Athletics: How times have changed

James Hercus (outside) and cousin Daniel Sinclair in action earlier this year at the Whanganui Collegiate House Challenge. Photo / Supplied

Last week, the English women's rugby team (the highest-paid in world rugby) complained they had to share the luxury hotel they were staying in with their semi-final opponents.

In the same week, I had been reading about how all the teams at the 1948 London Olympics were housed in army huts, and the food provided was meagre, as it was heavily rationed during post-war austerity.

In my school days as an athlete, we were always billeted at major events. At my first championship, I stayed with an elderly former coal mining family in Wales. They were kind and I was well looked-after, but, as their main language was Welsh, communication proved a problem for one young 15-year-old athlete.

I was fortunate to compete in the British Schools International in Belfast, where all four countries stayed at the Presbyterian Hostel - surely a prime target for attacks in the later Northern Irish Troubles. Belfast was a wonderful and memorable shared team experience.

The early New Zealand Schools and North Island Schools were also billeted. I know the practice died a few decades ago as it became increasingly hard to find willing families - and certainly, hosting events became less problematic without the huge work surrounding providing billets.

This Saturday sees the second of the three Regional Leagues, a format that has seen major changes over the decades. The previous format was based around teams, with clubs required to find athletes for every event, which often stretched athlete resources. On one memorable occasion, the bus driver offered to compete in the walk for us to score points.

The first final of the revamped league was held in Auckland over Easter, with teams staying at Rangitoto College and sleeping on gym mats on classroom floors - no luxury hotels for the out-of-Auckland finalists.

What was remarkable was the spirit of the event - and even more surprising was the quality of performance from athletes at the season's end. These included a whole raft of personal best performances.

The year Whanganui came second at the national final in Auckland, Tracy Phillips scored 97 points for the club. Phillips, later in her career, won a bronze medal for High Jump at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland.

The format of the league has changed, and there is now no national final. Although many regions have dropped this team competition, it has successfully continued in the lower North Island, although in a changed format.

The rigid two-athletes-per-event-per-club policy has changed, as clubs may now enter as many athletes as they wish in an event, but team scores have continued and are based on the number of participants competing in the particular event, with up to eight athletes scoring points in a particular event, with a maximum of two from any one of the 15 competing clubs. As indicated last week, circumstances meant we were represented by a small team in Hastings and, not surprisingly, Athletics Whanganui was back in fourth, of the 14 competing clubs in Hawke's Bay a fortnight ago.

This Saturday, with fewer clashes and travel supported by the club through New Zealand Community Trust, we expect about 40 athletes from Whanganui in Palmerston North, with events commencing at 11.30am.

Tuesday's Club Night was the C programme. With its odd distances, it proved popular five days out from the league. It was the busiest programme of the season, and over the 75 minutes, there were more than 150 recorded performances.

The road race had a field of 25. Masters athlete Brendon Sharratt led the field home from fellow Master Thomas Ditchfield, only metres behind. The increase in Masters athletes competing has been a feature of Club Nights, and bodes well for the New Zealand Masters Games in Whanganui at the start of February. Sally Gibbs, another Master, was the first female home, in fifth. Oliver Jones, in third place, continued his run of substantial personal bests, finishing in 6 minutes and 12.7 seconds for a 22nd personal best.

It has also been good to welcome a growing group of younger Year 7 and 8 athletes as part of the Tuesday programme, with the vortex throw proving especially popular with 11 starters. Guy Fitzgerald won with an impressive 35.55m winning effort, with Harper Ruby the leading girl (17.30m).

The best race of the evening was the 600m. Travis Bayler led into the home straight, but cousins Daniel Sinclair and James Hercus, benefiting from the pacing, won the sprint for home, with Sinclair setting a two-second best of 1:24.33 and Hercus finishing in 1:25.53 (also a two-second best). Travis recorded 1:26.62, an encouraging early season effort.

All three will be in Palmerston North with an enlarged team hoping to peg back the deficit.