Whanganui athletes Hannah Byam (left) and Grace Fannin at Tough Teens in December.
OPINION
As a young athlete once said to me, “a world record is just some guy’s personal best”.
A personal best can provide both motivation and consolation. It is true that as athletes get better and more experienced, personal bests become rarer and harder to achieve. Jonathan Edwards (UK) set the world triple jump record on August 7, 1995, in Goteborg, Sweden, with an 18.29m jump.
The record still stands. Edwards never bettered that mark even though he won the 2000 Sydney Olympics triple jump title.
The inexperienced Whanganui Secondary Schools Team set 46 personal bests in Palmerston North at the North Island Secondary Schools Championships this month.
Last week I highlighted the podium places (12 individuals and one relay team) of the 60-strong Whanganui team. Six of the 12 were personal-best performances, meaning most of the personal bests came from athletes who did not feature on the podium and, in many cases, were towards the back of the field.
James McGregor set three personal bests in his events (400m, 100m hurdles and 300m hurdles), but only in the last did he gain a podium place. McGregor had further reward in the 4x400m, as did Samuel Hermann, who did not gain a podium place in the 200m or the 400m, but set personal bests in both. Whanganui High School Year 9 Alex Payne was another to gain more than one personal best performance and should be encouraged by his personal bests over 800m and 300m.
Grace Fannin, who in March won a silver medal in the Under-16 300m hurdles, missed the podium in Palmerston North by one place, but gained considerable satisfaction from running a substantial personal best with her first sub-49s performance (48.37s). Fannin also ran in the 400m with high hopes following a personal best at club night over 300m four days earlier. Fannin paid for a slow start and finished eighth in the combined field, but gained considerable consolation from a new personal best.
Hannah Byam, who won a silver medal in the Under-16 New Zealand 2000m steeplechase in mid-March with a massive 9s personal best, had to settle for a lower step on the podium and a considerably slower time. Such is the nature of the sport, especially when a peak event is four weeks earlier. Her steeplechasing training partner, Greta Darke, improved her position by one place, finishing second in the senior girls following her bronze at the New Zealand Championships with her first steeplechase personal best in 14 months.
Sean Frieslar made his first successful steps in the sport when still at intermediate school with a placing at the Colgate Games at Cooks Gardens in January last year. Injury slowed his progress, including the start of his time at Whanganui High School. At the Secondary Schools Champs, he restricted his participation to the junior 1500m, which he won in 4m 42.56s, indicating he was on the road to recovery. Four weeks later in Palmerston North, he finished a highly creditable fifth with a personal best 4m 38.53s and the next day set another personal best for fifth place in the 3000m (10m 7.52s). Frieslar has considerable potential and is a name to watch for in the future.
Whanganui, as the second-smallest of the regions competing at the North Island Schools, fielded a large team taking advantage of the Palmerston North venue and, not unexpectedly, many athletes finished towards the tail of the field. In middle-distance races, by the nature of the event, athletes can be noticeably some distance from the leaders, but many go on to future success. I was particularly impressed with Nga Tawa junior Aggie Shearer in the junior 800m by the way she went about her debut. Although finishing well back in 10th position, she should be encouraged by her 7s personal best that will bring her encouragement for the future. In December she and others will compete at the New Zealand Secondary Schools in Timaru.
I also note Millie Boden-Cave’s 14s personal best in the junior 1500m. I mentioned to her that her time of 5m 37.09s was almost identical to Olympian Lucy Oliver’s (nee van Dalen) time as a Year 9 athlete. Ten years later, Oliver ran in the 2012 London Olympics 1500m semifinal.
The opportunities are there for our athletes and the challenge for the club, coaches and schools is to help with the development of promising athletes encouraged by personal bests.