Athletics Insight: Major confidence boost for George Beamish before Olympics

George Beamish is in good form heading into his first Olympics. Photo / Photosport

The British sporting media continue to be dominated by Euro 2024 football, Wimbledon and cyclist Mark Cavendish’s record stage win in the Tour de France.

The All Blacks’ win in Dunedin had a brief mention, but any other sports news has had to come from other sources.

England managed to win their quarter-final on penalties against Switzerland and by the time this column goes to press, will have played their semifinal against the Netherlands. Many Scots will say they support Scotland and any team that is playing England and are hoping for a Dutch victory on Wednesday evening,

It was pleasing to hear from Whanganui Harriers stalwart Paula Conder about Whanganui successes at the North Island Cross Country Championships at Spa Park in Taupō last weekend. The North Island Cross Country has remained a highlight of the winter cross country calendar. Conder mentioned that pleasingly, 14 Whanganui Harrier Club members made the trip to Taupō to compete in generally fine conditions, providing good results, particularly in the masters grades.

Whanganui masters track world record holder Sally Gibbs was second across the line in the combined masters grade, breaking her own course record in the 60-64 years grade to win with a time of 20m 21.5s behind Rachel Felton (New Plymouth) running in the 45-49 grade. Felton, more than 10 years younger than Gibbs, took line honours. Whanganui’s Bex Sharratt was second in the 45-49 grade with husband Brendon Sharratt third across the line in the male grades to win the 40-44 grade in 21m 38.8s for the 6km race.

Hannah Byam was the best placed of the younger athletes, finishing 12th in the under-16 grade. Byam, who has supported and helped the Harrier club with its exciting junior development programme, said she was anxious about the race because since New Zealand Schools in mid-June, she had prioritised other activities including hockey where she plays in the Whanganui Collegiate School 1st X1. Under these circumstances, Byam should be pleased with her performance and take considerable comfort that only 5 seconds separated her from eighth. Byam was an under-16 medal winner in the 2000m steeplechase at the Athletics New Zealand Track and Field Championships in March. Saturday’s effort should give her confidence in preparation for the New Zealand Schools Championships in December when she will compete in the junior girls.

It was pleasing to see Cameron Spencer running and, although at the tail of the under-18 field, this promising young runner who had his championship debut in Christchurch as a first-year senior will learn from the experience, because only by participating and coming out of their comfort zone can athletes develop.

I thought being in the Northern Hemisphere, I would easily find some coverage of the Wanda Diamond League in Paris and, unlike following such events in New Zealand, it would be at a convenient time in the afternoon. I had to wait to find the results through websites and social media. The wait was worth it as George (Geordie) Beamish broke his New Zealand 3000m steeplechase record, stopping the clock in 8m 9.64s, 4 seconds inside his previous personal best. This was a New Zealand and Oceania record. Beamish was fifth in the race in Paris and, in an interview afterwards, mentioned he had been sick and had minor injury problems. This performance could, under these circumstances, be a major confidence boost less than a month out from his Olympic debut. Beamish was less than 3 seconds behind Kenyan Abrahan Kibiwott who finished in third. The race was won by Ethiopian Abrham Sime who set a personal best of 8m 02.36s.

Beamish joins the New Zealand athletics team for final preparation in Switzerland in the run into the Paris Olympics. I hope to see some of the New Zealand team in action at the London Diamond League on July 20 at the 2012 Olympic Stadium, now the home of West Ham United. With almost 60,000 attending, it is the largest one-day athletics meet in the world. I also look forward to catching up with two former Whanganui athletes — Scott Newman who is Athletics New Zealand’s high-performance director, and Kat Austin, the high-performance athlete support manager — in London.

The London meet, the last Diamond League before the Olympics, should finally gain media coverage in the United Kingdom for track and field.

I look forward to what I know will be a superb event.