Athletics: Whanganui team celebrate success at New Zealand Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships

Whanganui Collegiate Year 13 students (from left) Louise Brabyn, Pascale Bowie, Daniel Sinclair and James Hercus won silver in the mixed senior 4x400m in their final outing for the school.

Whanganui athletes met with success at the 50th New Zealand Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships at the Ngā Puna Wai track in Christchurch, returning with five individual medals, two relay medals, a road race team medal and a whole raft of personal best performances.

In the first of two articles, I will focus on medal winners and next week I will look at the many athletes showing promise by reaching finals. The championships were attended by 201 schools and nearly 1100 competitors. Medals and places in finals were widely shared by schools, including the vibrant visiting Fijian team.

Year 10 Whanganui Collegiate athlete Juliet McKinlay was Whanganui’s outstanding athlete at the championships. Last year McKinlay, on New Zealand Schools debut, took silver in the triple jump and narrowly missed the top eight in long jump and hurdles. Back in March, McKinlay won gold, silver and bronze at the inaugural Athletics New Zealand Under-16 Championships.

In Christchurch, McKinlay surpassed that performance by snaring a gold and two silvers and added a fourth place in the 300 metre hurdles, setting significant personal bests in all three podium events. She won the 80m hurdles with her first sub-12-second run (11.95s) which sliced 6/10ths off her previous best. On a windy day, she was fortunate to be assisted by a 1.9m per second wind - a smidgeon under the legal limit.

Whanganui Collegiate athlete Juliet McKinlay (right) won a gold and two silvers with some personal bests.

She set another best in the triple with an above-the-limit following wind where her 10.84cm was only 2cm shy of gold. McKinlay had an unfortunate clash with the 300m hurdles in the final stages of the competition, providing an unwanted distraction. In the junior girls’ long jump, just 2cm separated first and third. Mackinlay was in the middle with a personal best of 5.35m into a light headwind, a 15cm improvement on her previous best; just 1cm away from gold but also 1cm away from bronze.

Whanganui High School’s Auguz Thongskul provided more jump success in the first afternoon when he snatched bronze with his sixth and final jump in the junior long jump. He set a series of personal bests in an excellent series of jumps. The 5.85m clutch jump in the final round surpassed the 5.79m set by Cody Macphail (Te Paepae o Aotea) in the opening round. The medal will be a major encouragement for this promising young jumper.

The final individual medal went to Whanganui Collegiate athlete Louise Brabyn, who attempted to retain her 2000m steeplechase title. Brabyn had to settle for bronze in the windy conditions. She did well to hold off the challenge of the 3000m and road race champion Catherine Lund (Otago Girls’ High School), who was closing rapidly in the run for home.

Later that day Brabyn joined team and training mates Pascale Bowie, James Hercus and Daniel Sinclair to take silver in the mixed senior 4x400m. It was a great way for the four Whanganui Collegiate Year 13s to be together in the blue and black colours.

All four had disappointments in Christchurch. Hercus got caught up in a slow and tactical 800m and had to settle for fifth (two places higher than a year ago). Brabyn had to put the disappointment of the steeples behind her while Daniel Sinclair, one of the favourites for the 1500m, finished sixth. Sinclair, along with a group of leading contenders, was caught by Christchurch runner Daniel Prescott, who set off like Filbert Bayi did back in the same city at the Commonwealth Games in 1974 when he broke the world record. Prescott held on with vociferous support from the crowd as the rest of the field were unable to close the narrowing gap. The fourth team member, captain Pascale Bowie, narrowly missed a berth in the 1500m and 800m finals, which had been her goal. The relay provided excellent consolation.

Earlier in the day, Bowie had joined Rosa Meyer and Maia Lupton to take silver in the three-to-score senior girls road race in pouring rain and strong winds. Meyer was 11th, Bowie 15th and Lupton 34th to take silver behind Wellington Girls College.

Whanganui High School won bronze in the junior mixed 4x400m relay, an event now run at world championships level and a welcome addition to our programme. The Whanganui High School team of James McGregor, Annabelle Brown, Isla Jones and Justin Falconer will be encouraged and enthused.

The relays provided a fitting climax to the successful 50th anniversary of the championships. All competitors received a commemorative pin.