Juliet McKinlay won the 200m hurdles, the first event of the new athletics season, in increasingly gloomy conditions.
It was good to welcome Geordie Beamish and family back to Whanganui, as reported in Wednesday’s Whanganui Chronicle by Fin Ocheduszko Brown.
At the Whanganui Collegiate School assembly on Monday, Beamish spoke briefly after all watched the motivational clips of the final lap of the 1500 metre title at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in 2024.
This was followed by the famous fall and memorable recovery in the steeples heat and concluded with the 3000m steeples win at the Tokyo World Championships.
This was a perfect introduction to the guest of honour, who spoke briefly before fielding questions from the attentive audience. Beamish provided useful insights and motivational advice to the young captive audience.
From the recovery from the fall in the qualifying heat, Beamish was able to expand that, over a long period of time, there are greater setbacks to overcome in a career that provides both highs and lows. He was able to talk about the long recovery following the Paris Olympics and the importance of a good support team during rehabilitation.
He explained the importance of being part of a team. The team aspect influenced his choice of attending Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. He was never the best in his Northern Arizona team that won three consecutive NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Team titles.
He was in a similar situation at his first New Zealand Schools Cross Country where he was part of a winning Whanganui Collegiate three to score team. He was the third member of the team to finish (Beamish was 26th to finish in that winning team in Auckland in 2012).
Beamish added sound advice for those seeking to further their education in the US about the importance of researching choices and asking questions as part of that research. He also highlighted how he had benefited from variety and balance in sport and life in his school years.
There was an excited buzz at the end of assembly with clear motivational benefits highlighting the key part good role models bring to young people.
At assembly, I was able to confirm that, following the New Zealand Schools Executive meeting on Saturday in Wellington, Whanganui’s Cooks Gardens has been confirmed as the venue for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Track and Field and Road Race Championships in December next year.
The championships, which are New Zealand’s largest track and field championships, have been held here in 1996, 2007 and 2014. At the 2014 championships, all three New Zealand medal winners at this year’s world championships – Hamish Kerr and Geordie Beamish (gold) and Maddi Wesche (bronze) plus teammates Zoe Hobbs and Eliza McCartney - won gold.
Para star Anna Grimaldi won four titles and Olivia McTaggart was eighth in the pole vault in 2014 – and 11 years later was eighth in the world.
Cooks Gardens will again be the place to see stars of the future in the early stages of their journey. We have a great facility at Cooks Gardens and the merit of resurfacing the track has been fully vindicated.
The only predictable thing about spring is the unpredictability of spring weather. After days of wind and rain, things did not look promising for the first club night of the 2025-26 season, especially the weekend’s forecast for Tuesday. A dry and relatively still Tuesday morning and a promised improved evening forecast gave a degree of optimism. However, the wind picked up and, although it dropped over the early events, was replaced by heavy rain through the final 100m races.
We were encouraged by the good first-night entries with more than 60 athletes competing. Six heats were required for the 100m races. It was especially encouraging to see many new faces, including many from Cullinane College and Whanganui Girls College to add to the normal large attendance from Whanganui Collegiate School and Whanganui High School.
New Zealand Schools representative Juliet McKinlay, who performed so well last season including a gold medal in the under-18 New Zealand heptathlon, was the first winner of the season in the 200m hurdles (30.92s).
Last season’s New Zealand Junior 400m hurdles winner Damian Hodgson was the first male winner, taking the 200m hurdles in 26.48s. McKinlay went on to win her 100m and also the shot.
New Zealand 400m hurdles champion and 400m silver medallist Jono Maples should be delighted with his outstanding personal best over 300m (34.78s). Other winners were Izzy Benefield (shot), Presley Bretherton (long jump and 400m), Sean Frieslaar (1500m), Lulu Dufty (long jump) and Ethan Wells (100m).
Full results are posted on the Athletics Whanganui website.