Athletics: Complex trivia quiz stumps the master, but not for long

The mystery third athlete who had the master Alec McNab stumped was Australian Nicola McDermott, who won silver in Tokyo and set the Cooks Gardens women's high jump stadium record in 2015. Photo / AP

I failed the sports trivia question on naming three Tokyo medal winners who also held Cooks Gardens Stadium records. The tough twist to the question was that the three medal winners had occupied all three steps on the podium.

Dame Valerie Adams came immediately to mind, third in the Olympics in women's shot and is our stadium record-holder with her 17.06m record set in 2012. As the question clearly stated Tokyo rather than just the Tokyo Olympic Games, I quickly correctly named the gold medal winner Lisa Adams winner of gold in the Paralympic F37 shot. Adams set the Para record at January's Cooks Classic. Lisa is coached by her sister Valerie and not only set the Para Cooks Gardens record in January, but was just 1cm below her own world record.

The third athlete had me stumped. An initial thought was Tom Walsh, but I had already named a bronze medal winner and remembered that Walsh did not hold the stadium record as that was held by Jacko Gill who defeated Walsh at the Cooks Classic in a memorable shot competition. It was wonderful to have two Olympic finalists in action in Whanganui.

This mystery third athlete is not a New Zealander and comes from Australia. Nicola McDermott took silver in Tokyo after an enthralling high jump competition. The gold was taken by 2021 world leader Mariya Lasitskene (Russian Olympic Committee) who had struggled earlier in the competition. Lasitskene Jumped 2.04m and McDermott 2.02m in Tokyo. McDermott set the Cooks stadium record with a jump of 1.83m at the Cooks Classic in 2015.

Since the trivia question master Russell Sears (Whanganui Sports Heritage Trust and Cooks Gardens meet promoter) has realised that we have in fact got another medal winner in Tokyo who holds a stadium record. Anna Grimaldi who retained her T47 long jump title at the Paralympics in Tokyo won the New Zealand secondary schools para long jump at Cooks Gardens in 2014, not only setting a Cooks Gardens stadium para record, but a New Zealand schools para record, which seven years later still stands.

Grimaldi was not the only Olympian to shine at the 2014 edition of New Zealand schools. Julia Ratcliffe who finished ninth in the women's hammer won the New Zealand schools senior girls hammer at Cooks Gardens and her throw remains as the New Zealand secondary schools record.

As mentioned above, Jacko Gil who finished ninth in the men's shot, set the Cooks stadium record in January and Hamish Kerr who finished 10th in the Olympic high jump was another 2021 Cooks Gardens winner and record-holder to excel in Tokyo.

We hope to see our record-holders return in January for the 2022 Cooks Gardens Classic. The Classic will be held on Sunday, January 30. Problems with a clash of dates with a wedding at the venue on the favoured day has been amicably resolved with the Classic moving from the previous day. It is during Auckland anniversary weekend and as with this January should encourage many northern athletes to make the journey south. An announcement will soon be made about the popular Sir Peter Snell Challenge participation mile, which could well be a part of Whanganui Heritage Weekend a week before the Classic date.

A couple of weeks ago I highlighted the outstanding performance of former Whanganui Collegiate athlete Geordie Beamish in winning the Prefontaine International Mile (3:54.86). Beamish continued on his successful run of performances with a personal best 7:42.39 over 3000m in Rovereto, Italy, where he finished third. The performance moved Beamish to fifth on the New Zealand all-time 3000m rankings. He is in heady company behind Nick Willis, Sir John Walker, Rod Dixon, and Zane Robertson as the athletes ranked above him. We would love to see Beamish return to Cooks Gardens in January.

Next week I will look at the immediate season ahead with many changes brought about by Covid-related changes both in sport and in NCEA exams that have in turn led to the delay in exams by a fortnight and a resultant delay to the New Zealand schools championships, which have been combined with the postponed Athletics New Zealand under-18 championships. It will also incorporate on a trial basis an Athletics New Zealand under-16 championships at Inglewood on December 16-18.

Club nights will start on Tuesday, October 19, with some ground sharing with the Heartland Team training. The children will start on Monday, November 1. More details will be given in next week's Insight.