Whanganui High School's Auguz Thongskul has made impressive progress in 2025.
More than 1100 athletes and hundreds of supporters will make their way to Hastings at the weekend for the 52nd New Zealand Secondary Schools Track and Field and Road Race Championships.
These athletes come from 217 secondary schools from all regions of New Zealand. They will be joined by a further six athletes from the Cook Islands, two from Niue and eight athletes from two Fijian clubs.
It is pleasing to see this increase in entries from last year, especially in a time of cost-of-living increases. Next year Whanganui will host the championships, the largest track and field event in New Zealand, and we will hope for a further rise in entry numbers.
It is especially pleasing to see a significant increase in entries from schools in the Whanganui region.
Nga Tawa Diocesan School in Marton (24 entries), Whanganui Collegiate School (22) and Whanganui High School (21) have the highest number from the region. Whanganui Girls’ College has three entries. Cullinane College has entered 10 athletes, making a pleasing return to New Zealand Schools Championships, while former Whanganui rugby and athletics representative Kerry Whale has encouraged two athletes from Taihape Area School to travel to Hastings, the first from the schools in over a decade. Kopere Maihi-Walker, who has made outstanding progress as a sprinter, will compete for Whanganui City College and brings entries from our region to 83.
A glance at the Athletics Whanganui track and field rankings, which are updated and published after all competitions, shows a rise in depth of performance through many events. Such a rise in standard is not always reflected on the podium but can lead to more athletes reaching national finals which in itself is a significant achievement.
There is only one Whanganui athlete, Juliet McKinlay (Whanganui Collegiate School), travelling to Hastings who mounted the podium last year in Timaru, although Whanganui High School has members of a successful relay team from last year in Hawke’s Bay. Unfortunately, Hannah Byam (Collegiate), who took silver in the junior steeplechase last year, is unavailable due to a clash with the Source to Sea expedition.
Auguz Thongskul (Whanganui High School) did not win a medal a year ago in Timaru but took an impressive bronze in the long jump at the New Zealand Championships in Dunedin in March. He backed this up with a win at North Island Schools in the intermediate boys long jump and a third in the 100 metres. Hopefully, Thongskul is fully recovered from an injury sustained at Club Night last week to be at his excellent best in jumps, sprints and relays in Hastings. The step up as a first-year senior is a big one but he has demonstrated he can make that step.
New Zealand under-18 heptathlon champion McKinlay is disappointed there is no heptathlon in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships.
As with all good heptathletes, McKinlay has, among those seven events in the heptathlon programme, strengths especially in long jump and hurdles and the knowledge that, if she can match her NZ Schools bronze javelin throw of 2024, she can be competitive in all four events entered. McKinlay will also run in the mixed 4 x 100m relay, which makes its first appearance at the championships.
It is pleasing to see relays and road race teams featuring in Whanganui entries.
A mostly Year 9 team from Whanganui Collegiate are entered in the junior 4 x 100m and there is also a mixed 4 x 400m team in the junior girls. Whanganui High School, who won a relay medal last year in Timaru and at North Islands in Hamilton in April along with fourth in the mixed 4 x 400m last December, has strong teams in both the junior boys 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m, and teams and entries in senior grades over 4 x 100m. Cullinane College has a junior 4 x 400m entry while Nga Tawa should feature strongly in road race team events.
Included among the 83 Whanganui entries are many who have made it through to finals in the past or have demonstrated potential for considerable progress in the sport.
These include strong hurdle entries, Grace Fannin and Alrese Maree (Girls’ College), James McGregor, Bruce McGregor, Charlie McBride, Lucas Howard, Olive Coombs and Hannah Cameron (Whanganui High School). Lulu Dufty (High School) has proven ability in jumps and at the Year 9 level Phoebe Corin (Collegiate) has made great progress in throwing, especially hammer. Middle distance runners Sean Frieslaar and Lennox Brotherton (High School) have impressed but sadly the promising Charlie Anderson (Cullinane) has had to withdraw following a serious bike injury.
I look forward to reporting on the championships next week.