Alec McNab talks athletics

ATHLETICS: The Sylvia Potts Classic held in Hastings marked the start of the main competition period for many athletes, a period that will culminate in next month's New Zealand championships in Wanganui.
The feature event in Hastings was the Sylvia Potts Memorial 800 metres held in memory of that fine athlete and a person who gave so much to the sport both through her own career and afterwards as a coach and administrator. Wanganui athletes played a significant part in this year's race contested by a large field of 14 leading two lap specialists.
Chantal Fromont confirmed her recent form with a podium finish in second place and although not her best time, it was a good performance in windy conditions not conducive to fast times.
Fifteen-year-old Collegiate athlete Sarah Tatton finished in fourth position with her second-best performance . This was in fact her fastest effort in New Zealand. Lucy Van Dalen from the same training group finished just 3sec in arrears indicating that she has recovered from her recent injury.
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Earlier in the programme Stephanie Collingwood confirmed her continued progress in the sport with a tenacious win in the B grade 200 metres in 25.9sec, further improving on her best performance.
Kate Richardson won her women's hurdles race with a fine win over the higher hurdles, while Daniel Natusch ran a wind-aided best in coming third in the B grade 100 metres and Scott Goldsbury also finished third in the 400 metres. On Wednesday a group of 10 Wanganui athlete traveled north to Hamilton for the second of the North Island Grand Prix meetings ( the Porritt Classic), The athletes travelled to compete in the schools events held in conjunction with the major event. Daniel Natusch (Collegiate School) and Kate Richardson (Cullinane College) won their respective 100 metre events both in personal best times.
The Wanganui Collegiate girls 1500 m athletes returned to Wanganui with the Dianne Rodger Trophy for the leading team in the 1500 metre race, ending Tauranga Girls College's five-year stranglehold on the race.
Holly and Lucy Van Dalen in fourth and fifth place led the team home with Sarah Tatton returning her first sub 5-minute effort, slicing nearly 13sec off her previous best. Alice Collins was only just behind Tatton and also recorded her best time.
The Collegiate Boys were not quite able to emulate the girls and came second in their team race with Hugo Beamish and George Leckie both recording personal best performances over the classic distance. # # # Between these two meetings the club ran the first round of the Secondary schools League held in conjunction with the weekly club night. Wanganui Collegiate School has opened a commanding lead in all sections. Unfortunately that although there was a sprinkling of good performances of athletes from beyond Collegiate there was a disappointing lack of depth to other teams. This is of some concern as any sport needs good competition to survive and the fact that athletics is a core sport for all other sports there are implications beyond just track and field. There was no lack of competition however in the senior 100 metres with four different schools finishing in the top four. The event was won by the in form Wanganui High School sprinter Stephanie Collingwood with Cullinane's Kate Richardson in second , Mandy Vine (Girls College) was third. It would be wonderful if such inter school rivalry could be replicated in other events. Simone Aldridge( High School) ran away with her 100 metres as did Anna Brodie (Collegiate) in the juniors, backed-up with a win in the 300 metres. Mason Glennie (Collegiate) went one better in the boys' grades by adding the long jump in the boys while in the girls' long jump Rebecca Hughes jumped five metres for the first time (5.05 metres). In club events next week's feature athlete hurdler Thomas Satherley had his first outing of 2005 to win the 100 metres.
There will be plenty of competition at Cooks Gardens this weekend with the athletic events of the New Zealand Masters games. The first session commences at 5pm on Friday with a morning and afternoon session on Saturday (9am and 1-30pm) and a morning session commencing at 9am on Sunday.