Eliza McCartney is heading for the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham.
Eliza McCartney is heading for the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham.
I last wrote after the IAAF Paris Diamond League meeting three weeks ago.
I have travelled many miles, and boarded many trains and ferries since then before arriving at my brother's house in Scotland where at last I have reliable computer access.
In that intervening period I have been able to keep in touch with New Zealand and also athletes but had very limited access to send replies let alone complete an edition of Athletics Insight.
Since Paris, the Diamond League has moved to Lausanne in Switzerland, Rabat in Morocco and Monaco, with the latest edition in London last weekend.
I will be attending the next one in Birmingham on August 18 where I hope that pole vaulter Eliza McCartney can reproduce her record-breaking form from a smaller meeting in Germany where she set a new New Zealand record with a world-class vault of 4.94 metres.
At the latest Diamond League meeting she was not quite able to reproduce that form, finishing in seventh with a vault of 4.75m, a height cleared by seven athletes for the first time.
This is all valuable experience for our outstanding 21-year-old vaulter and I am sure a place in the IAAF final is an achievable goal, making Birmingham a vital event for her.
I was pleased to read in the Chronicle online that Christian Conder had a successful run in the Centre Cross Country Championships on the eve of his return to resuming his United States scholarship in Florida.
Sarah Lambert, winner of the Centre Cross Country Championship, is making good progress.
Another winner that day was Sarah Lambert who has been both diligent in her training and in sending me regularly reports on her progress.
I have had similar updates from her New Zealand Schools team mates Zach Bellamy and Liam Back including details of Tuesday's outstanding repetition session on the Wanganui Collegiate golf Course under the watchful eye of Gareth Wright.
The next major event on the horizon is the New Zealand cross country champs to be held in Wellington.
The Manawatu/Whanganui centre is fielding strong teams with very real depth particularly in the under-18 men headed by our New Zealand Schools representatives Liam Back and Zach Bellamy, ably supported by Manawatu leading athletes Benjamin Wall, Noah Macdermid, Andre Le Pine Day and Theo Purdy.
This is a group who have the potential to step onto the podium as a team.
For Back and Bellamy the race is a vital one in the build-up for the Australian Schools in August as it provides vital racing experience.
Whanganui, as mentioned back in June, provides four athletes for the New Zealand team and the four (Bellamy, Back, Lambert and Rebecca Baker) had the higher honour being amongst 14 named in the annual paper team that accesses funding for the trip to the Sunshine Coast in Australia next month.
It is hoped that all can gain encouraging performances on what will be a muddy Wellington course.
William Sinclair has had an outstanding school holidays with a third place in the North Island cross country champs and a second at the Waikato championships last weekend over the longer 10,000 metre course.
This will have given valuable endurance training for this promising Collegiate track runner as he prepares for the New Zealand championships over the under 20 distance of 8000 metres.
The recent progress made in training will be invaluable in the summer as Sinclair targets track events in the summer.
In my absence, the entry forms are out for the 41st Round the Lake Relay to be held at that wonderful Virginia Lake venue on Monday, September 10.
The race is always one of the highlights on the running calendar — the combination of venue and the excitement of the relay has guaranteed the longevity and popularity of the event.
I am pleased that Lyn White and student Jordan Hume have agreed to do the preliminary organisation to allow the event to continue.
I am back to give support with the final preparation and look forward to seeing the action unfold on the day.
In the meantime I am enjoying being able to watch high class athletics at prime time on television and look forward to Birmingham and eagerly await hopefully good results from the New Zealand Cross Country in Wellington.
