Baptism by fire for Sinclair

It was baptism by fire for Wairarapa athlete Cameron Sinclair when he contested the men's 19yrs section at the national decathlon championships in Hamilton at the weekend and he now has a silver medal to show for his efforts.
It was Sinclair first-ever try at a decathlon and while he finished some 800pts behind the winner, who, incidentally, has had six years experience at the event, he managed to make a big impact in his specialist disciplines, 100m, 400m, 1500m and javelin.
Coach Mark Harris was delighted with Sinclair's performance, saying the decision to compete at Hamilton had been made because of his versatility.
"We knew we were throwing him in at the deep end but we believed he was good enough in a number of spheres to at least make a competitive showing," he said.
The most testing assignment for Sinclair was undoubtedly the pole vault with a lack of suitable equipment in Wairarapa meaning he had no opportunity to train for that particular discipline.
"Considering he had little idea of what he was doing it was pretty remarkable that he even managed to get a height recorded against his name there," Harris said.