"He went early and set the pace. It wasn't as quick as he would like."
Beamish was hunting a personal best, but the windy conditions and lack of a pace-setter to push him through put paid to that.
The main national record to fall in the Saturday field competitions came in the senior girls' hammer throw as Lauren Bruce, representing Timaru's Craighead Diocesan, pulled out a massive 63.67m effort.
By comparison, the runnerup throw was 45.45m.
"That's my personal best by about a metre," the 17-year-old said.
Having started hammer throw in 2011, Bruce is the top-ranked under-20 female in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, ranked third in the world for under-20 females, Takapuna Grammar School's pole vault champion Eliza McCartney had to wait for all the other competitors to be eliminated before she even started her event, needing the bar to be raised high enough.
While the others were dropping out with three misses at around the 3.85m mark, when they were done McCartney came on and topped out at around 4.15m, enough for the title but below her personal best of 4.45m.
She had enjoyed the chance to come back to Wanganui.
"I've competed here a couple of times. It's such a lovely atmosphere."
The glamour events at any track meet are the 100m finals and Hamilton Boys' High School's Tom Smith, a national under-18 400m champion who is now focusing on the shorter distances, went on with it to claim the senior boys' title in a competitive field.
All the training and visualising he had put into the dash paid off - keeping all concentration on the line from 50m out, rather than keeping half an eye on the guys on his left and right.
"It was perfect, [I just] get in that mindset," he said.
"I think I deserved it."
Timing your run was just as crucial at Kowhai Park for the NZSSA Mars Petcare road race championships.
The senior girls' title was claimed by Otumoetai College's Deborah Paine, who after being in a tight group of four in the 4km race, went away from her chasers halfway through the second 2km lap to emerge alone at the finish line.
Having been a national cross country representative, Paine had only been focusing on road events for the past six months.
St Peter's College's Sam Pendreigh powered to a comfortable victory in the senior boys' 6km race.
Like Paine, he had no problem with the head winds coming into the finish line, having broke from the pack during the final lap on Anzac Parade.
But the story was the thrilling finish for third place as Collegiate's Christian Conder pulled off the rarest of sights in foot racing - losing his position in the final sprint but then kicking on and getting it back.
Collapsing exhausted, Conder was "stoked" to make the podium.
"He came past me about 100m to go, I just had to go for it.
"I only just got him back."
In the senior girls' race, Collegiate's team of Jazmin Phillips, Alice Bird, Rosie Stewart-Muirhead, Megan Mackay, Sophie Collins and Georgina Hobson claimed the gold medal for the six-to-score division.
- Alec McNab will have more in-depth analysis in his columns over the coming weeks.
