Attwell was disappointed with his second and third-round fouls in the long jump. Both were close and long; the latter especially would have scored highly. A headwind of 1 - 5m/s probably cost him further points in the hurdles.
In the pole vault, Attwell came so close to a personal best, narrowly missing at 4.81 metres at the end of a two-and-a-half-hour competition.
He cleared 4.71 on his second attempt, and there was a collective gasp from the big group of spectators as it looked like he had cleared the bar at 4.81 metres, only to dislodge it with the slightest touch of his chin on the descent.
Attwell won the decathlon on Sunday by 935 points from Christchurch Old Boys United Club mate Masaki Toomoka, with Cameron Moffitt from Hull City University Otago a further 350 points in arrears for third.
On Saturday, the day that Attwell ran his fastest 400m, his 2014 Whanganui Collegiate teammate and fellow team member in the winning New Zealand Schools 4 x 400 team, Geordie Beamish, won an indoor mile in Boston, USA with a time of 3:51.22 to become New Zealand’s third-fastest miler of all time, with only Sir John Walker and Nick Willis ahead of him.
Christina Ryan from Christchurch Old Boys United made it six senior titles in a row, sealing her win with a six-second personal best in the final 800m on Sunday (2:20.96). It had been a close battle throughout the two days. Ryan finally won by 152 points from clubmate Maddie Wilson, with Briana Stephenson (Auckland) 108 points further back on 5127.
The standard was high, with three scoring more than 5000 points. Alice Taylor, competing for Hamilton Hawkes, only missed scoring 5000 by 59 points. Taylor came so close to the stadium record in the high jump, jumping 1.83 metres (1016 points) and came tantalisingly close to the record at 1.86 metres. Whanganui athlete Maggie Jones retained her Under-20 title.
Jones, a specialist hurdler, made a mistake over an early hurdle but regained her rhythm and finished in 15.30, a second below her best, set in Christchurch six days earlier. Jones recovered to win by 137 points with a score of 4071, which was 61 points better than her winning effort last year.
Sophie Sones of Auckland was second with 3334 points. Angus Lyver from Palmerston North retained his Under-20 decathlon title with a personal best of 6595 points, nearly 500 points better than his previous best, to further demonstrate his high potential as a Combined Event athlete. He was particularly impressive in the javelin, with a 61.68m throw the longest of the day.
He is helped in his throws by Whanganui coach Richard Drabczynski. The Under-18 Women’s was won by Med Edwards of Christchurch Old Boys United, rounding off an outstanding weekend for her club. Edwards scored 4669, 874 points clear of Saskia Rhind of Tauranga.
The Men’s Under-18 title was won by 15-year-old Australian Maddox Wilson (Essendon, Victoria) with a score of 5242, who enjoyed the camaraderie and support of all the decathletes in the three grades contested. Athletes and officials enjoyed the weekend - if not the weather - on Saturday.
There are always special smiles on the faces of the decathletes after the final 1500m and from the women heptathletes at the end of the 800m.
Most of the athletes will be back at the track and field nationals in Wellington. Jonathan Maples, Brad Mathas (now Melbourne) Travis Bayler are in the Senior Men’s category; Flynn Johnston, Theo Almazan, Jacky Dai, Daniel Sinclair and Maggie Jones are in the Under-20 category; Rosa Meyer, Harriet Douglas and Greta Darke are in the Under-18 category; and Juliet McKinlay and Hannah Byam are in the Under-16 category. Sadly, James Hercus, Louise Brabyn and Pascale Bowie will miss the nationals due to Covid.
