Athletics: Whanganui athletes excel in walk, hurdles and steeplechase at national track and field championships

Lucas Martin defended his 10,000m race walk title in 48m 22.34s.

Whanganui and Whanganui-based athletes returned from the Jennian Homes Athletics New Zealand Track and Field Championships with four gold, five silver and five bronze medals plus a share in a 4 x 400 relay medal.

Lucas Martin successfully defended his 10,000m race walk title in 48m 22.34s and added the 3000m (13m 04.31s) for good measure. Martin deserves success for his diligence in training and contribution as an official, and for his media work.

He has managed the transition from school athletics to post-school life at Canterbury University in his first year away from home. He was second across the line behind the outstanding under-20 competitor Jonah Cropp (Canterbury) who was rewarded with a 10,000m world junior qualifying mark.

Defending 400m hurdles champion Jonathan Maples had to settle for second in a close battle with Cameron Moffitt (Otago). Moffitt recorded a personal best of 53.31s with Maples fractionally below his best set in February. Moffitt challenged through the lap and Maples stuttered at the last hurdle, losing the battle for the line. Maples perhaps paid for his injury-interrupted buildup.

Whanganui’s Nat Kirk took third and joined teammate Maples in the 4 x 400 team that was narrowly squeezed out of bronze. The three Whanganui runners - Kirk, Maples and Travis Bayler - ran fast splits.

Hurdling and steeplechasing featured strongly in Whanganui’s successes.

The hard work in providing regular hurdle and steeplechase events at Club Night has paid dividends. Kaylee Bisschoff won the 80m hurdles on debut.

Bisschoff coped with Call Room procedures on Day 1, a disqualification for a false start in the 200m on Day 2 and two schedule changes to her 80m hurdle heats on Day 3.

She qualified fifth for the afternoon final (12.51s) but threw that aside to win in a personal best of 12.05s of outstanding hurdling.

Bisschoff finished fourth in the 300m hurdles in a race in which Whanganui teammate Grace Fannin gained a silver medal on her under-16 New Zealand Championship debut.

Fannin ran personal bests in both the heat and the final where she recorded 49.04s. James McGregor was third in the under-16 300m hurdles (44.90s), adding to Whanganui’s hurdles success.

Whanganui Collegiate student Juliet McKinlay, who trains at Palmerston North and Cooks Gardens, was fourth across the line in the under-18 300m hurdles.

However, as two French Polynesian competitors finished ahead of her (visitors medals), McKinlay took silver to add to her gold in the long jump (5.37m).

McKinlay had an unfortunate fall in her final preparation for the 100m hurdles and had to withdraw but managed to painfully take her place in the triple jump the next day, finishing fourth - just a centimetre shy of her personal best.

Paige Cromarty took bronze in her senior debut over 400m hurdles with a season’s best - a good reward for a young athlete in her second year out of school.

Cromarty also ran in the MWA bronze medal-winning 4 x 400 team.

Steeplechasing brought further success for Whanganui. Hannah Byam repeated her silver in the under-16 steeplechase, setting a 10s personal best to add to her 9s improvement over 1500m three days earlier at Whanganui Schools.

Byam’s training partner Greta Darke overcame her usual nerves to take bronze in the under-18 steeples in a season’s best, after a tight race in which her excellent technical work over barriers and the water jump held her in good stead.

MWA also had the winner in the event from schools’ cross country international Courtney Fitzgibbon. The Sinclair brothers David and Matthew, now based in Cambridge but Whanganui Club members, won silver (under-16) and bronze (under-18) respectively over 2000m steeples.

The 2023 under-20 1500m winner, Daniel Sinclair, had to settle for bronze in a very competitive 1500m with one of the strongest-ever under-20 fields.

Sinclair settled mid-field through the opening two laps, which included a 58s first lap. Sinclair worked his way up the field and, with 250m left to run, the three medal winners had opened a gap on the strong field. Sinclair struck for home and looked good but was overhauled 80m from the line by the winner Jamie Mora and by Cooper Wightman a few metres later.

Sinclair will run again in the Australian Championships in Adelaide in April and can take considerable comfort from the fact that he ran 4s faster than when taking gold last year.

Whanganui athletes should be proud of their efforts this year.