Athletics New Zealand - Weekly update

26 December 2010.

NORTH SHORE

Twilight Meeting, Sovereign Stadium – 22 December 2010
Malcolm Hicks followed up his 4m 7s mile four days earlier with a 14m 18.97s 5000m. Alex Parlane was second in 14m 36.08s followed by Stephen Lett 14m 46.94s, Jonny McKee 15m 24.50s, Wayne Guest 15m 58.39s and Brad Aldrich 16m 6.12s. Danielle Trevis recorded 16m 11.49s, Lydia O’Donnell 16m 47.64s and Tara La Grange 17m 51.41s.
Andrew Haigh won the 3000m in 8m 44.91s, from Ryan Smith 9m 10.09s and Josh Tattley 9m 19.73s.

AUCKLAND
Viaduct Harbour 5km Series – 21 December 2010
Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 Olympian Robbie Johnston won in 15m 45s from Stephane Brindel 16m 50s. Carmel Hanly won the women’s section in 17m 44s from Melissa Norris 18m 37s.

HAMILTON
Eastside 5km River Run – 21 December 2010
Phil Murray won in 16m 50s from Kent Hodgson 17m 23s. Helen Rountree was the first woman in 18m 56s.

MT MAUNGANUI
King and Queen of the Mountain Races – 26 December 2010
The runners up last year in both the King and Queen races reversed the placings on the defending title holders in the annual 4.5km race taking in the climb to the summit of Mt Maunganui and back to the beach. Sjors Corporaal of Galatea headed in Iain Macdonald of Tauranga by 32 seconds in a fast time of 18m 46s. This time was just one second outside Angus Bell’s 2007 race record. Phil Murray of Hamilton was third in 19m 27s. National junior mountain running champion Shay Williamson of Manawahe was fourth and the first M19 in 19m 31s. Ruby Muir of Whitianga defeated Helen Rountree of Hamilton by nearly a minute for the Queen of the mountain title in a time of 22m 38s. Katrina Madill of Mt Maunganui was third in 24m 11s with Sarah Backler of Tauranga fourth in 24m 25s.

HASTINGS
A further New Zealand M16 record was broken at the recent New Zealand secondary schools athletic championship. On Sunday 12th December Brendon Barnett of Waimea College won the senior boys long jump with a leap of 7.13m (+2.0). This betters Kieran Fowler’s national M16 record of 7.10m set in Auckland five years ago.

WELLINGTON
Waterfront 5km Series – 21 December 2010
Cary Chaffee won in 16m 1s, 15 seconds ahead of Grant McLean. Melissa Holloway was the first woman in 20m 55s. Stuart Hood won the walk in 28m 21s and Terri Grimmett was first in the women’s walk in 31m 31s.

2011 WORLD CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Craig Motley has been appointed Team Manager for the 2011 World Cross Country Championships to be held in Punta Umbria Spain on 20 March 2011.
More information on the 2011 World Cross Country Championships, including the selection policy, can be found here

NZ OFFICIAL APPOINTED TO 2013 MOSCOW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Trevor Spittle (Canterbury) has been appointed one of ten International Technical Officials for the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow.

INTERNATIONAL TRACK MEET, CHRISTCHURCH 26.02.11
Nick Willis’ coach Ron Warhurst will be in Christchurch for the ITM meeting on 26 February and will conduct a coaching clinic in Christchurch the following day. He will offer tips on marathon running where he has coaching credentials with both men and women at the very top of the sport internationally. Warhurst has recently retired as head cross country coach after 35 years, and head track coach from 2000-2008 at the University of Michigan.

Tickets to the Ron Warhurst coaching seminar will be available through the Meet website: www.internationaltrackmeet.co.nz