John McGlashan College middle-distance runner Oli Chignall is a fearless athlete who likes to run from the front.
Chignall put his foot down from the start to win the boys under-15 1500m and 3000m double at the Otago secondary schools championships at the weekend.
He sizzled around the first lap of the 1500m at the breakneck speed of 64sec to burn off his opponents and win the event in 4min 28.79sec at the Caledonian Ground. It was a personal-best by 5sec.
''I like getting to the front,'' Chignall said.
''It gives me space to run my own race.''
The Dave Stinson-coached runner won the event by 18sec from James Bungard (East Otago). The margin was 36sec when he beat Connor Ryan (St Kevin's) in the 3000m in a record time of 9min 26.04sec. It was a personal best-time by 7sec and beat the record by 15sec.
Christina Ashton (Queen's) and Maddy Spence (Columba) both smashed the record in the girls under-16 80m hurdles.
Ashton got the jump at the start and had a metre on Spence at halfway. Ashton finished strongly in 12.09sec. Spence was timed at 12.26sec. The record of 12.96sec had been run by Lucinda McMeekin (Columba) in 2005.
Ashton won the junior girls title at the New Zealand secondary schools championships in Dunedin in December and Spence was third.
Ashton also won the 100m in her age grade on Saturday in 13.57sec, and Spence the 200m in 27.37sec.
The English sisters, of Columba College, set records in the 3000m.
Hanna won the girls under-16 race in 10min 20.67sec, beating the record by 8sec.
Older sister Sian won the senior girls title in 10min 15.78sec. That time beat the record, held by Shauna Pali (Kavanagh), by 6sec.
Athletes from country schools featured prominently at the championships.
Yvonne van Baarle (Blue Mountain College) broke two records in the girls under-14 grade. Her long jump of 4.85m bettered the record by 1cm, and her javelin throw of 30.44m beat the record by 4.62m.
Adriana Mawhinney (Dunstan) beat a 10-year-old record in the girls under-15 triple jump by 17cm with her leap of 10.48m. The record had been held by Jackie Clark (Logan Park).
Clark's 2002 record in the girls under-14 triple jump was beaten by the first two place-getters. Kia Wales (Dunstan) beat the old record by 48cm with her winning jump of 9.85m, and Nadia Lyders (Lawrence) was second with 9.63m.
Tim Morrison (Kavanagh) beat the boys under-16 1500m record with his time of 4min 18.17sec. The record had been run by Bryce Morgan (Otago Boys') in 2007.
Caitlyn George (St Hilda's) beat Jayne Milburn's (Otago Girls') 2002 girls under-15 200m record with her time of 26.55sec.
The Columba College senior girls 4 x 100m relay team of Analise Cowie, Laura Saville, Zoey Flockton and Maddy Spence beat the record with a time of 50.36sec.
Liam Smith (Lawrence) set a record in the AWD ID 400m in 66.28sec. It beat the record by 4sec.
