Sam Tanner enjoyed the crowd support after winning the Cooks Classic mile. Photo / Michael Dawson Athletics NZ
As the leaves fall from the trees and there is crispness in the morning air, summer has become a distant memory.
The last domestic track and field event was a month ago and, before the 2025-26 season is forgotten, this is a chance to reflect on the past summer.
We are constantly reminded of what an asset Cooks Gardens is to our community as an outstanding sports venue, and, unlike so many other track and field venues in New Zealand, it is in the heart of our CBD.
The first of 21 senior club nights last season was on October 14. Term 4 saw a number of primary and intermediate school events taking advantage of the Cooks Gardens facilities.
In Term 1 this year, all local secondary schools held their championships at Cooks Gardens in the build-up to the Secondary Schools Championships on March 12.
A busy 10-day lead-up to those championships saw Whanganui Collegiate, Whanganui Girls’ College, Whanganui High School, Whanganui City College and Cullinane College, and also the Viard Shield, on the Cooks Gardens track.
The Pak’nSave Cooks International Classic, with its elevated World Continental Tour status, remains a highlight of the domestic season. The heavy rain of the morning stopped just in time for the pre-meet at 4pm and, apart from a very short heavy shower just after the impressive Air Force flyover at the 7pm start, the sun shone.
By the time of the feature Mile Championship at 9pm, as so often at the iconic venue, even the wind faded away. The largest crowd in many years was treated to some outstanding track and field, culminating in an outstanding Mile Championship featuring the two Sams, with Sam Tanner holding off the challenge of teenager Sam Ruthe.
A week later, Ruthe broke John Walker’s New Zealand record indoors in Boston. Ruthe clearly demonstrated that running at Cooks Gardens can be excellent preparation for the United States indoor circuit. We can all look forward to the 2027 mile which is part of Whanganui Athletics’ 150th anniversary.
November also saw the largest of three rounds of the Regional Athletics League, which brings clubs from throughout the lower North Island to compete in an action-packed four-hour full programme, providing a challenge for officials and volunteers alike. Athletics Whanganui rose to the challenge with an excellent on-time meet.
The first week of the Manawatū/Whanganui championships in early February was only a half programme. The portable electronic scoreboard was in full action for the first time, giving athletes instant result feedback. This system, set up by Phil Jones and Russell Sears, became a weekly feature as did the full results available online. This would be the envy of Athletics Clubs throughout New Zealand.
The aforementioned Whanganui Secondary Schools Championships, hosted by Sport Whanganui, was the final major athletics meet of the 2025-26 season held at Cooks Gardens.
Looking back on athletic performances, we are once again reminded how good health and remaining injury-free play such an important part in all sports, including track and field. It certainly played a major part in how the season developed for some of our leading athletes.
Jonathan Maples had a sensational early season with a personal best over 100m, an equal personal best over 400m and a best legal non-wind-assisted 200m, all achieved in November.
A solid block of training from Christmas into January appeared to have been the perfect base on which to build success in the second half of the season which started well.
He won the Potts Classic 400m and followed this with a win at the Cooks Classic 400m hurdles in a time only 100th of a second shy of a personal best.
Then came injury sustained in a hurdle training session and aggravated in Wellington at the Capital Classic when he pulled up at the first hurdle in the 400m hurdles.
The injury seriously hampered his build-up for the national championships and this was clear as he faded in the home straight to finish fourth. He then injured his other hamstring at the Australian Championships when on schedule for a fast time in the semifinal.
Juliet McKinlay had a bout of glandular fever in January, missing all the Classic events. Recovery has been gradual and she has been below her best. She did, however, manage medals at the New Zealand Championships (javelin under-20 and triple jump) and two bronze medals at North Island.
Hannah Byam had a first half of the season affected by sickness but responded well with a silver at the New Zealand under-18 and gold at North Island in steeplechase.
The review will be concluded next week.