Our athletes are looking good

Myah Jex-Blake looked outstanding over the hurdles on Tuesday night, just four weeks out from the New Zealand Schools Championships. PHOTO/ROB VANDORT JEX-BLAKE

It is strange that so often early season athletics follows a similar pattern every year.

Rusty athletes, windy conditions and athletes who fail to realise that part of the condition is not stepping out where they left off at the end of last season is normal in October and early November.

This is followed by a meeting where all of a sudden athletes see real progress and, with it, a sense of belief that they can succeed in the challenges ahead.

Tuesday was just such a night. The wind that had blown consistently and strongly for weeks dropped and the temperatures were mild, and for the first time in the season they had a real chance to perform at a higher level. There were a series of excellent performances aided by good competition.

Myah Jex-Blake, who in early April took the silver medal in the Open Girls 300m Hurdles at North Island schools, looked outstanding over the barriers, winning the event in 46.49s, only just outside her personal best, giving her a real boost four weeks out from NZ Schools.

The best aspect of the win was the almost flawless technique hurdling off both legs. For good measure, she added a win in the 100m with a time also very close to her best.

The closest races of the evening were in the male 400m and 100m. In the former, Josh Ledger held off the late challenge of decathlete Max Attwell.

The times were excellent early season performances (50.64s and 50.75s respectively). At the North Island Schools in April, Attwell had finished 2nd with Ledger 3rd, with very similar performances.

Attwell gained consolation with his win in the 100m, edging out Harry Symes by 2/100ths of a second (11.58s and 11.60s), with Ledger taking 3rd place.

Attwell again proved his prowess as an all-rounder by winning the High Jump with a 1.85m performance late in the evening. He demonstrated that he can find that extra centimetre above his personal best to at least equal Scott Newman's 1987 school record of 2 metres.

Alice Bird took advantage of the early pace set by Huntley students Jack Gray and Jordie Ellis. Bird went on to win in 5:00.12s. Although frustrated at not dropping below 5 minutes for the second time, Bird demonstrated that big performances are just around the corner. Earlier in the evening, she had finished 3rd in the 300m Hurdles, which she used to help with her barrier clearance in her specialist steeplechase event.

Louis Hogan proved too strong over the final stages of the male 1500m, to win in 4m 21s. Jamie Gillespie was 2nd, with Christian Conder 3rd. Conder had only 10 minutes earlier won his 400 metre grade (58.14). Kitty Cleary has overcome injury problems to win the female 400 metres with 1:06.04, to hold off the challenge of promising Year 9 athlete Grace Godfrey, whose 1:0 6.23 was a personal best.

In the field, Jules Harrey surprised many, including himself, with a win in the Long Jump with a massive personal best of 5.90m, while Opetini Dryden took the Javelin with a 42m throw.

Hopefully, this early season form will continue in Palmerston North, where almost 50 Wanganui athletes will compete in the second round of the Regional League.

The full programme of competition, graded by performance rather than age, gives an ideal opportunity four weeks out from NZ Schools to produce more encouraging performances.