A
promising future awaits Brent Cheshire (Ariki) following his
victories in high jump and triple jump competition at the
interclub meeting at Memorial Park on Saturday.
Although only in his third year of competitive athletics, the
14-year-old Otago Boys High School pupil displayed maturity
beyond his years as he won the open men's high jump
competition with comparative ease, achieving a height of
1.65m.
Although he has cleared 1.7m in previous competition, he
missed this mark on Saturday.
The grass surface being of no obvious hindrance, as he
appeared to clear the height with some ease only to clip the
bar with his foot on all three attempts.
Cheshire has been no stranger to Otago age-group records,
having broken two notable long-standing records along with
numerous other successes.
He set his first Otago record in just his first season of
competition breaking the boys-12 record and just before
Christmas he bettered the 1976 mark of Stewart Blair (North
Otago) by 7cm.
He decided on Saturday to test himself in the triple jump
competition for the first time, winning the open competition
with a distance of 11.62m.
It was a feat not lost on Otago women's champion Catherine
O'Sullivan, who witnessed his achievement before contesting
the open women's long jump.
O'Sullivan was quick to compliment Cheshire before winning
her own title with a distance of 4.88m.
The apparent reluctance of sprinters to either compete at
Mosgiel or on grass saw attention turn to middle-distance
runners, with Dougal Thorburn (Wellington Scottish)
emphatically stamping his authority on the 3000m field.
With temperatures in the low to mid 30s, Thorburn cruised
through the first lap and then turned up the heat to
eventually open up a 26sec lead on the remainder of the field
headed by Glen Ferguson (Leith) and Alex Gorrie (Hill City).
Thorburn recorded 8min 58.40sec for his victory with Ferguson
second in 9min 24.40sec and Gorrie third in 9min 33.80sec.
Thorburn, who competed for the Ariki club while attending
university, returned to Dunedin last weekend and plans to
return to his old club for the winter season.
Gorrie had little time to reflect on his third place in the
3000m, as less than an hour later he dictated terms in the
open 800m, winning in 2min 13.50sec.
But it was the open women's 800m that saw Anna-Lisa Uttley
draw applause for the manner of her victory.
Uttley (15), a year-12 pupil at Bayfield High School, has
displayed huge potential, and was competing in her first 800m
event on Saturday.
It did not really go to plan, she said afterwards.
"The idea was to sit it out for the first lap, but then I
found myself in front and fighting into the wind.
It started to hurt a bit.
Then I saw my coach watching as I entered the second lap and
I thought `Oh God!' I then had no choice but to hang on."
Her coach, Jim Baird, was full of praise and said it was a
race she would learn from.
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