Whanganui's Hannah Byam (left) at the final water jump on the barrier at North Island Schools before outsprinting Amy Thomson of Auckland.
Although Damian Hodgson was Whanganui’s only title winner at the Athletics New Zealand Track and Field Championships in March, it has been a highly successful season for Athletics Whanganui.
A study of our annual event rankings reveals improved performance across all disciplines, supported by a raft of podium performances at both club and schools levels over a wide range of athletics disciplines. In this final review of the 2025-26 season, I will further reflect on Whanganui successes of the past season.
Hurdles once again provided considerable Whanganui successes.
Hodgson won the New Zealand 400m hurdles with a personal best 53.96s performance in March. This performance ranks third in the 2026 New Zealand rankings, bettered only by two other Whanganui athletes.
Jonathan Maples, with his win at the Pak’nSave Cooks International Classic, heads those rankings with his 52.08s performance, with Flynn Johnston, currently at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota, in second place with an outstanding 52.56s personal best set early last month.
Bruce McGregor won the New Zealand Secondary Schools junior 300m hurdles title in December, took silver in the under-18 New Zealand Championships and was second in both the North Island Schools Intermediate Boys 100m and 300m hurdles at the end of March.
His older brother, James, suffered a stumble in the home straight in the 300m hurdles and, although fifth across the line, two international athletes were ahead of him, so he won a New Zealand bronze. Alrese Maree similarly gained a bronze in the under-16 New Zealand 300m hurdle championships as the third New Zealander.
Relays have always played an important part in Whanganui Athletics.
Three Whanganui athletes, Jonathan Maples, Damian Hodgson and Nat Kirk, ran in the Manawatū/Whanganui 4x400m relay team that won silver at the New Zealand Championships. Lucas Bishop, Reiley Thomas and Kopere Maihi-Walker took bronze in the under-20 4x100m (Palmerston North’s William Rolfe was the fourth runner in both relays).
At the New Zealand Secondary Schools, the Whanganui Collegiate School mixed 4x400m team won the junior title, with Cullinane College third. Whanganui High School won the junior mixed 4x100m and finished second in both the junior 4x100m and 4x400m relays. The Whanganui 4x100m intermediate boys team of Kosei Furusato (Cullinane), Reiley Thomas, Ethan Wells and Tyler O’Brien won the North Island Schools title at the end of the season.
Jonathan Maples heads all Whanganui male sprint rankings in an injury-interrupted season and is clearly our male sprinter of the year.
Female sprint rankings are less clear. Genna Maples, on a visit home from California, tops our 60m rankings. Two athletes who share allegiance and are Palmerston North members head the 100m, 200m and 400m rankings – Whanganui Collegiate Year 13 boarder Juliet McKinlay heads our 100m and 200m rankings, with Emma Osborne topping the 400m. Jaime Munro, 15, is second in the 100m and 200m rankings, while Tilly Darke tops the 300m and is second to Osborne over 400m.
Colorado-based world steeplechase champion Geordie Beamish tops our male middle-distance rankings which include two other overseas-based Whanganui athletes, Liam Back and Brad Mathas. Lennox Brotherton heads our local list.
New Zealand under-18 steeplechase silver medal winner and also North Island Schools winner Hannah Byam heads the 1500m, 3000m and steeplechase rankings and was second behind Tilly Darke over 800m. She was undoubtedly our leading female middle-distance runner. Sally Gibbs, with her outstanding masters record-breaking performances, heads our masters rankings.
Los Angeles-based Lexi Maples, who returned home for the New Zealand Championships and took silver in the hammer, is our female thrower of the year. Juliet McKinlay took medals in javelin at the New Zealand Championships and the New Zealand and North Island Schools.
In male throws, Isaac Ashworth ended the season with a second place in the North Island Schools, following steady progress throughout the season, and is our leading male thrower.
Juliet McKinlay heads the long and triple jump rankings with Lulu Dufty second in both. Auguz Thongskul, who battled injury all season, managed second at both the New Zealand under-18 and senior boys North Island Schools long jumps.
Olive Coombes, who topped our high jump rankings, has had an outstanding start to 2026. She has demonstrated huge progress not only in jumps but also hurdles and sprints. Coombes has an exciting future. Watch for further progress next season.
There is a group of promising juniors, including, among others, Jaime Munro, Tyler O’Brien, Ethan Wells, Sean Frieslaar, Toby Gill and Noah Orlowski.