Athletics: Family's sporting pedigree to fore at games

Neil Brown (Caversham) competes in the grade 7 boys long jump during the Colgate Games at the...
Neil Brown (Caversham) competes in the grade 7 boys long jump during the Colgate Games at the Caledonian Ground on Saturday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
A chip off the old block was the words Helen Mahon-Stroud used to describe the victory of her daughter Georgia in the 1500m at the Colgate Games held at the Caledonian Ground over the weekend.

Mahon-Stroud was taking a weekend away from her role as coach of the Canterbury Tactix netball team, and was rewarded with the impressive athletic results achieved by her three children.

Ben (12) strung together a series of personal bests in the 100m, 200m, 400m and long jump, and Lucy (8) achieved personal bests in long jump, 60m, 100m, 200m, and was lead-off runner in the bronze medal-winning Papanui Toc H 4x100 relay team which also included Katie MacLeod, Macy Neale and Lauren Voice-Powell.

But it was middle sibling Georgia (10) who drew the loudest applause from the huge crowd, when she stamped her authority on the 1500m field for grade 10 girls, winning by 17sec and clocking 5min 21.15sec, reminiscent of the feats achieved by her mother, Helen, who was also a talented middle-distance runner in her youth.

Georgia's 1500m success on top of her 800m victory on Friday also added to the pride in his children of former All White goalkeeper Alan Stroud.

The secret of the family's success was in cross-training, according to Helen, who also coaches junior surf live-saving at Taylors Mistake, where the family play an active role.

Ben is also a talented midfielder for the Coastal Spirit club in Christchurch and when asked of he had any aspirations to follow in his father's footsteps, he replied "one day", in a very positive and focused manner.

Aside from athletics, football and surf life-saving, the family's very busy sporting life also sees Lucy competing well in gymnastics, while Georgia is starting for the Hearts netball team.

Helen, a former New Zealand secondary schools middle distance representative, was full of praise for the Colgate Games event and its focus on fostering junior athletics talent.

"I see faces of parents I used to run against myself. And from a coach's point of view the development of the sport is heading in a really good direction."

Another emerging middle distance talent from Canterbury, Laura Smith (Christchurch Avon) brought the crowd to their feet with a stunning run over the final 500m in the grade 14 girls 1500m title, recording a personal best time of 4min 49.88sec.

It was a popular victory for Smith, coached by Maria Hassan, who was still engulfed with congratulations long after her race.

The pace Smith unleashed over the final 500m also assisted second and third-placed Annie Vincent and Rosa Flanagan (both University of Canterbury) to clocking personal best times, all three breaking the 5min barrier.

Smith is no stranger to middle distance success in Colgate competition. Her 1500m victory was a repeat of last year, and her victories in both the 400m and 800m were for the third consecutive years.

But she was full of praise for the other girls in the field. "They're the ones that make you run fast," she said.

Long-time friends Fletcher Greaves (Lower Hutt) and Dunedin's Chris McNoe (Hill City) had good cause to celebrate, with the Darryl Robinson-coached Greaves winning the grade 14 boys 200m and the Jim Baird-coached McNoe notching an impressive victory in the grade 14 boys 800m and equalling his personal best time of 2min 7sec.

In the banter between the two, it was Greaves taking all the coaching credit for McNoe's success. But McNoe was able to remind Greaves that when they competed against each other in a 400m grade 10 race in Wellington five years ago, it was he who took the honours.

McNoe had read the athletes oath at the opening of competition on Friday.

Another local athlete emerging from the Jim Baird stable was the promising Scott Oldham (Hill City), who has all the hallmarks of a future great, in the manner he achieved victory in the grade 11 boys 800m, on top of an impressive victory in the 1500m in his grade on Friday.

Other stand out performances included. -
Robyn Engels (Putaruru), won the 100m and 200m sprint double in the girls grade 14, as well as finishing second in the long jump competition; Cullen Moody (Christchurch Avon) led the field in the boys 800m grade 10 race all the way and poured on the speed over the final 300m for an impressive victory; Jack Bryant (Canterbury University) threw 14.84m to win the grade 12 boys shot put; Dean van der Busse (Phoenix) recorded 5.12m to win a tightly contested grade 13 boys long jump over Keegan Fisher (Nelson); Larissa McKewan (Port Hills) recorded 33.54m to win the grade 12 girls discus.

 

 

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