Athletics New Zealand – Angie Smit Zane & Jake Robertson, Julian Matthews & Zoe Hobbs post PB\’s & Wkly R

RUSSIA – 27th Summer Universiade Arena Stadium Kazan – 7-12 July 2013
Angie Smit broke through on the international stage with personal bests in the 800m and the 1500m and claiming a start in the 800m at the Moscow world championships. The 21 year old from Canterbury finished fourth in the final of the 800m in a PB 2m 00.03s and fifth in the final of the 1500m again in a PB 4m 11.72s.

Angie had to spend several hours during the day, after her 800m final, sleeping off the heat exhaustion and fatigue from her three rounds of effort in very hot conditions. Despite this setback, she recovered to post her second PB in the 1500m final. During the fast paced start, she positioned herself well in the pack. Running a heady tactical race Angie responded when necessary to set her up for a strong finish in the last 300m moving from ninth to fifth in a fashion that she had also done in the 800m final. It was a magnificent effort considering she had run five races over six days at these championships. She is looking forward to a small rest, two days-set by her coach, Maria Hassan, before preparing for her assault on the world championships in Moscow.
Brent Newdick received the bronze medal in the decathlon improving from fifth place at the end of day one to score a total of 7611 points for third.
Results:
7 July: Angie Smit heat 3 800m 1st in 2m 04.68s, qualifies for semi-finals.
8 July: Brent Newdick, decathlon day 1, 100m 11.36s (-0.5) 782, long jump 7.19m (-0.5) 859, shot put 13.73m 712, high jump 1.98m 785, 400m 51.19s 761, 3899 5th. Te Rina Keenan discus throw final 52.38m 6th (x, 49.08m, 49.42m, x, x, 52.38m). Angie Smit 800m semi-final 1 2m 01.51s 4th q for final.
9 July: Angie Smit 800m final 2m 00.03s PB 4th. Brent Newdick decathlon day 2, 110m hurdles 15.60s (+0.3) 778, discus throw 44.04m 747, pole vault 4.70m 819, javelin throw 59.18m 726, 1500m 4m 46.21s 642, 7611 3rd.
10 July: Te Rina Keenan shot put 15.74m q (15.74m, 15.00m, 14.92m). Angie Smit 1500m heat 1 4m 17.94s 7th q, Rebekah Greene 1500m heat 2 4m 30.00s 9th DNQ, 19th overall. Julia Ratcliffe hammer throw final 65.17m 8th (x, 64.76m, x, x, 65.17m, x). Liz Lamb high jump 1.84m q, Emma Sutherland high jump 1.65m DNQ, 22nd overall. Fiona Morrison 100m hurdles heat 3 13.48s (+2.1) 4th DNQ 13th overall.
11 July: Te Rina Keenan shot put final 16.11m 10th (16.11m, 15.75m, 15.44m).
12 July: Liz Lamb high jump final 1.80m 10th (1.75m o, 1.80m o, 1.84m xxx). Angie Smit 1500m final 4m 11.72s PB 5th.

UKRAINE
8th World Youth Championships, Olympic Stadium Donetsk – 10-14 July 2013
Pole vaulter Eliza McCartney provided the best New Zealand performance of the world youth championships, placing fourth in the final, clearing 4.05 metres. The Auckland sixteen year old cleared 4.05m on her second attempt, just missing third place on the countback, before having three attempts at 4.15 metres, which would have improved her New Zealand record of 4.11m. McCartney went into the final ranked eighth but beat several athletes with personal bests over 4.30m in the final. Zoe Hobbs made it through to the semi-finals of the 100m after clocking a personal best of 11.92s (-0.8) in the heats.
Results:
10 July: Benedict Chong Wong shot put 17.96m DNQ (17.96m, 17.57m, x), 24th overall. Matthew Bloxham shot put 16.10m DNQ (16.10m, x, x), 33rd overall. Shannon Gearey 400m heat 6 55.69s 3rd Q. Rosa Flanagan 1500m heat 2 4m 36.00s 10th DNQ, 20th overall. Zoe Hobbs 100m heat 5 11.92s (-0.8) PB 4th q. Kara MacDermid 3000m final 9m 56.36s 14th, Audrey Gregan 3000m final 9m 56.60s 15th.
11 July: Matthew Bloxham hammer throw 5kg 73.83m Q. James Sandilands 110m hurdles heat 6 fell DNF. Tarryn Davey 800m heat 3 2m 10.93s 5th DNQ, 17th overall. Eliza McCartney pole vault 3.90m Q. Shannon Gearey 400m semi-final 1 55.77s DNQ 17th overall. Zoe Hobbs 100m semi final 2 11.97s (-0.3) 5th DNQ, 14th overall.
12 July: Matthew Bloxham hammer throw 5kg final 71.77m 11th, (71.77m, x, x).
13 July: Sam Ulufonua discus throw 54.15m DNQ (x, 52.58m, 54.15m), 18th overall. Charlie Gamble discus throw 53.11m DNQ (53.11m x, x) 22nd overall. Medley relay (Abby Goldie, Zoe Hobbs, Megan Kukuchi, Shannon Gearey) heat 1 2m 13.00s 5th DNQ, 10th overall. Eliza McCartney pole vault final 4.05m 4th (3.80m o, 3.95m o, 4.05m xo, 4.15m xxx).

BELGIUM
KBC-Nacht Meeting, De Veen Stadium Heusden-Zolder – 13 July 2013
Zane Robertson ran the race of his life over 5000m, finishing ninth in 13m 13.83s, under the A selection standard of 13m 15s for the Moscow world championships. Twin brother Jake finished 11th in 13m 15.54s, comfortably under the B standard of 13m 20s. Both took around seven seconds off their previous best times for the distance.

Zane's time moves him up to third on the New Zealand all-time list behind national record holder Adrian Blincoe (13m 10.19s) and former world record holder Dick Quax (13m 12.86s), but ahead of Kiwi running legends Rod Dixon and John Walker. Jake slots in at fourth place on the list.
With Jake already selected in the team for Moscow in the 10,000 metres, the twenty three year old former Hamilton twins, now based in Kenya and Ethiopia, will wait to see if the selectors add Zane to the nine-strong New Zealand team. They will be based for the next few weeks in St Moritz with their coach Steve Willis.
At the same meeting 2012 national 1500m champion Julian Matthews ran a personal best by nearly two seconds in finishing fifth in the B 1500m in 3m 38.59s. He moves to number 18 on the New Zealand all time rankings for the 1500m.

Flanders Cup Guldenspren Meeting, Kortrijk – 14 July 2013
Monique Dell was fourth in heat 2 of the 400m in 54.09s.

SPAIN
IAAF World Challenge, Madrid – 13 July 2013
Tom Walsh's hopes of making the world championships were dashed, finishing short of the required B selection standard of 20.10m. In one of his last opportunities to compete in Moscow Walsh was out to 18.53m for ninth place, short of his best of 20.09m set in Switzerland two weeks ago, that performance an agonizing one centimetre away from the B standard. His series was x, 18.47m, 18.53m from an extremely slippery circle. Georgi Ivanov of Bulgaria won with 20.57m from Germany’s David Storl 20.20m.

AUCKLAND
Auckland Cross Country Championships, Barry Curtis Park East Tamaki – 13 July 2013
Jono Jackson won his first Auckland senior athletic title with a convincing run in the senior cross country championship at Barry Curtis Park on Saturday.
Jackson kept Malcolm Hicks at bay throughout the 12,000m race winning by 24 seconds in 40m 24s. On the second to last of the six 2000m circuits Jackson upped his pace just to be clear of any sprint finish that may have eventuated with Hicks.
After a second to Stephen Lett in 2011 and a fifth placing last year Jackson was delighted to finally clinch a senior title.
“It is good to finally get one under the belt. It is the first year that I’ve been able to have a full build up,” said Jackson.

“Malcolm was very close for most of the race and I decided that I didn’t want him to have a sniff on the last lap so I put in my big effort on the fifth lap,” he added.
Lett was third in 41m 45s with Brent Henley fourth in 41m 57s.
Holly Van Dalen also took out her first Auckland title in winning the senior women’s 8000m in 30m 24s. Van Dalen was locked in a three way battle with Penny Peskett and Annika Pfitzinger going into the final 2000m. The 24 year old applied the pressure, made a break and went on for a five second winning margin over Peskett. Pfitzinger was third in 30m 35s.
Van Dalen said the plan was just to run as hard as needed to win.

“I wanted not to have too harder race as I’ve had a full week of training. I just wanted to stay with the others for 6000m and then try and push it. But the other two were really strong and good competitors so it was an awesome race,” said Van Dalen.
“It was good to have a practice over 8km before the nationals because I’ve never done 8km cross country before as the NCAA races in the States are over 6km,” she added.
Ben Moynihan won the men under 20 8000m in 27m 31s, outgunning the previous unbeaten this season Matthew Baxter.

“I felt pretty good coming into it but I didn’t think I’d be able to take on Matt because he’s such a strong cross country runner,” said Moynihan.
Baxter second in 28m 2s said that he had been trouble with an injury over the past three weeks.
“I’ve had an inflamed heal and only been back into it this week, so I thought I would have a blow out and see what I could do today,” said Baxter.
“Ben is a strong runner and I was glad if anyone was going to take it in front of me it was him,” he added.
Ashleigh Williams won the women’s under 20 while Johan Van Hoovels and Rachel Penney were the fastest in the masters’ championships. George Knowles won the U/18, Jesse Weldschidt the U/15, Sam Duncan the U/13, Kaitlin Petherick U/18, Madi Doar from Whangarei the U/15, Zaria Ireland the U/13. The under 11 championships went to Joshua Brown and Kate Duncan.

Racewalking Auckland Harry Kerr 5 x 10000m Track Relay, Mt Smart Stadium – 14 July 2013
In changeable conditions, the 6th Harry Kerr Centennial 5 x 10000m Racewalking Track Relay was won by the Racewalking Auckland A team in a time of 4h 42m 55s. The team comprised of Esther Gonzales, Jared Free, Mike Parker, Mike Morresey, and Miguel Angel Blanco Rodriguez. In second place, was the Wellington Scottish team of John Leonard, Terri Grimmet, Kevin Watson, Bob Gardner and Peter Baillie who took 5h 19m 44s.

Other teams from Racewalking Auckland, and the Wellington Centre filled the other placings.
An Auckland Racewalking Junior team of Liam White, Ella and Lilly Breslin took part over a shorter distance of 4400m in total.

A special event, the Kerr Rowland 3500m was raced over the exact distance that Harry Kerr and Arthur Rowland raced over at the 1908 Olympics, with Harry Kerr securing the first ever Olympic medal – a bronze.
The race at Mt Smart was officially started by Keith Olsthoorn, one of New Zealand's first representatives at an IAAF World Championship in 1983. One of Harry Kerr's grandsons, Craig Kerr, was on hand to present the trophy to the winning team.
 
CHRISTCHURCH
Canterbury Cross Country Championships, Halswell Quarry – 13 July 2013
Callan Moody, second last year to Sam Wreford, won the senior 12km title in 37m 38s. Daniel Balchin was third in 37m 51s with Hayden McLaren third in 38m 17s. Flora Brocherie improved from third last year to win the senior women’s 8km in 29m 58s. Kim Chambers was second in 31m 28s with Kathryn Bunckenberg third in 34m 11s. Richard Bennett M45 cut out the masters 8km in 27m 28s, while Fiona Gilroy was the fastest in the master women 6km with 23m 52s. Matthew Dryden won the junior men 8km in 26m 22s, Sean Eustace the youth men 6km in 19m 17s, Margot Gibson the junior women 6km in 22m 24s and Amelia Morgan the youth women 4km in 14m 34s. Other winners; all over 3km Ari Graham G14 11m 45s, Georgia Stroud G13 11m 49s, Mya Graham G12 12m 8s and Bella Belcher G11 12m 45s. Christopher Dryden B14 4km 13m 55s and Nick Moulai B13 14m 34s. Ayrton Shadbolt B12 3km 12m 10s and Oscar Fossey B11 11m 48s.
 
DUNEDIN
Otago Cross Country Championships, Waikouaiti Race Course – 13 July 2013
Peter Meffan won the senior 12km in 39m 57s from Caden Shields 40m 22s and Ben Anderson 41m 14s. Shauna Pali collected the senior women’s title in 32m 9s for the 8km, from Shireen Crumpton 33m 3s and Deborah Lynch 34m 4s. Alan Funnell was the fastest in the master men 8km in 29m 29s and Louisa Andrew was the best in the master women 6km in 23m 8s. Other winners were Samuel Bremer U/20 8km 27m 17s, Sian English U/20 6km 23m 37s, Benjamin Wardhaugh U/18 6km 21m 48s, Hannah English U/18 6km 23m 21s, Oliver Chignall U/16 6km 21m 45s and Jessie Murphy U/16 4km 16m 37s.

SOUTHLAND
Southland Cross Country Championships, Waimumu – 13 July 2013
Jack Beaumont convincingly proved himself Southland’s best cross country runner with a convincing championship win over a hilly, slippery Waimumu farm course. The 16 year Winton club member chose to run up a grade, preferring the longer distance and to allow him to run an extra lap to qualify for the teams race over 12km. At 9km he had his MU20 gold medal then carried on for a fourth lap and even with easing off, still finished 2m 40s ahead of Gore’s Ricky Gutsell. Gutsell at 51 also ran out of his age grade, winning the senior men’s title by a minute from Scott Underhay (St Pauls). With Gutsell running senior the masters’ title went to Corey Mennell (Rivt) with Tyrone Lake (Inv) and Steve Gemmell (Gore) taking minor medals. Kathy Maclachlan was first masters women and Debbie Telfer second in to win the MW50 gold. Jordan Rackham (Inv) was too good over the 6km MU18 course, winning by a big margin from Tom Wylie (St Pauls).

Hannah Miller (Gore) was first woman home and second overall to Rackham over two laps to take the WU18 gold with Grace Buckingham (StP) silver medallist. Buddy Small (St Pauls) maintained his season unbeaten record with a superb win in the junior one-lap race, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of club mate Jack McKenzie, with both taking gold medals, Small in the B14 grade and McKenzie B12. The G14 title came down to a sprint finish with Kate Johnstone just edging out Prue Buckingham while Emily Knowler was first G12. Jack’s extra lap gave Southland Country (combination of the rural clubs) the team’s race by 25 points from St Pauls with Mennell and Fiordland pair of Dwight Grieve and Alistair Green the other scoring members. St Pauls won the women’s team by two points from Invercargill with Buckingham, Maclachlan and Marie Muhl the winning team members.

OBITUARY
A life time staunch supporter of athletics in Taranaki Laurie O’Keefe MBE of Eltham died on Monday 8 July 2013 aged 83.
Laurie was President of Athletics New Zealand 1971-72 and was awarded an Athletics New Zealand Merit Award in 2002.

He was the athletic section manager to the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, the throws referee at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games and was a walks judge at the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games. Laurie’s highlight as an official was at Cooks Garden Wanganui in 1962 when Peter Snell broke the world mile record. Laurie was the referee and had to verify the track measurement; the time recorded on the stop watches and was responsible for signing off the world record application. There is a picture of Laurie and Peter Snell holding the signed off application, which Laurie was very proud of.

Laurie was an active competitor during the 1940’s and 1950’s taking part in a wide range of events from field events, long jump, pole vault etc to the track over 440 and 880 yards. His best placing as a junior was second to Ron Jarden in the 1948 national junior 440 yards championship. He trialled for the 1950 Auckland British Empire Games and on missing team selection attended as a spectator. More recently Laurie attended the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Laurie was President of the previous West Coast North Island Centre in 1978 and was made a Life Member of that Centre. He was also a Life Member of Athletics Taranaki.

He was made a Member of the British Empire for his services to athletics in the 1991 New Year honours.
Laurie was a man of wisdom, knowledge and kindness who will be missed.
   
Murray McKinnon
Athletics Correspondent
Athletics New Zealand
0274 806086
murray@mckinnon.co.nz

Athletics New Zealand