Hope meet honouring Williams will attract top-quality field

It is hoped a memorial meeting for Otago’s greatest athlete will attract a high-quality field.

The Yvette Williams Memorial Meet has been scheduled for January 11 at the Caledonian Ground.

It honours Yvette Corlett (nee Williams), Otago’s 1952 Olympic long jump gold medallist, who died last year.

Scheduled for a Monday evening, the event follows the Lovelock Classic, which will be held in Timaru the Saturday before.

It was hoped many of the athletes in the South for the classic will also compete in the Dunedin competition.

The events on show are predominantly the ones in which Williams excelled.

These include long jump, javelin and shot put.

The high jump will also be included, as will several sprints, a children’s relay in preparation for the Colgate Games and a 1000m race.

Prize money will be on offer for top performances.

Several of the country’s top jumpers are tipped to be to take part in the meeting.

Otago is able to boast many of New Zealand’s best long jumpers in Shay Veitch, Felix McDonald and Anna Grimaldi.

A handy contingent of high jumpers is based in Christchurch.

Most notable of these is New Zealand record-holder Hamish Kerr, who last month cleared 2.16 in Dunedin.

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