Records, personal bests and an Otago championship title all
featured in a twilight track and field meeting at the
Caledonian Ground on Saturday evening.
First up was an Otago record in the girls 13-and-under grade
pole vault, in which Rosie Craven (Hill City) achieved the 2m
standard to claim the record.
In just her first season of pole vaulting, Craven, a year 7
student at Balmacewen Intermediate, has taken to the
discipline with determination and a desire to succeed.
"Rosie is a very determined young lady," her coach, Paul
Gibbons, said.
"She's as keen as mustard and shows all the signs of
progressing in the sport."
Craven set the record using a short run-up, and Gibbons said
adding 10 steps to her run-up could lead to further records.
Richard Olsen (Canterbury University) won the Canterbury 800m
title on Friday night then came south and won the 400m on
Saturday, a victory that will give him confidence for next
Friday's international meeting in Christchurch where he will
contest the Mile Challenge.
"I hope to give 4min a good crack," he said after Saturday's
win.
Olsen recorded 51.83sec on Saturday, and pulled the second
place-getter, rising Otago talent Robert Brown (Caversham),
through to a personal best of 53.20sec.
Jerrum Huston (Taieri) was another Otago athlete to achieve a
personal best, when he won the senior men's shot put with a
distance of 14.38m, an improvement of 30cm.
Saturday's result will serve as an extra incentive for
Huston, a bronze medallist last year, as he prepares for the
national track and field championships in Wellington at the
end of the month.
A high number of entries for the Otago 5000m championship
made for two races of high quality.
The first returned the women's title to Shireen Crumpton, and
the second race resulted in victory for Oliver O'Sullivan.
It was his first senior title and his first since a junior
1500m title four years ago.
Crumpton made no race of the open women's event, the national
10,000m track and 10km road champion laying claim to the
title in 17min 2.71sec.
Defending champion Kirsty Morris (Leith) and Rachel Kingsford
(Hill City) battled for for silver and bronze, with Morris
pulling clear over the final 200m to record 17min 16.89sec,
with Kingsford third in 17min 20.62sec.
On paper the men's event was won by Dougal Thorburn in 14min
59.48sec with national junior 10,000m champion Tony Payne
(Caversham) second in 15min 16.36sec and O'Sullivan third in
15min 26.30sec.
But with Thorburn still registered with Wellington Scottish,
the title dropped to the next finisher, but Payne had entered
as a junior, so he won the junior title, leaving the senior
title to be claimed by O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan's title was well-deserved.
After being caught mid-field over the first kilometre, he
displayed great pace judgement and appeared to be gaining on
Thorburn and Payne in the closing stages.
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