Nicole Bradley broke her own Otago record at the fifth annual hammer throw festival at the Caledonian Ground yesterday.
The 23-year-old Taieri athlete, who broke Debbie McCaw's 2005 senior record only last month, extended her record by 1.70m with a 61.81m heave.
Bradley, the three-time defending national champion, also holds the Otago 18-years record (46.43m), set in 2011.
She was one of 25 hammer throwers competing in Dunedin over the past two days, and was not the only one to to re-write the record books.
Auckland 19-year-old Matthew Bloxham broke his own national under-20 (6kg) record by 2.33m when he dished out a huge 73.44m throw.
Coached by Valerie Adams' former coach, Didier Poppe, Bloxham won the senior hammer throw (7.26kg) at the national championships in Wellington in March with a 63.50m effort.
He set the previous mark in Hamilton only a few weeks ago and appears to have a bright future in the event.
Canterbury's Lauren Bruce broke the Canterbury under-20 record with a 56.61m effort, while Scott Gregory broke the Northland junior record.
Gregory, who won the senior boys (5kg) title at the national secondary schools athletics championships in Timaru last Friday with a 64.13m throw, set the Northland record with a 68.51m throw in blustery conditions yesterday.
Athletics New Zealand high performance manager Raylene Bates said the festival, which included a three-throw qualifying session on Monday, was full of "absolutely brilliant performances''.
"With the exception of Julia Ratcliffe, who couldn't make it, all of our top throwers throughout New Zealand were there,'' she said.
A throws battery pentathlon, which included a series of under and over throws, a standing triple jump, 100m and a heavy weight throw, was held yesterday afternoon before the athletes left Dunedin.
Barring injury, they will be back for the national track and field championships in Dunedin in March.
