Athletics: Whanganui students shine at North Island Schools event

Daniel Sinclair in action earlier this season. Photo / Nat Kirk

Daniel Sinclair rounded off a great end to his season with a brace of wins at the North Island Schools meeting in Palmerston North at the weekend.

At the Athletics New Zealand Championships at the beginning of March, Sinclair won the New Zealand under-20 1500-metre title in impressive fashion, slicing more than seven seconds from his personal best to head the New Zealand rankings with his 3:51.7.

In Palmerston North, Sinclair stepped up to run the 3000m and, in a demanding battle, he held off the challenge of Elliot Pugh (Waikato) in the closing stages to win in 8:30.73, taking eight seconds off his previous personal best and bringing Whanganui Secondary Schools their first gold at the championships. The following day Sinclair added the steeplechase title, breaking Hugo Beamish’s (brother of Geordie) Whanganui Collegiate School record with a time of 5:58.47 and, in the process, became the first Collegiate athlete to break 2 minutes for 800m, 4 minutes for 1500m, 9 minutes for 3000m and 6 minutes for 2000m steeplechase.

Sinclair was not done for the weekend, as 90 minutes after the steeples he joined his cousin James Hercus and Whanganui High School 400m runners Thomas Gowan and Damian Hodgson in the bronze medal-winning 4 x 400 senior boys team. Gowan and Hodgson had both set bests in the 400m with Gowan finishing fourth in a very promising 52.54 performance and Hodgson in sixth with 53.61, demonstrating real promise for both athletes next season. Hercus, who missed the New Zealand championships with Covid and had a difficult recovery, finished fourth in the 800m in a personal best 1:55.51.

Sinclair’s steeples win was only a short time after his Whanganui Collegiate teammate Louise Brabyn backed up her New Zealand Schools steeples title with a North Island title. Brabyn, too, had missed the New Zealand Championships with Covid. It was a good day for Whanganui steeplechasers, with Sinclair’s training partner Toby Caro finishing second in 6:15.59 for a big personal best and a performance that heads the New Zealand under-18 rankings. Caro had finished sixth in the 3000m (8:44.54 a full 9 seconds inside his previous best). In the junior steeples, Hannah Byam also set a personal best of 7:40.96 to take second.

Rosa Meyer made a massive step up to take 23 seconds off her best 3000m to finish third with a 10:06.90 performance. The following day Meyer took six seconds off her 1500m time to finish fifth in 4:47.42, highlighting her outstanding debut season.

Juliet Mckinlay showed her versatility by finishing third in the 80m hurdles and 300m hurdles with respective personal best times of 12.59 and 48.53. Mckinlay backed these up with fourth places in both the triple jump (10.37) and long jump (4.99) following a very consistent series of jumps that bode well for next season.

Isla Jones (Whanganui High School) overcame her disappointment from being disqualified in the 70m junior hurdles‚ following a false start, to record a 1.45m jump to take third in the high jump, while Year 9 student David Sinclair (Daniel’s younger brother) took third in the 1500m with an almost 20-second personal best of 4:28.14. The previous day, the younger Sinclair took over 10 seconds off his 800m (2:12.46) to finish a highly creditable seventh.

The North Island Schools is an important step on an athletics pathway and it is pleasing some first-time juniors demonstrated they have the ability to make real progress in the sport provided they are prepared to work for success.

Daniel McMillan-Steele (Whanganui High School) had a good first championships, finishing fourth in the 200m following his sixth the previous day in the 100m. Although small in stature, he possesses genuine pace - well-illustrated in the 4 x 100 team with James McGregor (High School) who ran seventh and eighth respectively in the 200m and 300m, August Thongksul (High School) who had finished sixth in the 200m and fourth in the junior long jump (5.31) and Presley Bretherton (Collegiate) who had finished fifth and eighth respectively in the triple and long jumps. The team finished a highly creditable fourth.

In the intermediate grade, Hayden Stead (Rangitīkei College) had qualified sixth fastest over 200m but, as in Whanganui Schools, was a little slower in the final to finish eighth. I am sure this promising young sprinter knows how to rectify this next year.

Grace Fannin (Girls College) attempted the difficult 300m/800m double, finishing fifth in the former and 11th in the latter and setting personal bests in both.

The championships return to Palmerston North next year and Whanganui will hopefully have a larger team taking advantage of the handy venue.