Track paves way for quick times

Athletics

That new all-weather athletics track at the Colin Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton is suited to fast times.

This was proved at the North Island interprovincial age group meet held there on Saturday.

Some of the country's best young athletes aged from 14 to 17 participated in the event and while the onus was on picking up points for the team competition there were several outstanding individual performances.

Wairarapa's Alison Andrews-Paul provided one of the highlights when she clocked a personal best of 59.37s in winning the girls 15yrs 400m. All told 26 girls competed over that distance and Andrews-Paul was the only one to break the 60s barrier.

In the boys 400m events it was the powerful Counties-Manukau runner Bailey Stewart who captured the attention when he clocked 49.74s in winning the boys 16yrs race. And, what's more, he looked to have something in reserve at the finish.

The diminutive Waikato-Bay of Plenty representative Paige Satchell simply ran her rivals off their feet in the girls 14yrs 800m and 1500m events, with impressive front-running performances. Her times of 2min 20.84s for the 800m and 4min 43.35s for the 1500m were way faster than those returned by the victors in the older age groups.

Wellington won both the major team titles and the strong Wairarapa contingent in their line-up certainly aided their cause on the track and field.

Last week also saw several Wairarapa athletes compete at the Cooks Classic in Wanganui on Tuesday and Capital Classic in Wellington on Friday.

Wairarapa results:

100m, Girls 14yrs: Lauren Balsillie 13.17s 1, Toyah Churton 14.16s 9. Girls 15yrs: Tyler Griffiths 13.70s 3, Emma Kruszona 15.11s 9. Girls 16yrs: Sian Chapman 13.11s 2. Boys 14yrs: Finn Yeats 11.77s 2. Boys 16yrs: Dhruv Raman 12.30s 8, Edward Hewitt 12.54s 9. Boys 17yrs: Alex Howden 11.52s 2.

200m, Girls 14yrs: Lauren Balsillie 28s 5, Toyah Churton 28.81s 7. Girls 15yrs: Alison Andrews-Paul 27.10s 2, Tyler Griffiths 28.60s 4. Girls 16yrs: Sian Chapman 27.31s 3. Boys 16yrs: Dhruv Raman 24.64s 10, Edward Hewitt 24.65s 11. Boys 17yrs: Alex Howden 23.09s 2.

400m, Girls 15yrs: Alison Andrews-Paul 59.37s 1. Women's 16yrs: Sian Chapman 1min 3.19s 2, Tessa Laven 1min 3.30s 3. Boys 16yrs: Edward Hewitt 53.82s 3, Dhruv Raman 55.63s 7. Boys 17yrs: Alex Howden 53.48s 3.

800m, Girls 16yrs: Tessa Laven 2min 26.98s 2.

Long jump, Girls 14yrs: Toyah Churton 4.52m 9, Lauren Balsillie 4.03m 17. Girls 15yrs: Alison Andrews-Paul 4.40m, 4.

High jump, Girls 15yrs: Tyler Griffiths 1.25m 4. Girls 16yrs: Tessa Laven 1.38m 4. Boys 14yrs: Finn Yeats 1.75m 1.

Shot put, Girls 15yrs: Emma Kruszona 9.36m 2. Girls 16yrs: Katie Smith 12.95m 1. Boys 14yrs: Finn Yeats 10.45m 4.

Discus, Girls 15yrs: Emma Kruszona 30m 3. Girls 16yrs: Katie Smith 27.53m 2.

Javelin, Girls 16yrs: Katie Smith 20.82m 1.

Classic results:

Cooks Classic - 100m women: Simone Small 12.82s 1 (heat one), Sian Chapman 13.15s 7(heat two). 100m men: Finn Yeats 11.58s 3, Dhruv Raman 12.23s 5 (heat one), Alex Howden 11.21s 2 (heat two). 400m women: Molly Creagh 1min 10.30s 6. 400m men: Dhruv Raman 54.67s 7. 800m women: Stevie Paine 2min 19.82s 2. 1500m women: Alison Andrews-Paul 5min 11.34s 11, Stevie Paine 5min 18.32s 12. 2 by 100m relay women: Sian Chapman and Simone Small 24.96s. 2 by 100m relay men: Alex Howden and Finn Yeats 22.04s 5. Shot put women: Katie Smith 12.45m 3. Shot put men: Tom Quinn 10.73m 3. Discus women: Katie Smith 28.88m 5. Javelin men: Tom Quinn 42.50m 4.

Capital Classic - 100m senior women: Simone Small 12.82s 4. 100m senior men: Alex Howden 11.37s 10. 800m senior women: Molly Creagh 2min 19.89s 3. 1500m junior women: Stevie Paine 4min 56.5s 3. Shot put under-18 women: Katie Smith 12.42m 1. Shot put under-20 men: Alex Fafeita 15.51m 1, Tim Girling-McLean 13.99m 3, Tom Quinn 11.16m 4. Discus under-18 women: Emma Kruszona 31.90m 1, Katie Smith 26.45m 3. Hammer throw under-18 women: Emma Kruszona 37.08m 1, Grace Quinn 30.24m 3. Hammer throw senior men: Alex Fafeita 57.62m 1, Tom Quinn 40.14m 2, Javelin senior men: Tom Quinn 41.70m 4.