Reigning long jump champ gains easy win

Felix McDonald training at the Caledonian earlier this year. Photo: Christine O'Connor
Felix McDonald training at the Caledonian earlier this year. Photo: Christine O'Connor
Felix McDonald has given his northern rivals a reminder of his class.

The reigning national long jump champion claimed a comfortable victory at Saturday night’s Sir Graeme Douglas Memorial Meeting in Auckland.

He surpassed 7.30m twice and put out a best jump of 7.33m to claim victory over second-placed Max Atwell by 28cm.

It was a quality performance that will set him up well for the national championships — if they happen.

The championships were originally scheduled to begin on Friday and run through this weekend, but will be unable to run under Covid-19 Alert Level 2.

Athletics New Zealand is exploring alternative options.

Meanwhile, Holly Robinson threw 40.25m in the senior women’s javelin on her return.

The Paralympic silver medallist had missed the past month with a broken finger.

In the 1500m Rebekah Greene (Hill City University) finished third in a tight finish with Canterbury University’s Katherine Camp.

Greene finished in 4min 17.94sec, just 0.09sec behind Camp.

Camille Buscomb (Hamilton City Hawks) continued her strong form of the summer to win in 4min 15.25sec.

In other notable results Tom Walsh threw 21.60m to beat rival Jacko Gill by 16cm in the men’s shot put.

In the women’s shot put Valerie Adams threw 19.65m to record her best throw since 2016.

Eddie Osei-Nketia claimed the 100m win in 10.46sec from Joseph Millar, while the season’s breakout star, Tiaan Whelpton, pulled up with an injury.

Zoe Hobbs ran 11.45sec to win the women’s 100m from Georgia Hulls.

At the Caledonian Ground on Saturday Ariki’s Shay Veitch ran 10.81sec to put on another impressive 100m showing.

Nelson’s Celia Ward was the fastest woman in 12.78sec.

HCU’s John Gerber won the 400m in 51.28sec, edging Jedidiah Thompson-Fawcett.

In the field Taieri’s Paul Davies jumped 2.90m to set an Otago masters men’s 58 record in the pole vault.

Aspiring’s Jackson Rogers jumped 1.88m to win the high jump, while Jade Zaia (Taieri) threw 48.40m to edge Kieran Fowler in the senior men’s discus.

Zharna Beattie (Taieri) threw 44.29m to win the women’s discus from younger sister Shyah.

Anton Schroeder (Taieri) put on a typically impressive display in the javelin, recording a distance of 54.44m, just under a metre ahead of club rival Ethan Walker.

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