2017 Scottish Waterfront 5k Wellington Tue 28 Nov

Results

The fantastic spell of weather we are having should be a magnet to those looking for good times on the waterfront. At 5pm it was 19c with a 16km wind, and the result of the ideal conditions resulted in 29 PB’s and 19 SPB’s taking into account first timers.

The first woman home just in front of Ruby was Melissa Black who clocked 18.37. This is a whopping 33 seconds quicker than her previous best time.

On pacing duty and in 2^nd place was Ruby Muir the current NZ Senior Women's Cross Country Champion and overall running star.  Ruby’s finish time of 18.42 does not reflect the great year she has had at a national level. I call her the new Melissa Moon.

In third place was Emma Bassett in 20.29

Naim MacDonald is another who has made his mark nationally and today he was pacing to finish in 22.30. So what was his time as recorded by Daryl? Well 22.30 of course. I have mentioned previously that NM has this uncanny ability to cover the 5km within seconds of his pace time. As an experiment I wonder how he might fare if he did the run without a watch?

In the men’s race Ben Twyman was out to break 16 minutes the time he ran two weeks ago. Conditions were good so it looked as if it could be on. But in the end the official finish time and fastest overall for the night was 16.04. This must be a disappointment and I wonder if he needs somebody to push him along rather than run solo. 

In 2^nd place was Robert Prendergast in 16.21.

In 3^rd place in a time of 16.47 was Theo Wordsworth.  This was Theo’s 2^nd waterfront race and today’s performance beat his inaugural mark of 17.07, so there is huge scope for improvement.

In the Critchlow/Thompson Challenge the point goes to Brendon T as Will C was a no-show. 

I have only posted a few photos this week, as below.

Grand Prix Track & Field Meeting Newtown Park Sat 25 Nov

Frenchman, Nils Poncet got out to 6.87m

Chris McIlroy nails the 3000m race in 8.47.84

This event provided those heading off to next weekend’s National Secondary Schools Champs with a last chance to test out leg speed and arm strength.  Like all other National Schools Athletics events the numbers attending are huge and the competition fierce.

Good conditions so unusual at this time of the year when strong northerlies tend to prevail delivered some good performances.   

Adding to the interest were several experienced athletes from overseas who are now living in NZ or perhaps just visiting.  

This included Nils Poncet from France who has a PB of for the long jump.  

In the 3000m British teacher Kieron Sexton chased a speedy Chris Mcilroy for 2^nd place – we first saw Kieron at the Waterfront 5km a few weeks back battling around the course in a Wellington nasty wind.

Other mentions should go to five-time national high jump champion Billy Crayford who got to 1.95m which is more than respectable as an early season performance.  Last year he picked up a silver at the National T&F Champs in Hamilton with a jump of 1.97m, but he has gone much higher - 2.15m to be exact.

Down at the Shaka Sola end of the park, Lower Hutt club thrower Nathaniel Sulupo picked up a Men's 19 record with a discus biff of 55.45. I don't know what Shaka has been feeding his athletes but he certainly thinks some of the skinny 1500m college kids could do with a good feed. And he said as much to them. 

I should also like to point readers to Heat 2 of the 100m race in which Italian born Allesandro Pinna, and 400m specialist, produced an 11.68 to hold off the challengers.  Not bad for a 51 year old.        

Results

Javelin Photos

Pole Vault Photos

800m Photos

100m Photos

400m Photos

High Jump Photos

3000m Photos

Long Jump Photos

1500m Photos