Top performances in wet conditions

RARE DEFEAT: Promising sprinter Harry Symes handed a rare defeat to decathlete Max Attwell over 300m and, in the process, set a personal best.PHOTO/FILE

The long dry spell finally broke on Sunday resulting in a very wet second day of the Masters Games athletics events. There were, however, smiles on the athletes' faces on Sunday when the news was out that although the policy had stated that medals would only be presented to athletes in events where there were at least three starters, that Athletics Wanganui had decided that medals should be awarded to all who finished first or second regardless of the number of starters.

Despite the weather, there were some good performances in the persistent, if warm, rain. The officials, including a large group of young Collegiate students, who helped throughout the weekend, added to the warmth of the occasion with their enthusiastic response.

There were many outstanding masters, many who have come back year after year and seem to defy the ageing process. Notable among them was Gary Rawson, who once again excelled in sprints and jumps. Vanessa Story, who still competes in senior athletics, dominated her sprint events, as did Laurie Malcolmson, who returned once again to impress in sprints, while Andrew Davenport, now in the 45-49 grade, demonstrated he has not lost his middle distance talent.

In the throwing events Graeme Lawless, back in Wanganui, had a couple of epic duels with Jim Blair in the 80-84 grade, while Johan van Zyl impressed in the 55-59 grade.

It was good to be able welcome many Australians on to the podium with Roberta Thompson, Peter Berry, Toni Phillips, Erril Neish, Christopher Worsnop and Dennis Aspinall making frequent visits.

On Saturday, a group of 20 athletes travel to Hamilton to compete in the Porritt Classic.

There is a team element to the event with a group of Collegiate athletes competing in the 1500m teams' race in both boys' and girls' grades and also in the Nick Willis relays (300m, 3 x 400m).

Riley Culver (WHS) will be joining the Collegiate runners as an individual in the 1500m teams' race, which usually attracts a strong field in excess of 30 athletes.

Some of the athletes will also start in individual events, including Myah Jex-Blake in the 300m hurdles, Harry Symes in the 200m, Sam Merson in the 100m and Lulu Kelly in the long jump. Geordie Beamish and Josh Ledger, former Collegiate students, will compete in the senior men's 1500m and 800m respectively.

Many of the above athletes used Tuesday's club night as preparation for the weekend.

Alice Bird ran 1000m in the 1500m race and set a personal best, beating her target time of 3m12s by over 1s, and on Saturday she aims to run her first sub-4.50s 1500m. Similarly, Emma Abraham, Jane Lennox and Brittany Matthews were inside their 1km targets. Megan Mackay chose to run 600m in the same race and looked sharp, she will also contest the 1500m on Saturday.

The 1500m was won by Dan McLeod, with Year 9 athlete Jack Gay impressing with a good first-up sub-5m effort (4:54.65s).

Harry Symes handed out a rare defeat to decathlete, Max Attwell over 300m and in the process set a personal best time of 36.00s. Attwell's time of 36.3s, 10 days out from his decathlon was also encouraging. Sam Merson, in third, set a personal best of 39.01s with Riley Culver and Christian Conder finishing fourth and fifth with confidence-boosting performances of 39.04s and 39.92s respectively.

In the second heat, Jamie Gillespie, who also runs in the 1500m on Saturday, ran a personal best 41.0s with young Oliver O'Leary winning the race with a personal best of 40.75s.

Genna Maples continued to defeat older athletes over 100m (13.76s) into a strong head wind and 300m in 47.11s. She continues to show outstanding potential.

Next week the club night will be held in Palmerston North as part of a new initiative to hold the Centre Championships on consecutive weekends, which allows athletes to effectively undertake more events on the programme. The second week of the championships will be held in conjunction with our club night in Wanganui on the following Tuesday, February 17.

It was pleasing to see large numbers at the club on Tuesday, with more than 100 athletes in attendance. It did, however, highlight the urgent need for more officials.