Preview Combined Events Champs and Porritt Classic

A score of over 6000 points by Rebecca Wardell and over 5000 by Portia Bing as well as a Commonwealth Games cementing performance by Brent Newdick should hold plenty of attention at the New Zealand Combined Events Championships in Hamilton this weekend.

Wardell bettered the Games performance standard of 5800 in the heptathlon scoring 5988 in Christchurch three weeks ago. After this competition Wardell said that her goal at the nationals was a total of over 6000 and try and eclipse her personal best of 6108.

Also competing in the women’s heptathlon are North Harbour’s Sarah Cowley and Veronica Torr.

Two weeks ago Bing set a New Zealand W16 heptathlon record of 4947 points and is poised to crack the 5000 barrier. The performance standard for the world junior championships in Canada in July is 5200.

Newdick said that his aim this weekend is to confirm his Commonwealth status.

“Training has been going well and I’m in good order. I’ll be looking for a consistent performance and increase as much as I can,” said Newdick.

The men’s decathlon will have an international flavour with three leading Japanese athletes entered.

Keisuke Ushiro who has a personal best of 7856, Hiromasa Tanaka PB of 7803 and Ryu Murata PB of 7250. Tanaka is five times Japanese champion and was 19th at the 2007 world championships in Osaka.

Newdick said it one of the best fields for a New Zealand championship for some time.

“It is just a pity that it is starting so early on Saturday. It would have been good to start later in the day so that we are competing during the Porritt Classic meeting with plenty of crowd support,” said Newdick.

Others who will be vying for a national medal are Stephen Buckley and Callum McConachy.

Heading the field in the M16 octathlon are Phil Simms, Luke Davison, Pascal Kethers, Sam Fitzgerald, Joseph Reynolds and Christopher Wiremu.

The combined events championships start at 10am on Saturday and 9am on Sunday at Porritt Stadium.

The Porritt Classic meeting on Saturday evening will feature the first competition of the season by Olympic and World shot put champion Valerie Vili.

Her much anticipated appearance should be greeted by a large and supportive crowd. 

Over the years Vili has made a point of competing at the Porritt Classic and the world is poised to see what her opening mark will be.

“I’m looking forward to Porritt Classic, the first competition is always quite exciting because you want to see where you are, got a girl there (Jessica Cervial) from France who’s going to also be competing. So I’m looking forward to a good throw and a good start to the season,” said Vili.

The Classic will also welcome Monique Williams back to her first track outing of the season. Williams has been recently troubled by an achilles tendon injury but has recovered and a recent track work out indicated she is ready to go to the starting blocks. However Williams will still assess the situation after warming up and if there is any doubt she and her coach, father Chris, will make a decision whether to compete or not. Williams has entered both the 100m and 200m. 

“I’ve only had two weeks of training and three days on the track so it will be a case of seeing where I’m at – no pressure, as I’m really aiming for the later half of the season,” said Williams.

In the 100m Williams will be up against Anna Smythe who recorded 11.73s at the Capital Classic in Wellington last month. Her competition in the 200m will come from national W19 champion and record holder Andrea Koenen.

The line up in the men’s 100m is former national champions James Dolphin and Chris Donaldson as well as Craig Bearda, Isaac Tatoa and Joseph Millar. Dolphin, Bearda and national champion Jeffrey Thumath will clash in the 200m.

Hamish Carson, Brett Tingay, Aaron Pulford and David Morton are entered in the 1500m while the women’s 1500m will feature Fiona Crombie, Lydia O’Donnell, Jacinda Swain and Rachel Kingsford.

Stuart Farquhar will be on his home ground in the javelin throw ready to match his 81.11m firing in Canberra two weeks ago.

Others who will feature in the field events are Julia Ratcliffe in the hammer throw, Keeley O’Hagan, Daniel Fake and Billy Crayford in the high jump and Jacko Gill in the shot put. 

The meeting starts at 4pm.