The 2022 event was cancelled because of Covid-19 and we return to the scheduled 2022 venue.
It does not surprise me that the number of entries has fallen from the last edition in Hamilton in 2021.
This is especially evident in the senior grade where many are already involved with winter trials.
There are other factors including the effect of Covid, the rise in the cost of living, and a direct clash with Secondary Schools Summer Sports Tournament week.
It is also hardly surprising that Hawke’s Bay Gisborne team is considerably smaller after Cyclone Gabrielle.
The Whanganui team of 47 is as large as in 2021 and is pleasing to see numbers at both our own championships and in the representative team have not fallen encouragingly nearly a third of the team are seniors with nine from Whanganui Collegiate School, five from Whanganui High School and one from Cullinane College (Louemelie Fricker on exchange from Germany).
Whanganui High School provides the core of a strong senior sprint relay squad headed by Damian Hodgson, Thomas Gowan and Vincent Walters while Whanganui Collegiate is heavily represented in the middle-distance events with seven of their nine athletes.
It is pleasing to see some of the younger athletes featured last week making the next step with Hayden Stead (Rangitikei College) in the intermediate boys’ sprints and James McGregor and Daniel McMillan-Steele (High School) making a junior sprint debut.
Stead joins a strong 4x100 relay squad which will include the Whanganui Collegiate School quartet of Parlay Clarke, Filipe Bayly, Samuel Hermann and Dominic Bingle, Whanganui High School athletes Caleb Houlahan and Justin Falconer (High School) to ensure strong competition for team selection.
It is pleasing to see that juniors Grace Fannin (Girls College) and Lulu Dufty (High School) have made themselves available.
Fannin shone in the 300 metres and 800 metres where in the latter she made a seven-second improvement over 800 metres at Club Night a week after the Whanganui Schools Championships, while Dufty stood out in the jumps and will contest long, triple and high jumps in Palmerston North this weekend.
The Whanganui Schools Championships wrapped up at club night last week with the 300-metre hurdles and steeplechase events contested.
Juliet McKinlay (Whanganui Collegiate) won the junior girls’ race from Isla Jones (Whanganui High School) who had shown such versatility a week earlier at the championships.
McKinlay missed the main events as she was away on a Year 10 Camp but as a New Zealand under-16 in triple jump and medal winner in the long jump and 80 m hurdles, she has been included in all four events in Palmerston North.
Maggie Jones as a guest won the women’s 300-metre hurdles from Pascale Bowie (Collegiate) who took the senior title to add to her wins over 400 metres and 800 metres, sadly there were small fields in all three.
New Zealand Schools champion Louise Brabyn (Whanganui Collegiate) was the winner of the combined 2000 metre steeplechase with a performance that shows she is on the road to recovery following Covid that had kept her out of the Athletics New Zealand Championships.
The ever-improving teammate Rosa Meyer was second impressing on debut (7:32.03) finishing 13 seconds behind Brabyn.
Greta Darke took the under-16 title from Hannah Byam (both Collegiate). Daniel Sinclair ran a national Class 6:03.27 to win against three Whanganui Collegiate teammates rounding off an impressive championship.
The club season ended as it started in the rain on Tuesday.
It has been a summer that has seen weather fluctuations with rain affecting the New Zealand Schools in Inglewood, the Colgate Games and Cooks Classic in Whanganui but glorious weather greeted the New Zealand Masters and Whanganui Schools.
Only a few athletes braved the cold and wet on Tuesday but a competitive 100 metres was won by Samu Hermann (12.19) with Kate Macpherson the leading female.
Nate Burke won the 400 metres (57.09) with Grace Fannin the leading female (1:05.66). There was a bigger field in the 1500 metres where James Hercus had a confidence-lifting win post-Covid (4:04.83).
