Region's athletes star in series

Athletics

Wairarapa athletes featured prominently at the Wellington track and field championships at Newtown Park, Wellington, over the weekend with several age-group titles coming their way.

On the track Alex Howden produced a personal best time of 11.17s in winning the under-20 men's 100m with coach Mark Harris delighted to see a new starting technique working the oracle.

"Alex was clear by all of 3m after just 30m and that's what we were wanting to see," he said.

Simone Small won the senior women's 100m comfortably in 12.79s, a fine effort considering she was running into a headwind and there were a couple of gutsy performances by Michael Hammond, who followed up his win in the under-20 men's 5000m in 17min 22.05s with a third over 800m.

Quickest over all women's grades in the 800m was Alison Andrews-Paul, who won the under-20 in 2min 18.82s.

Tessa Laven ran her second-fastest time in finishing second in 2min 21.82s in the under-18 women's section and Andrea Williams won the Masters women's 40yrs title in 2min 33.81s. She also won her 100m event.

The two Masterton entrants in the 100m for athletes with disability (AWD), Daniel Anstis and Keelan Ward, were first and second respectively over 100m, Anstis winning in 13.43s.

There were three notable successes for Wairarapa in the shot put, Katie Smith in the under-18 women's grade with a put of 12.96m, Tim Girling-McLean the men's under-20 (14.32m) and Gaylene van Wijk, the Masters women 45yrs (6.32m).

The under-20 men's hammer throw title was secured by Tom Quinn with a throw of 41.88m.

Wairarapa results were:

100m, Senior women: Simone Small 12.79s 1. Under-18 women: Sian Chapman 13.06s 2, Tyler Griffiths 13.61s 5, Toyah Churton 14.06s 6, Bridget Milne 14.58s 7. Masters women 40yrs: Andrea Williams 15.31s 1. Under-20 men: Alex Howden 11.17s 1. Under-18 men: Jonty Morrison 11.91s 5, Dhruv Raman 12.06s 6. AWD men: Daniel Anstis 13.43s 1, Keelan Ward 14.90s 2.

800m, Under-18 women: Tessa Laven 2min 21.82s 3. Under-20 women: Alison Andrews-Paul 2min 18.82s 1. Masters women 40yrs: Andrea Williams 2min 33.81s 1. Under-20 men: Michael Hammond 2min 16.72s 3.

5000m, Under-20 men: Michael Hammond 17min 22.05s 1.

Triple jump, Under-18 women: Toyah Churton 9.08m 6.

Shot put, Under-18 women: Katie Smith 12.96m 1, Emma Kruszona 9.71m 4, Grace Quinn 6.32m 5. Masters women 45yrs: Gaylene Van Wijk 6.68m 1. Under-20 men: Tim Girling-McLean 14.32m 1, Tom Quinn 11.93m 2.

Hammer throw, Under-18 women: Emma Kruszona 43.41m 2, Grace Quinn 34.05m 3. Under-20 men: Tom Quinn 41.88m 1.

The New Zealand half marathon championships were also held in Wellington over the weekend and Tony Price (Masterton) took out the Masters men's 55-59 years title in a time of 1hr 25mins 13secs. He was all of eight minutes ahead of the second placegetter in that division.