Wairarapa athletes shine in Classic contest

Wairarapa athletes produced a series of outstanding performances at the high profile Sylvia Potts Classic held at Hastings over the weekend.

A number of the country's best track and field exponents competed at the event named after a champion middle distance runner and while most Wairarapa entrants were up against older and more experienced opposition they more than held their own.

The women's 100m sprints saw three Wairarapa runners break the 13sec barrier, Sian Chapman with 12.86s, Simone Small 12.88sc and Lauren Balsille 12.96s, while two of the men clocked better than 12s over the same distance, Alex Howden fastest with 11.30s and Finn Yeats close behind with 11.48s.

Small won her heat of the 400m in 1min 6.9s and Chapman, a relative newcomer to the longer distance, ran a respectable 1min 11.14s.

Perhaps the highlight of the meet was the women's 800m which drew a quality line-up and Wairarapa youngster Alison Andrews-Paul confirmed her standing as a potential top-liner by placing seventh in a swift 2min 14.74s. Winner was Angie Smit of Canterbury University in 2min 7.23s.

The 2x100m relays also provided pleasing results for Wairarapa with Small and Chapman combining to place second in the women's race in 24.98s and Yeats and Howden teaming up to place fourth in the men's race in 22.43s.

In the field events it was national age group representative Alex Fafeita who provided the highlight for Wairarapa. He was second in the men's hammer throw with a distance of 53.49m while Tom Quinn was fourth with 40.34m, the same placing he filled in the javelin with a throw of 43.18m.

There was a good effort too from Emma Kruszona in the women's hammer throw where she was fourth with a throw of 39.47m.