Whanganui athletes took two further titles through Ben Karatau (Whanganui Collegiate School) in the intermediate boys hammer and Reiley Thomas (Whanganui High School) in the inaugural 200m junior boys hurdles. Both events had small fields but the titles will be motivational.
Thomas has only just started in the sport and is making a strong early mark while for Karatau, it was his first hammer competition. Nine years ago, Lexi Maples had her first hammer competition and at the weekend threw her first 60m throw (61.88m) in Fargo, United States, to go fifth in the New Zealand all-time list. Both Maples and Karatau have benefited from the foundation coaching of Whanganui coach Richard Drabczynski.
Damian Hodgson (Whanganui High School) has made outstanding progress this season and was rewarded with two individual podium finishes. He set a personal best to take second in the 400m from his high school teammate Thomas Gowan (third). Both ran 52.46s and were separated by thousands of a second on the photo finish. A day later Hodgson was second in the 300m hurdles (40.58s). Gowan had less recovery time with only just over two hours between the senior 400m and 800m and to his credit ran a personal best of 2m 02.14s for fifth place. Gowan and Hodgson were joined by Whanganui High School’s Under-16 sprinter/hurdler James McGregor and Samuel Hermann (Collegiate) to run a meritorious third in the senior 4x400m relay.
Greta Darke (Collegiate) sliced two seconds off her personal best and six seconds off her New Zealand Under-18 2000m steeplechase bronze medal performance to take second in the senior girls steeplechase with her Collegiate training partner Hannah Byam taking third in the Under-16 grade.
Juliet McKinlay has been named in the New Zealand Under-18 team to the Oceania Championships in Fiji at the start of June for heptathlon, hurdles and long jump. McKinlay chose to run in the senior girls 100m hurdles, the distance she will run in Fiji. McKinlay finished third in the senior event and was also third in her own grade in the intermediate long jump (5.11m). She had to withdraw in the fifth round of the triple jump with a recurrence of the injury sustained at the Athletics New Zealand Championships last month and finished fifth. She was unable to run in the 300m hurdles on Sunday.
Rosa Meyer (Collegiate) repeated her third place in the senior 3000m but under very different circumstances. In 2023 she was able to tuck in behind a strong leading group setting a solid pace. Meyer had set herself a realistic, if demanding, pace schedule in the expectation that others had similar ambitions. That plan disintegrated after a snail’s pace opening 300m and, in frustration, Meyer injected pace and, in the process, did all the work for the next six laps. Meyer had to settle for the bottom step on the podium and, after that slow opening lap, finished with a disappointing time - a sharp learning curve.
Whanganui’s other podium place came from Ludmila Shanahan (Collegiate) in her major competition debut with her third place in the junior girls triple jump, recording a personal best 8.90m with a clear indication that there is better to come.
The championships provide a unique opportunity to represent Whanganui as a team rather than competing for athletes’ individual schools. Although many Whanganui athletes found themselves at the back of the fields, it was pleasing to see the large participation from our contributing schools. The challenge for schools and the club is to develop that potential.
