact that Hobbs ran faster than any of the women at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Hobbs had given us a preview of her excellent form a week earlier in Wellington at the Jennian Homes Athletics New Zealand Track and Field Championships with a record in the heat and her first sub 11 second in the run of 10.89 with a strong tailwind (over the legal limit) demonstrating she was in top form. It takes a special athlete to handle that pace even in the Wellington wind.

The Sydney wind was under the limit with Hobbs running away from a strong field. What is particularly impressive is that Sydney and Wellington were her first major races this summer. The performances give her automatic entry to the world championships in Budapest. It also is the top-ranked 100 metres in the world this year.

Even though it is early in the calendar year, the mark moves her into that elite group of women sprinters. Hobbs’ performance rightly received considerable media but not perhaps as much as the barrier-breaking performance deserved.

Hobbs joined a Whanganui-based young olympian tour as a young Year 9 athlete from Taranaki as her parents thought the experience might be valuable. That experience clearly did her no harm and she is a clear illustration that all schools have potential champions in their midst.

Many of these potential future leading athletes were on show at the Whanganui Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships at Cooks Gardens on Tuesday in perfect conditions.

Harry Unsworth and his team from Sport Whanganui were ably assisted by helpers from all the schools and the help of Mark Harris from Masterton who brought the meet into the technological age with “Athletic Live” instant results.

It was good to see a full day of competition following some difficult Covid years with last year’s competition restricted to event bubbles throughout the day to meet the Covid restrictions in place while the 2020 competition was cancelled.

Once again Whanganui High School and Whanganui Collegiate supplied the largest group of athletes but it was pleasing to see good representation from the other schools in the region and encouraging that all schools had an event winner.

As the competition was only a few hours before writing, I am only able to give a short snapshot of Tuesday’s action and I will return next week with a more extensive review.

While Whanganui Collegiate School shone in the distance events, Whanganui High School impressed in the sprints with field events showing a wider spread from the eight schools in the region. Damian Hodgson (High School) took the senior boys sprint double reflecting the good form he has shown at recent club nights. It was good to see the talented all-rounder Teresa Rennie (High School) back in action taking the senior girls’ 100/200m double.

The Intermediate Boys saw Hayden Steele (Rangitikei) win the 100 metres at 12.04 from Parlay Clarke (Collegiate) both recording personal bests. Steele qualified fastest for the 200 metres but faded to fourth in the final in a race won by Max Herdman (Collegiate) The field in the Intermediate 100m was strong and Steele looked to have the quality to do well in the sport.

Whanganui Girls College Year 10 junior Grace Fannin impressed by taking the demanding 300m, and 800m double with a particularly good 300-metre effort of 46.32 seconds, while Oliver Toohey (Collegiate) took track and field with wins in the intermediate boys 400 metres (54.04) and javelin (37.28) both personal bests. In the latter, he pushed the versatile Cody Campbell (High School) into second (33.93), Campbell had earlier won the shot with an impressive 12.75 effort and also the high jump (1.68). Thomas Gowan (High School) won on the track and the field in senior 400 metres and long jump.

Daniel Sinclair (Collegiate), who only days earlier unexpectedly won the New Zealand under 20 1500 metres which propelled him to the top of the New Zealand under 20 rankings, provided arguably the leading performance of the day with his second fastest-ever 800m with a time of 1:58.10.

He was helped by his cousin James Hercus through a fast-opening lap with Hercus who has just recovered from Covid dropping over the second lap. Rosa Meyer and Louise Brabyn shared senior girls middle distance honours over 3000 metres and 1500 metres with Meyer setting a 10-second personal best in the former (11.29.23).