Geordie Beamish in action in the US last year. Photo / Supplied
On the weekend of the Pak'nSave Cooks Classic - Sunday, January 30 - former Whanganui athletes excelled both at home and overseas, headed by Geordie Beamish winning the Milrose Games in New York with a New Zealand indoor 3000m record.
Beamish left Whanganui Collegiate School in 2014 to take up a track scholarship at Flagstaff at Northern Arizona University where he was a six-time All-American. He now runs professionally for OAC based in Boulder, Colorado.
Beamish struck a rich vein of form at the end of the last Northern Hemisphere summer. He has gone on where he left off with a New Zealand indoor 5000m record of 13:12.53 in Boston in December, placing him second in the New Zealand all-time list.
In New York, his withering sprint finish at the Milrose Games to win the 3000m in 7:39.50 suggests there is much more to come.
On the same day north of New York in Boston, Liam Back, who only turned 20 at the start of the year, ran a personal best mile in 4:00.32 at the Terrier Classic, rapidly enhancing his burgeoning career.
Back in Whanganui, Josh Ledger (Wellington), who was a teammate of Beamish in the 2014 winning NZ Schools 4x400, won the 400m (48.70s) at the Cooks Classic after overcoming many recent injury setbacks. Ledger's father is the major sponsor of the Capital Classic.
A third 2014 teammate, Max Attwell (three times New Zealand decathlon champion), also recovering from injury, had two podium finishes at Cooks Gardens.
The Capital Classic on Friday only just escaped the heavy rain by minutes, bringing the curtain down on the three Lower North Island Classics.
All three Classics were held under these challenging Covid times. The first in the series, the Potts Classic in Hastings (January 22), was held under the less-challenging orange traffic light setting on the eve of the country moving to red.
The Cooks Classic was held under red as was the Capital. Organisers faced considerable challenges to meet the Covid requirements. Organisers have had much positive feedback from athletes grateful for the efforts that allowed the events to go ahead.
At the Potts Classic the sprinters were to the fore, with both Tiaane Whelpton and Zoe Hobbs gaining two almost-perfect winds on a day when winds were mostly in excess of the legal limit for records. Whelpton ran a sensational 100m heat in 10.09s, taking the advantage of a strong tailwind 3.3m/s (above the allowable limit). In the final the wind at 1.8m/s was perfect and he snatched a meet record and also the New Zealand Resident Record 10.18. Hobbs got her perfect wind in the heat, setting a New Zealand record 11.21. She was faster in the final with 11.14 but the wind was just over the allowable limit.
At the Cooks Classic there were seven stadium records with honours shared between throwers Tori Peeters (javelin), Lauren Bruce (hammer), hurdler Portia Bing, sprinter Georgia Hulls (200m) and two distance runners, Laura Nagel (women's mile) and Will Anthony (under-20 3000m).
On Friday at the Capital Classic, it was a night for the throwers to make the major impact.
Tori Peeters bettered the javelin meet record with a 60-61m throw, the second-best throw of her career and almost 2m more than she threw in Whanganui to take the meet record.
Double Olympic bronze medal winner Tom Walsh also bettered his Whanganui performance by 27cm to take the Capital meet record with his 21.01 shot performance.
Tapenisa Hawea (South Canterbury), representing New Zealand Schools, demonstrated there is emerging talent adding depth to our throwing by taking Olympian Maddison Wesche's Capital meet shot record with a 15.92m effort.
Laura Nagel, who broke the Cooks Gardens mile stadium record five days earlier, took the Capital meet record in the 15000m. The New Zealand 4x100 team of Anna Percy, Rosie Elliot, Georgia Hulls and Zoe Hobbs took the meet 4x100 record (44.77s). Para athlete Jaxon Wooley set New Zealand records in all four para T38 age groups from under 17 to 20 with his 12.63s 100m.
Maggie Jones should be encouraged by her run in the 100m hurdles in Wellington into a headwind and over the higher women's hurdles. Her time of 14.87s will bring a real lift in confidence.
James Hercus, who has joined Whanganui Collegiate School in year 12, sliced three seconds off his 1500m time recording 4:07.80, while 15-year-old Toby Caro was close to his best 1500m equivalent time in the under-20 Athletics New Zealand mile, recording 4:40.95 for 13th position.
I will report on two weeks of the Manawatū/Whanganui Championships next week.