Athletics: Chilean competitors bring camaraderie, enthusiasm to Whanganui team

Chilean athletes Arturo Claro (left), Tomas Eyzaguirre, Jeronimo Eyzaguirre and Ignacio Eyzaguirre are on their way home after a three-month visit to Whanganui Collegiate School. Photo / Rob van Dort

The TET Stadium in Inglewood, with its magnificent Mt Taranaki backdrop, hosted the opening round of the Central Teams Competition last Saturday.

The glorious spring sunshine was in sharp contrast to the incessant rain at December’s New Zealand Schools at the same venue.

Sadly, as is so often the case at the first meet of the series, entries were low. The athletes who did not attend were the losers, missing out on near-perfect conditions, rare in our fickle spring. There will be a huge increase in numbers in Whanganui for round two on Saturday, November 11, testing both our systems and officials.

Home team Taranaki were runaway winners on the day from Palmerston North and Wairarapa, with the small 16-strong Whanganui team finishing fourth. Whanganui, however, were a creditable second in male events through the valiant efforts of the small team.

Whanganui had a part to play in Palmerston North’s success. Juliet McKinlay has a foot in both camps as a Year 10 Whanganui Collegiate boarder. McKinlay scored an impressive 31 points for her home Palmerston North club. She opened her account with a win in the 80m hurdles and later finished second in the triple jump and third in the long jump with a personal best 5.19m. She won the javelin, an event she is learning because she has future heptathlon goals.

McKinlay appreciates the importance of gaining experience in this technical throwing discipline with help from Whanganui throws coach Richard Drabczynski. Her win in the javelin, albeit in a small field, was an encouraging start. McKinlay also ran in the strong Palmerston North 4 x 100 relay team spearheaded by the talented Collette twins, Addira and Chayille. The twins, who were respectively first and second in both the 100m and 200m with 11.90, 11.96 and 24.54, 24.92, were arguably the best performances of the meeting.

Whanganui owed much to four Chilean boys on a three-month visit to Whanganui Collegiate. The four amigos competed with enthusiasm in a wide range of events and their infectious support of the team brought back memories of the camaraderie of former Whanganui league teams. Their vociferous support and willingness to have a go was a feature of the Inglewood meet.

Arturo Claro repeated his Club Night win in the high jump with a 1.6m effort. He narrowly failed at 1.65m. His compatriot Jeronimo Eyzaguirre was second and Tomas Eyzaguirre shared third with promising jumper Presley Bretherton. Jeronimo also finished second in 100m hurdles. Claro finished ninth in the long jump but, with only two scorers a club, scored a further three points while Inacio Eyzaguirre finished sixth in the triple jump. Jeronimo also finished third in the javelin with Inacio and Tomas seventh and eighth, rounding off a busy afternoon. Unfortunately, there was no pole vault as Claro and Tomas have past success in Chile as pole vaulters.

Oliver Toohey set personal bests in javelin and 400m. In the javelin, he threw an impressive 36.97m while over 400m he finished second in 53.56, ruing his late run for home. Toohey joined teammates Filipe Bayly and jumpers Isaac Calkin and Bretherton to run in the winning 4 x 100 team. Bayly had an encouraging fourth in the 100m with a time only 0.02 seconds shy of his personal best.

Greta Darke had to run her 2000m steeples on her own with New Zealand Schools cross-country international Courtney Fitzgibbon opting to run the 3000m. Her Whanganui teammate Hannah Byam, who had taken a silver medal in the under-16 grade at the New Zealand Championships, was in Hunterville winning her Shemozzle category for the second successive year. Darke should, however, be pleased with her solo steeplechase effort (7:45.13).

Grace Fannin ran second to Palmerston North’s Georgia Whiteman over 300m hurdles and should be delighted with her 51.57 debut, backed up by a personal best over 200m.

The heavy mid-afternoon rain on Tuesday had eased to a light drizzle by the start of Club Night and ceased altogether midway through the 80-minute programme.

Damian Hodgson and Filipe Bayly had another close battle over 60m with Hodgson winning by one-hundredth of a second (7.54 and 7.55 seconds). Hodgson also won the 150m from Whanganui High School teammate Thomas Gowan. The margin was again small with Hodgson running 18.53 and Gowan 18.55. Gowan reversed the result over 300m with another close finish while Amy Davidson won the handicap female 300m. At the start of the evening, Oliver Jones won the 2000m road race in relaxed manner following his debut over the half marathon in Auckland at the weekend (1 hour 26 minutes 17 seconds).