News & Updates

AUCKLAND

Sir Graeme Douglas International, Douglas Track, Henderson – 16 March 2023

A personal best shot put by Jacko Gill of 22.12m, the first time over 22 metres and a further New Zealand record by Zoe Hobbs in the 100m highlighted the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting. Gill followed up his first senior national title in Wellington two weeks ago with another win over arch rival Tom Walsh, laying down the gauntlet with his opening throw of 22.12m. Successive rounds had the shot out to 21.92m, 21.78m, 20.89m and 20.54m. Walsh’s series was 21.79m, 21.07m, F, F, 21.07m, F. Gill was delighted with his performance. “I’m stoked, I can’t believe it I’m very happy. I have wanted to throw 22 since I was 16, it was always the dream to get 22m.”

Hobbs eclipsed her New Zealand all-comers and resident 100m record of 11.07 set at the national championships with another superb sprint of 11.02 in far from ideal conditions. Bree Masters was second in 11.23 from fellow Australian Ella Connolly 11.35. Hobbs said that she didn’t have a lot of expectation coming into the race. “I just wanted to have fun and I raced quite late when the weather wasn’t the best. “I was surprised to hear that time because I didn’t have the best start. I didn’t think I would run 11.02 so it is pretty reassuring to know I can, as it wasn’t the perfect race.”

In one of the best long jump competitions for some time Liam Adcock of Australia equalled the New Zealand all-comers record of 8.05m held by Bob Thomas since 1968. Adcock’s 8.05m was with a legal following wind of 1.1mps. He had also had a jump of 8.18m +2.3 in an earlier round. Shay Veitch was spurred on to excel and added 16cm to his career best clearing 7.99m +1.8. Other personal bests other than those indicated below: Zachary Saunders 400m 48.51, Kahurangi Cotterill 400m 48.74, Nick Davies 1500m 3:57.46, Connor Melton 5000m 14:04.86, William Little 5000m 14:06.73. Harrison McGregor 6kg SP 16.40m, Blessing Sefo 7.26kg SP 15.59m. Chantal MacDonald 400m 58.00, Sascha Letica 1500m 4:39.00, Nadja Kumerich 4kg SP 12.65m, Suzannah Kennelly 4kg SP 12.38m, Briana Stephenson 4kg SP 10.84m.

Results:

Men

100m: Jake Doran (Australia) 10.20s 1, Taju Hongo (Japan) 10.36s 2, Jake Penny (Australia) 10.36s 3. 400m: Tommy Te Puni (North Harbour Bays) 47.63s 1, Lex Revell-Lewis (Waitakere) 47.82s 2, James Ford (Takapuna) 47.96s 3. 1500m: Ryoji Tatezawa (Japan) 3m 42.74s 1, Russell Green (Otago) 3m 46.54s 2, Hinata Maeda (Japan) 3m 48.10s 3. Jack Paine 3m 50.13 5. 5000m: Julian Oakley (Tauranga) 13m 58.51s 1, Matthew Taylor (NHB) 14m 2.70s PB 2, Christian De Vaal (Pakuranga) 14m 3.07s PB 3. 400m hurdles: Takayuki Kishimoto (Japan) 51.77s 1, Chris Douglas (Australia) 52.66s 2, Flynn Johnston (Whanganui) 57.74s PB 3. Shot put: Jacko Gill (Takapuna) 22.12m PB 1, Tom Walsh (South Canterbury) 21.79m 2, Nick Palmer (Hastings) 18.43m 3. Javelin throw: Capers Williamson (USA) 67.78m 1, Douw Botes (Pakuranga) 61.98m 2, Nathan Buckley (Pakuranga) 54.17m 3. Long jump: Liam Adcock (Australia) 8.18m 1, Shay Veitch (Otago) 7.99m PB 2, William Freyer (Australia) 7.80m 3. Pole vault: Nick Southgate (Takapuna) 5.22m 1, James Steyn (NHB) 5.02m 2, Ettiene Du Preez (NHB) 4.72m 3. 4 x 100m relay: Australia (Jake Doran, Jacob Despard, Caleb Law, Jake Penny) 39.18s 1, Otago 40.69s 2.

Women

100m: Zoe Hobbs (North Harbour Bays) 11.02s (New Zealand all-comers and resident record) 1, Bree Masters (Australia) 11.23s 2, Ella Connolly (Australia) 11.35s 3. 400m: Rosie Elliott (Christchurch) 53.22s 1, Jessie Andrew (Australia) 55.07s 2, Stella Pearless (NHB) 55.53s 3. 1500m: Nozomi Tanaka (Japan) 4m 14.46s 1, Rebecca Mehra (USA) 4m 14.75s 2, Laura Nagel (NHB) 4m 15.57s 3. 5000m: Camille French (Hamilton) 16m 14.35s 1, Anneke Grogan (NHB) 16m 56.73s 2, Jess Wright (NHB) 17m 34.10s 3. 400m hurdles: Loan Ville (France) 59.48s 1, Portia Bing (Waitakere) 59.63s 2, Grace Wisnewski 61.40s PB 3. Shot put: Maddison Wesche (Waitakere) 19.11m 1, Atamaama Tuutafaiva (Tonga) 15.99m 2, Natalia Rankin-Chitar (Papatoetoe) 15.08m 3. Javelin throw: Jess Bell (Australia) 49.54m 1, Abbey Moody (South Canterbury) 41.37m 2, Alice Taylor (Hamilton) 37.36m PB 3. Long jump: Annie McGuire (Australia) 6.40m 1, Tay-Leiha Clark (Australia) 6.06m 2, Mariah Ririnui (Tauranga) 5.96m 3. Pole vault: Eliza McCartney (NHB) 4.46m 1, Eliza Meetings (Canterbury) 3.41m 2, Hannah Adye (NHB) 3.41m 3. 4 x 100m relay: Australia (Kristie Edwards, Ella Connolly, Bree Masters, Torrie Lewis) 43.90s 1, New Zealand under 20 46.96s 2.

Para Athlete

Men 100m: Mitch Joynt 11.87s 1, Zachary Orbell 14.10s 2, Jaxon Woolley 12.62s 3. 200m: Joynt 24.20s 1, Woolley 26.23s 2, Orbell 29.66s 3. Women 100m: Anna Grimaldi T47 12.67s PB 1, Anna Steven 13.99s 2, Paddy Walsh 15.05s 3. Shot put: Lisa Adams (Lake City Rotorua) 14.68m 1, Caitlin Dore (Otago) 8.53m 2, Sionann Murphy (Takapuna) 7.88m 3.

McKinnon Shield #10, Pakuranga and North Shore – 18 March 2023

Grace Wisnewski 100m 12.40 +2.8, 200m 25.38 +2.2. Maddie Kelso-Heap 12.75 and 26.13. Tillie Hollyer 800m 2:09.08, Samantha Korck 2:16.17, Amy Towers 2:19.72 PB, Sophia Haines 2:20.14 PB. Olivia Rooney 3000m 10:52.49. Amani Farry 300m H 49.75. Briana Stephenson HJ 1.68m. Jasmine He Ling 3kg HT 45.19m. Karmen-Elizabeth Maritz 500g JT 33.28m. Anne Goulter (60) 3kg HT 37.21m, 5.45kg WT 14.00m NZ W60 record, improvement on her own record of 13.71m. Leala Willman 500g JT 40.32m, Karmen Maritz 33.28m. Siope Nikau 7.26kg HT 33.05m PB. James Guthrie-Croft 100m 10.63 +4.3, Joe Dolphin 10.84, Cayd Lambert 10.88. Hayato Yoneto 200m 21.56 +2.9, Lex Revell-Lewis 21.64. Dominic Develin 800m 1:50.13, Jack Paine 1:51.61, Ethan Smoleji 1:52.55 PB, David Lee 1:52.63 PB. Joshua Gill 3000m 8:54.21, Charles Buchanan 9:00.84, Ben Oxford 9:08.80, Redd Scampion 9:09.31, Wim Luijpers (53) 9:12.07. Rāfe Couillault HJ 2.01m, Jayden Williamson 1.81m, Samuel Burton 1.81m. Richie Trathen 2000m RW 10:14.56, Yandri Fourie 11:25.01.

MT MAUNGANUI
New Zealand Mountain Running Championships, Mauao Challenge – 18 March 2023

Four years since winning his last mountain title Andy Good of Canterbury came out on top after traversing Mount Maunganui in hot conditions to win the national mountain running title. Good clocked in at 49:39, a minute ahead of Sutton with Batchelor recording 52:34. Good was proud of his achievement. “It would have been the hardest technical race that I’ve ever come out on in front of so I’m pretty proud right now.”

Sarah Douglas retained the women’s title over the same course in 59:11 from Maia Flint of Wellington who ran 60:31, Kerry White of Wellington 60:57 and Andrea Peat of Wellington 65:28. Douglas said that she didn’t know going into the race how she would go. “I prefer the all up hill, but today I felt pretty strong on the downhill. I probably went a bit harder on the first lap than I intended on doing, but I felt really good so I decided just to roll with it and hope that I would hang on okay.”

Bella Earl added the junior women’s title to the national under 18 cross country won in 2021. The 17 year old from Owairaka led all the way tackling the 410m uphill with plenty of energy to hold a 10 second lead. With the experience gained from competing at the recent world cross country championships in Australia Earl stuck to the task and mastered the downhill to compete the 6.6km in 33:56. Defending champion Siena Mackley of Queenstown rallied on the descent but was unable to make ground on Earl and finished a minute and a half behind in second. Stella Hammond of Oratia was third in 36:26 and Boh Ritchie of Hamilton fourth in 38:01. Fleur Walter Waitakere was the leading master in 37:52 from Lauren Shelley Cambridge 39:44.

Benjamin Rickerby of Auckland City Athletics successfully defended his junior men’s title, coming from behind to win the 6.6km up and down by a wide margin in 28:48. Jack Snedden of Oratia was second in 30:10, with early leader Josh Jordan of Trentham third in 30:54 ahead of Hamilton’s Louie Endres 31:06. Matthew Parsonage of Lake City Rotorua was the first master in 29:56 from compatriot Carl Fischer 31:30.

MASTERTON
Summer Series #2, Colin Pugh Sports Bowl – 18 March 2023

Saravee Sos 100m 11.77 -0.4, 200m 23.44 0.0. Ayesha Shafi mile 5:33.63. Mason Waterworth mile 4:31.00 PB, William Larkin 4:33.95. Mikayla Sola 3kg HT 45.10, 3kg SP 12.38m. Mia Bartlett 3kg HT 41.88m. Iorana Tafili 4kg HT 40.22m. Heath Abbot 5kg HT 49.45m, Nikora Wharehinga-Sime 44.92m. Corran Hanning F12 6kg SP 12.79m.

INTERNATIONAL RESULTS
USA
Occidental Distance Carnival, Eagle Rock CA, 11 March: Colin Kirkpatrick 5000m 14:19.48 (4).

L & C Spring Break Open, Griswold Stadium, Portland OR, 18 March: Aimee Mackenzie 1500m 4:39.47 PB (4), Phoebe McKnight 4:41.22 (5).

Oregon Preview, Hayward Field, Eugene OR, 18 March: Jeff Lautenslager 3000m 8:18.82 (1).
TCU Alumni Invitational, Fort Worth TX, 18 March: Jared Lautenslager 3000m 8:39.49 (2).

Grand Canyon University Invitational, Phoenix AZ, 18 March: Theo Quax 1500m 3:47.49 (2).

AUSTRALIA
Queensland Championships, QSAC, Brisbane, 9/12 March: Mogammad Smith 100m 10.83 -0.5 (1H6), 10.69 +0.7 (2SF1), 10.67 +0.6 (5). 200m 21.82 +0.3 (1H1), 22.10 0.0 (5). Jemima Tennekoon 800m 2:10.32 (4).

Box Hill Classic, Melbourne, 9 March: Ben Moynihan 3000m 8:18.63 (14).

Victoria Milers Club Meeting, Tom Kelly Athletics Track, Doncaster Melbourne, 16 March: Steven Langdon 1500m 4:01.79 (11RB).

Darren Thrupp Shield, QSAC, Brisbane, 18 March: Mogammad Smith 100m 10.60 +0.1 PB (5S1), 200m 22.07 +1.5 (6S2). Jemima Tennekoon 800m 2:08.27 PB (1S1).

Australian Masters Championships, Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre, 10/13 March: Michelle Bitcheno W45 DT 18.23m (7), HT 24.81m (2), SP 6.44m (13), WT 8.36m (2), Throws pentathlon 1726 (4), HT 25.47m (2), SP 6.27m (8), DT 17.35m (7), JT 13.32m (6), WT 8.12m (2). Karen Hulena W55 400m 1:24.34 (7), LJ 3.29m NWI (6), HJ 1.13m (4), Pentathlon 2190 (7), JT 14.18m (9), LJ 3.36m +0.5 (7), SP 6.25m (9), 800m 3:22.80 (4), 100m 18.20 0.0 (8). Tui Ashe W70 200m 38.90 +0.4 (3), DT 18.42m (1), JT 14.93m (4), SP 6.73m (1), Pentathlon 2574 (1), JT 14.61m (1), LJ 3.14m +1.5 (1), 100m 18.29 +0.8 (1), 800m 4:07.05 (2), SP 6.74m (1). Chris Waring W75 100m 18.02 +4.1 (2), 200m 39.29 -1.0 (2), 400m 1:41.20 (1), 60m 11.05 +2.6 (1). Jacqueline Wilson W75 10km RW 1:10:00 (1), 1500m RW 9:52.44 (1), 5000m RW 34:40.1 (1). Daphine Jones W80 10km RW 1:27:38 (1), 1500m RW 11:23.11 (1), 5000m RW 40:13.0 (1).

Chris Mardon M50 8km cross country 31:14 (2). Scott Dorset M50 100m 12.94 +0.8 (3H1), 12.68 +1.1 (5), 200m 26.95 -1.0 (3H2), 26.51 -0.2 (7), 60m 8.00 -0.8 (2H2), 7.90 +0.1 (3). Grant Hodges M55 100m 12.29 +2.3 (2), 200m 26.37 -0.7 (1H1) Final DNF, 60m 7.91 +1.2 (2). Robert Hanna M55 200m 24.99 -0.2 (1H2), 25.07 -0.4 (2), 400m 55.61 (2). Trevor Ashe M65 10,000m 46:42.4 h (3), 8km cross country 41:44 (3). Brian Senior M80 DT 23.79m (2), HT 30.48m (1), JT 23.16m (1), SP 9.52m (2).

PORTUGAL

Lisboa Half Marathon, 12 March: Jake Robertson 1:00.05 (5).

ROAD AND TRAIL RACES AROUND THE COUNTRY                                                                                                                      

AUCKLAND 

Fox Trot 5km, Viaduct Harbour, 14 March: Simon Mace 16:51, David Bagot 17:07, Kamil Rahman 17:14. Caroline Knight 19:09, Sophie Hogan 19:10, Tia Knight 19:25.

Rat Race 5km, Takapuna, 15 March: Joel Martin 18:45, Andrew Harvey 19:05, Tom Hanrahan 19:24.

YMCA 10km, Auckland Domain, 16 March: Anton Roche 38:23, Daniel Yep 41:18, James Donovan 44:16.

Run Albany 10km, 19 March: James Marsh 34:02, George Mawson 34:30, Julian Ng 35:18. Terri Bidwell 46:03, Joanna Mutu-Rowe 47:11, Faye Welsh 48:21. 15km; Ben Parker 53:10, Phillip McNamara 53:55, Alvaro Pasek 55:03. Sharon Gallant-Piece 1:04:33, Debra Dufty 1:07:41, Ketina Chivasa 1:08:20. 5km; Aron Thompson 17:54, Mark Carryer 18:44, Mark Thomson 18:49. Katie Wyrill 19:21, Lucy Backus 19:31, Emmy Hurcum 20:27.

WELLINGTON
Kapiti 5km Series, Raumati, 13 March: Luke Anderson 18:44, Dave Chandler 19:50, Leon Goodwin 20:00.

Waterfront 5km Series #9, 14 March: Ben Twyman 16:18, Daniel Gardner 17:24, Will Critchlow 17:41, Dion Camperie 17:44, John O’Driscoll 17:44. Ayesha Shafi 19:45, Alice Sowry 20:31, Kasey Mackinnon 20:58.

Trentham 5km Series #4, 14 March: Tom Strawbridge 15:22, Daniel Du Toit 15:52, Brian Garmonsway 15:55. Savannah Allen 20:52, Elme Pienaar 21:41, Sarah Tobin 21:51.
100th The Honest 10km, Oriental Bay, 19 March: Nathan Tse 31:15 PB (race record), Daniel Jones 32:28, Daniel Clendon 33:13. Roger Robinson (83) 52:49 (NZ M80 record). Sarah Drought 33:36 PB (race record), Esther George 36:08, Genevieve Coffey 37:30.

NELSON
Honest Lawyer 5km Series, Monaco, 13 March: Rory Dadds 18:44, Brady Machen 20:01, Justin Sim 20:32.

OBITUARIES
Coaching legend Russ Hoggard QSM of Auckland died on 14 March 2023 aged 93.

Russ entered Athletics in the 1950s after years as a National cycling medallist. He joined Western Suburbs club and represented Auckland as a sprinter. He reached  the National Championships 440yards final in 1956 at Christchurch. He began coaching soon after and in 1958 was approached by Beverly Weigel, formerly coached by Yvette William’s coach Jim Bellwood, who was no longer accessible.  Beverly was seventh in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics  long jump.  Russ coached her to the 1960 Rome Olympics and soon had a group of athletes under him. 
He continued coaching in Lynndale, Waitemata (now Waitakere) Counties Manukau and North Harbour Bays clubs and lost count of the number of Provincial and National representatives he coached over the next 66 years.  He was a life member of North Harbour Bays club and received an Athletics New Zealand Merit Award in 2010. He was coach to NZ Commonwealth Games and Oceania World Cup teams and spent some time in Germany working with leading hurdle coaches.  His last International athlete was hurdler and former heptathlete Portia Bing. His specialty events were hurdles and sprints and he worked closely with horizontal jumper Dave Norris. Norris said he did much of his own sprint work with Russ as a competing athlete, and later their coaching groups often overlapped.

“Russ had an outstanding style, a fun-loving personality who saw the funny side of anything or anyone who had one, and like most successful coaches took a compassionate personal interest in every athlete he coached.  He was a taskmaster with a smile and if you shirked you were told about it.”  In the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours Russ was awarded a Queens Service Medal for services to athletics.

Northland marathon and cross country representative Len Field of Kawakawa died on 6 March 2023 aged 91. Len ran in eight consecutive Rotorua marathons from 1967 for his Moerewa Club. He picked up competing again at Rotorua in the 1990’s. His best placing was fifth in 1968 and his fastest time was 2:31:37 in 1969. He was first in the M40-44 age group in 1972 in 2:48:08 and in 1974 in 2:46:52. He was a member of the ‘Survivors Club’ having completed over 15 Rotorua marathons.

Murray McKinnon

Athletics New Zealand Correspondent

0274 806086

murray@mckinnon.co.nz