PURE GOLD: Wanganui Collegiate athletes Genna Maples (left), Tayla Brunger, Lexi Maples and Grace Godfrey return home from the Porritt Classic in Hamilton with the Willis Trophy.PHOTO/SUPPLIED
PURE GOLD: Wanganui Collegiate athletes Genna Maples (left), Tayla Brunger, Lexi Maples and Grace Godfrey return home from the Porritt Classic in Hamilton with the Willis Trophy.PHOTO/SUPPLIED
THE PORRITT Classic in Hamilton at the weekend is the largest of the five classic meetings in terms of entries. The large group of athletes produced a raft of excellent performances in the warm 30C temperatures.
The large number of athletes were swelled by 27 Wanganui Collegiate athletes competing inthe Schools Willis Relays (300m, 400m, 400m, 400m) team and competing for the Dianne Rodger Shield in the girls and Dick Quax in the boys. The team travelled north with two trophies and returned with a different pair after retaining the Rodger Shield and claiming the girls' Willis Relay Trophy.
The team 1500 metres competition is run in the same manner as a cross country team race with one point, two points for second, etc, with the winning team of three decided by the lowest total points of teams competing. Jane Lennox, who in April heads for Hungary to run in the ISF World Schools Cross Country, headed the team home in third place with a massive 16 second personal best of 4:48.62, followed by Megan Mackay who ran her best for the season and looks to be on the road to recovery in 8th place one ahead of year 10 athlete Caitlyn Alabaster who ran a six second best in 5:06 .55. Year 9 athlete Emma Osborne was next home with a smart 5:11.99, the fastest ever performance by a Collegiate year 9 athlete at the Porritt Classic.
The Collegiate Boys Team finished third well behind winners Sacred Heart of Auckland and one point behind second placed St Patrick's College Kilbirnie. Christian Conder was unable to defend his individual title of last year but did gain some consolation in running under 4 minutes for the first time (3:59.41). He ran a sound solid race always with the leaders in the huge 43 strong field. His teammates , Charlie Waddy , Oliver O'Leary, Jack Gay and his brother Thomas all set personal bests and gained value from this early school year race.
The girls relay team may have lacked opposition and both the Collegiate A and B teams ran with the boys. The team of Genna Maples, Tayla Brunger, Grace Godfrey and Lexi Maples impressed, finishing with the fastest Collegiate team time over the decade of competition on the Porritt track. As both Genna Maples and Brunger are in Year 9 this bodes well.
The boy's combination had to settle for second to Sacred Heart Auckland. The Auckland team had won the New Zealand Schools under 16 4 x 400 in Timaru in December. The Collegiate combination in the absence of the injured captain and 400 metre New Zealand Schools medal winner did well to finish close to their northern rivals.
Opetini Dryden who has just been named in the New Zealand Youth team to travel to Tahiti to the Oceania Region in the javelin championships in April won the school javelin defeating New Zealand gold medal winner Aiden Smith (Palmerston North) reversing the Timaru result in December propelling Dryden to the top of the 2016 rankings. Both athletes are coached by Richard Drabczynski and were attending the New Zealand javelin camp run in conjunction with the Classic.
The Porritt Classic with its two team competitions mixed with quality senior events provides a wonderful start to the school athletic year and an important step on the athletic pathway. It was good to be able to watch two former students compete on the same programme. Josh Ledger who only left school at the end of 2014 ran a good personal best over 800 metres in a quality field while Olympian Lucy Oliver (nee van Dalen) demonstrated that she is on the road to recovery finishing as second woman home in the 5000 metres. Both ran in winning school teams at Porritt, Ledger in the Willis Relay and Oliver in the team 1500 metres.
Whanganui athletic and national attention turns to the New Zealand Combined Events (Decathlon and Heptathlon) at the weekend at Cooks Gardens. The club encourages the public to watch our best all-rounders compete and strive for an Olympic selection. Spectators have a chance of winning a travel voucher from Harvey World Travel. The more events within the combined events an athlete watches the greater the chance of winning the draw.
