Athletes battle strong gales

Sophie Ensor (centre) ran a personal best 100 metres into a strong headwind in Wellington at the weekend. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Windy Wellington more than lived up to its reputation at the Regional Athletic League meeting at the weekend.

The third round of the league was well attended but athletes faced perhaps the windiest conditions I can remember at an Athletics meeting. The gale-force wind swirled around the stadium but, in spite of those conditions, there were many excellent performances.

The Wanganui 4 x 100m Relay team won with excellent changes and a quality performance. The Collegiate quartet representing the club produced the fourth all-time Collegiate best and, in the process, became the third fastest Collegiate team ever.

The performance of 43.12s firmly pushes the team into medal contention next week at the NZ Secondary Schools Championships. Charlie McCartin ran the first leg, handing over to Harry Symes, who had had a splendid meeting setting a personal best in winning his 200m earlier in the afternoon, and also ran a best 400m split in the 4 x 400m Relay in the final event.

Symes handed on to 800m winner Josh Ledger in a relatively poor change, which they will be working on in the 10 days that remain before the Championships. Decathlete Max Attwell ran the anchor leg and held off strong challenges from Wairarapa and Palmerston North.

Later in the afternoon, three of the four (Attwell, Ledger and Symes) joined the middle distance runner Geordie Beamish to record a big win in the 4 x 400m in an encouraging sub-3:30m effort. Competition will be stiff to gain a berth in the team at NZ Schools, with reserve Tim McKenzie running an excellent 400m on Tuesday evening to enhance his claims for a team place.

The wind was particularly difficult for hurdlers as in the last 10m they faced an impossibly strong headwind and had to endure difficult cross winds for other sections.

Charlie McCartin looked good, winning over 110m Hurdles and ran even better in the still conditions at Tuesday's Club night, where he ran a personal best 14.7s (hand time).

Earlier on Saturday. he lost out to team-mate Max Attwell in the 300m Hurdles, with a similar result on Tuesday evening, when Attwell ran 39.86s for a personal best, with McCartin in a season's best of 40.22s.

Myah Jex-Blake and Annabelle Gourlie finished first and second respectively in the Girls' 300m Hurdles at the weekend.

Jex-Blake ran a superb personal best on Tuesday, running under 46s for the first time (45.89s), which lifts her to the top three nationally.

Geordie Beamish should be delighted with his 1500m on Saturday.

The time, not unexpectedly, was not flash but the manner of his performance was emphatic. He out-ran Joshua Baan, who earlier in the year had suffered a rare defeat by Ban in the final sprint of the NZ Cross Country. Beamish had intended to run a fast 3000m but wisely chose to step down the distance, as fast times were unrealistic at Newtown on Saturday.

In the Steeplechase, Jamie Gillespie although finishing 3rd, should be pleased with the performance that was within a second of his best. Alice Bird, running against the top-two ranked steeplechaser in the country, also finished 3rd and was also close to her season's best time.

The club night on Tuesday, as mentioned, was a complete contrast with mild, still conditions which were taken full advantage of by many athletes.

It was disappointing, however, that only 11 days out from the Championships, some chose not to compete. Many performed well, including Lexi Maples over 60m and 300m (8.51s and 47.38s respectively). Harry Symes also impressed in these distances (7.48s and 36.78s respectively), while young Genna Maples rose to the challenge of running against boys and, on this occasion, won her race beating her brother Jonathan and promising young rugby player Daniel Davy, among others.

Athletes have only one club night left until NZ Schools and we all look forward to the forthcoming championships.