Athletics Insight: Young Whanganui hurdlers show promise for future

The Whanganui junior 300 metre hurdle finalists (from left) Grace Fannin (Whanganui Girls College), Hannah Byam (Whanganui Collegiate School), James McGregor, Alex Payne and Lucas Howard (Whanganui High School).

Medals were the icing on the cake for Whanganui athletes at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships in Timaru at the beginning of the month.

The cake itself was rich and full of promise.

The six Whanganui medal winners were highlighted in last week’s Insight and this week I turn to the many outstanding and promising performances from Whanganui athletes who did not step on to the podium.

Fourth place is meritorious in any major competition but often carries with it the disappointment of what might have been. I have heard it described as the “lead medal” (one that is heavy to carry in terms of disappointment).

Three Whanganui athletes and one relay team finished fourth. Juliet McKinlay (Whanganui Collegiate School) in the senior girls triple jump (10.77 metres), although narrowly missing the podium, gained consolation with bronze medals in javelin and 100m hurdles and from being named “most promising combined event athlete of the meet”.

Auguz Thongskul (Whanganui High School) was fourth in the junior boys long jump, an event in which he gained bronze a year earlier. The fact that he jumped considerably further than a year earlier was of little consolation. Thongskul experienced run-up problems and had to contend with an injury-interrupted preparation.

Lulu Dufty also had injury problems in the build-up which restricted her competition preparation. She should be delighted with her fourth position and her 10.42m jump, confirming she can go far in the sport.

Damian Hodgson’s outstanding 300m hurdle title was highlighted last week and it is pleasing that Whanganui was represented by five athletes from three schools in the junior divisions of the event, with the promise of hurdling succession.

The junior 300m hurdles was introduced in 2016; previously the event was open. There has been growth in the event, particularly for the girls where, for the first time, entries necessitated three rounds in Timaru.

Grace Fannin (Whanganui Girls College) sat in ninth position after the preliminary, rising to sixth in the semifinal and finishing fifth in the final with a personal best of 47.17s. This reversed the semifinal positions where hurdle training partner Hannah Byam (Whanganui Collegiate) was in fifth after a personal best of 48.74s. Byam was slightly slower in the final but had run to silver in the 2000m steeplechase two hours earlier. Hannah Cameron (Whanganui High School) made the semifinal on debut, finishing 12th following the Year 9’s promising 10th in the high jump, equalling her 1.45m personal best.

Junior hurdles success was not restricted to the girls. Whanganui High School had three who made it through to the boy’s final. James McGregor was fifth with a big personal best of 41.72s, Lucas Howard sixth (43.80s) and Alex Payne eighth (44.90s) with Reiley Thomas just missing the final finishing 10th. McGregor and Thomas joined Ethan Wells, who earlier set a personal best in 200m preliminaries, and 100m bronze medal winner Hayden Stead in the Whanganui High School silver medal junior 4 x 100m team. Payne, Wells, Howard and McGregor finished sixth in the junior 4 x 400m. Middle distance runner Sean Frieslaar, who had run a personal best in the junior 800m semifinal, Thomas, Isla Jones and Annabelle Brown competed in the junior mixed 4 x 400m team, finishing fourth. Whanganui Collegiate had two teams in the senior mixed 4 x 400m relay with the A team (Toohey, Byam, McKinlay and Nathan Burke) sixth and the B team (Samuel Hermann, Tilly Darke, Jones and Olivia Gilbertson) eighth.

Relays play a vital part in a school’s development programme, giving often inexperienced athletes confidence and a chance to run in a final.

Personal bests, as so often mentioned in this column, are as vital in building athletes’ confidence and motivation.

Oliver Toohey (Collegiate) threw a personal best 45.19m in javelin for 10th. Thomas Gowan (High School) equalled his best in the 400m (51.82s) for 11th. Toby Gill (Collegiate), although small in stature, is big in heart. He had Covid in the final preparation and, although near the back of the junior boys 1500m field, took five seconds off his previous best, coming tantalisingly close to reaching his goal of going under 5 minutes (5:00.90). Oliver Jones (Collegiate) had a difficult tactical 1500m heat, falling short of his best. Jones bounced back the following day finishing 15th in the 6000m senior road race, surpassing his previous best through 5000m and over 6000m.

I wish all a wonderful Christmas and New Year and look forward to an exciting year on the new resurfaced Cooks Gardens track.