Athletics Insight: Whanganui aims for strong showing in Central League

New Zealand champions Jonathan Maples and Damian Hodgson, pictured after their success at last summer's Athletics New Zealand Championships, will be key members of the Whanganui Central League team.

“In like a lion and out like a lamb” has often been said about March in the United Kingdom and would equally describe our own October weather this year.

We only hope that it is not too long before the lamb arrives.

It has been a difficult start for athletes with wind and heavy rain on opening night. For the second night last Tuesday, atrocious afternoon weather only cleared at start time, resulting in a number of absentees, while this Tuesday had some of the strongest winds I can remember at a Club Night.

Hopefully, the more promising longer-range forecast for Saturday in Inglewood, the venue for the opening round of the Central League Teams competition, materialises. The second round is at Cooks Garden the following Saturday with the final meeting in Masterton a fortnight later.

The Central Teams competition has its origins in the 1970s as part of a National League with similar competitions in other regions. Leading teams had the opportunity to compete in Hastings as part of the Easter Highland Games. A decade later, a more structured National League with qualification for a final at Easter was promoted and driven by the strong North Harbour Bays Club under the strong leadership of Sir Graeme Avery, supported by Dave Norris.

The quality and the positive vibe at those league finals at Easter in the mid to late 1980s will remain a positive memory for all participants. The early finals held on the North Shore had athletes sleeping on gym mats on classroom floors at Rangitoto, adjacent to the track (now the AUT Millennium).

The quality of competition was high, with leading New Zealand athletes playing a prominent part in the two-day competition. Athletes enjoyed the camaraderie and the team nature of the competition and quickly forgot the discomfort of sleeping on gym mats over Easter weekend.

Whanganui finished a very creditable third at the first final and went one better in 1987, coming very close to a major upset.

The strong team included outstanding middle-distance runner Martin Holmes, who only a few years earlier had won back-to-back New Zealand Schools senior cross country titles; present Athletics New Zealand high performance manager Scott Newman; and Tracy Phillips who, only three years later, took bronze in the Auckland Commonwealth Games high jump. Phillips, who was a very accomplished all-rounder, gained an impressive individual 97 points for the team over that successful weekend.

The addition of other major events in the calendar in changing times, including clashes with the later placement of the Australian Championships combined with preparation for northern hemisphere competition for many leading athletes, saw the demise of the event. An attempt to move qualifying and finals prior to Christmas sadly did not meet with success.

The Central Region, unlike other regions, has continued to run a team competition in the southern and central North Island.

Although the format has changed from the past, there is still a team element recognised with a trophy for the leading club. It is some time since Whanganui has won the trophy and, from twice finishing on the podium nationally, we have struggled to make the podium within our region. Although back in our successful period, we had many Palmerston North athletes competing for us and we later had more structured linkage with Team McKechnie.

The first week of competition has traditionally alternated between our two outlying venues, Inglewood (this year’s venue) and Hastings. As the first meet of the league and because of its location, they have traditionally had the lowest number of entries. The middle meeting held alternately at Whanganui (this year’s venue) and Palmerston North has been strongly supported, with the final venue a fortnight out from the major pre-Christmas New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships in early December also popular.

Last year in Palmerston North men’s and women’s 100m and 200m sprints saw over 50 combined entries, highlighting the popularity and need for these early-season meets.

For school-age athletes, the central competitions are vital in the short preparation period and for older athletes it can play an important part in early-season training.

With encouraging numbers at our first Club Night, it is hoped we can mount a stronger challenge this year, helped by having a home meet on Saturday, November 8. A good start is hoped for at the weekend and, although many are disappointingly unavailable, we will be considerably stronger than at the opening round last year in Hastings.

We enter a busy time at Cooks Gardens with the aforementioned Central League Round 2 next Saturday and the Peter Snell Mile Challenge participation event the following day. It is also the season of primary and intermediate schools’ events at the iconic venue.