Focus on Whanganui as we move into the business end of the athletics season

Liam Back (blue), recovering well from injury, has produced a series of recent good performances since returning to the fray. Photo / Peter Preston

As we move into the business end of the season both the number competing and the intensity of performance increases.

By the time this is published Whanganui Girls College and Cullinane College will have had their Schools Championships, Whanganui High School hold their Championships on Thursday and Whanganui Collegiate hold the annual Inter House Match on Saturday evening.

The Peter Snell meeting is at Cooks Gardens on Saturday, March 2 and the Whanganui Schools Championships is only three weeks away. Cooks Gardens enters the busy season. Added to this is the New Zealand Track and Field Championships in Christchurch which starts in 15 days -time.

Tuesday saw the biggest club night in terms of numbers this year when 48 runners faced the starter in the popular 2km Road Race, and there were 8 heats in the 60 metres.

There was also a small group of athletes competing in the middle week of the Manawatu/Whanganui Centre Championships in Palmerston North where Genna Maples jumped a pleasing 5.54m in the Long Jump while her brother Jonathan ran a best over 400m Hurdles upsetting the in-form Connor Munro. Sophie Redmayne is also putting a couple of mishaps over 300m hurdles behind her stopping the clock at 47.59 which is her best on the Massey Community track.

At Cooks Gardens the C programme with its odd distances was well used by athletes. Tayla Brunger ran in the 60m, 150m and the 300m (the last two were only 10 minutes apart) making club night a highly specific sprint training session. She should be delighted that all three were very close to her personal bests.

Liam Back and Andres Hernandez used the 2km Road Race as an exercise to see how relaxed they could remain and were rewarded with pleasing times. Back was just outside his best and Hernandez ran a best providing confirmation of his form. In Back's case it clearly demonstrates that he has fully recovered from injury after a long rehabilitation. In the same Road Race NZ Championship bound Ashleigh Alabaster (Steeplechase and 3000m) ran a personal best 6:51.37 and her team mate Ana Brabyn (800m) also ran a best 6:52.41. Marseille Bowie sliced 9 seconds off her best to record 7:00.31.

Later in the evening Back set the pace in the 600 metres with a fast 400m lap to bring Joseph Sinclair and Travis Bayler through to good times. Sinclair, who runs in the under 20 800m in Christchurch, was only a fraction outside of his best set 10 days before his New Zealand Schools silver medal (1:23.13) and Bayler who runs in the under 18s set an excellent personal best of 1:24.04 that provides a confidence boost at just the right time. Zach Bellamy who also runs in the under 18 in Christchurch was third (1:27.36) also a personal best.

New Zealand Schools 400m champion and schools international Emma Osborne looked good in winning the girls 600m in a personal best 1:41.49 with Christchurch bound 1500m runner Sarah Lambert in second also recording a best 1:44.10.

It was good to see promising Cullinane athlete Tadhg O'Conner back in action impressing with his sprint efforts. He is likely to be a major player in the Intermediate grade at Whanganui Secondary Schools on Wednesday, March 13.

German exchange student Karl Loeb (Whanganui High School) again looked good and his versatility will prove useful at Whanganui Schools where he is expected to be prominent in the intermediate grade.

The 2 x 100m relay was well supported when 22 pairs ran in the final event of the evening. The relay provides good work for pairs within a 4 x 100m team to have competitive races and changeovers under competition conditions. Samoan Semi Vonoses and Tongan Sione Osamu combined for the first time and could provide a valuable combination in the Collegiate senior team.

They headed off team mates Melville Su and Logan Henry. In the girls Cassie Glentworth and Georgia Forrester combined well to win over team mates Charlotte Baker and Maggie Smith suggesting that Whanganui High School will be strong in the Intermediate grades.

The forthcoming local school championships will provide many new faces and will gain selection for their respective schools at the Whanganui Secondary Schools Championships on Wednesday, March 13 with others appearing as representatives of a Whanganui Schools Team in a match run in conjunction with the Sir Peter Snell meeting on Saturday, March 2. Other younger athletes have a chance to run at the meet in the junior Swedish Relay at the same meeting.