Athletics: Growing depth in Whanganui's junior ranks promising for next season

Juliet McKinlay was this year's leading Whanganui junior athlete. Photo / Supplied

As the Cooks Gardens bell strikes 6pm on summer Tuesday evenings, Paul Duxfield and Mark Cressingham arrive from opposite directions to meet me at the Cooks Gardens gear shed to help set up for the weekly track and field programme.

Their clock-like precision ensures all is in place for the successful weekly programme starting an hour later.

They join other regular volunteers at the Club Night who attend week in, week out. Treasurer and chairman Mike Dwyer is upstairs at the photo-finish camera, Francie Bayler helped by Kath Edwards at the jumps pit, Tim Mckenzie as the starter and secretary and throws coach Richard Drabczynski officiates the weekly throwing event. They have been assisted regularly by Tony Bayler, Steve Simpson, Gary Johnston, Greg Fromont, Elaine Baker, Peter Jones and from time to time by Gareth and Lesley Jones, who have been generous Pak'nSave sponsors and have also supported as officials.

The children's section on Mondays has been organised by leading senior Whanganui High School (WHS) athletes Maggie Jones and Nat Kirk, helped by WHS and Whanganui Collegiate School (WCS) young athletes.

It has been an especially difficult track and field season and, like all New Zealand sport, we depend on volunteers both as officials and as coaches.

The athletes, as indicated in my recent columns, have responded superbly. Last week I reviewed our distance runners and documented their credentials for the Bowyer Trophy. I also named my leading male and female club athletes. The previous week I highlighted the success of our hurdlers, in particular the 400m hurdlers who excelled in one of the most demanding events on the athletic programme.

Athletes had their disappointments with cancelled events, but I can't remember more personal bests set in the course of a season. Toby Caro was the most prolific with 17 PBs over a variety of distances from 400m through to 3000m, including an 18-second improvement to finish 11th in his New Zealand Championship 3000m debut. The striving for such bests provides motivation and marks progress.

In the season just ended, we saw a growing depth in the junior ranks and, having looked at our leading athletes over the past few weeks, I throw the spotlight onto some athletes who look likely to shine next season.

The Whanganui High School sprinters look set for a breakthrough. Theo Almazan was our leading school-age male athlete in both the 100m and 200m, with his teammate Coby Pye close behind in the shorter sprint. Myron Lewenilova looks to have the goods to make a breakthrough next season as he commits to the sport. The thought of a strong High School 4 x 100 team at New Zealand Schools should provide added motivation.

Thomas Gowan, who I featured in an earlier article, won the Whanganui Secondary Schools Intermediate 400m from Samuel Hermann and Gowan's High School teammate Damian Hodgson adds real depth to the longer sprints, while Max Herdman and Hermann add depth to the Whanganui Collegiate relay squads. Edie Franks has the ability to make a sprint breakthrough as does Morgan Wilson - both need to strengthen their self-belief as they make that next step.

In the distance events, WHS junior Blake Candish took the junior boys 1500m/800m double, breaking the Whanganui Collegiate dominance in middle-distance events. Year 10 Collegiate middle-distance runner Greta Darke improved her 1500m performances by nearly 30 seconds over the season and looks set to make a breakthrough next season, with New Zealand Schools in December an early target.

Thirteen-year-old Juliet McKinlay was this year's leading Whanganui junior athlete. McKinlay was fortunate that her combination of events allowed her to take part in three event bubbles at Whanganui Schools.

The club ran the hurdles and jumps separately on two successive Tuesdays, allowing athletes in those disciplines to compete in different event bubbles. McKinlay won six Whanganui Schools junior titles, two in each of the three bubbles. They were the 70m and 300m hurdles in the hurdles bubble, 100m and 200m in the sprint bubble during the day organised by Sport Whanganui, and long and high jump bubbles in the evening at Club Night.

Significantly, McKinlay ranks second in both the long and high jump club rankings, third in the club 200m rankings and fourth in the 100m. The club's leading women's athlete, Maggie Jones, tops those rankings and among Jones' successes this season was the New Zealand under-20 heptathlon title, an event discipline where McKinlay shows genuine potential.

We look ahead to, hopefully, a less-disrupted season, allowing these promising and established athletes to reach their potential helped by our outstanding volunteers.