Valerie Adams-Vili competing at the 2006 New Zealand Championships (© Getty Images)
Inglewood, New ZealandAt the national track and field championships held in Jubilee Park, Inglewood (2 – 4 March), World Cup winner Valerie Vili improved on her 18.32 season opener with a solid series of efforts (all over 18m) resulting in a best of 18.84m to win the Women’s Shot Put competition.
The World Championship bronze medallist who is making a comeback after recent injury was almost 3m clear of Oceania High Performance Training Centre Athlete Ana Pou’hila. Valerie’s husband, Bertrand, was also in action, competing for New Caledonia. He won the Senior Men’s Discus Throw with a best throw of 57.51m, however the National title was awarded to Patrick Hellier (48.11m).
Faumuina backs up Melbourne result
Former World champion Beatrice Faumuina continued to show good form flinging her discus out to 60.71m, just shy of her 62.20m throw in the Melbourne IAAF Tour meet two days earlier (2). In all she produced another consistent series of throws for Faumuina and she felt in good form but remarked that she missed the opportunity to record a really big throw.
Close in the 100m...dominance in the 200m
James Dolphin completed the men’s 100m/200m double for the third year in a row. He has had several close battles with Chris Donaldson in this and previous seasons, notably the 0.01s between them ten days ago in Christchurch. In the 100m final, after a great start, Donaldson was clear but Dolphin wasn’t about to give up his crown easily and powered through the latter stages. Photofinish cameras on both sides of the track could not separate them (10.56s), and both were awarded the title, the only time in NZ history this has happened.
Monique Williams picked up the Senior Women’s title in the 100m. In a similar story to the men’s race, Anna Smythe had a good early lead but Williams closed remarkably quickly and got the verdict by 0.01s (11.78s to 11.79s).
Dolphin (21.31s) and Williams (23.95) both won their respective 200m finals with margins that underline their current dominance in these events. Williams also went on to claim the gold in the 400m against a weak field, and then helped her Auckland Centre teammates take out both the 4x100m and 4x400m relay titles. Cory Innes produced his second sub 47 sec clocking of the season to win the Men’s 400m.
Close tussles in middle distances
World Youth 1500m Qualifier Camille Buscomb displayed a blazing finish in the W16 3000m to show her readiness for the upcoming Championships. However, in a surprise, she was narrowly defeated by Esther Koewn in the 1500m, where Koewn was 0.23s outside qualifying herself for the World Youth Championships. In the W16 800m Bianca Lawrie and Anna Roche had an excellent battle with Lawrie stronger in the straight than her younger rival, recording 2:12.31 to 2:12.86.
Melanie Cleland upset pre-race favourites Holly and Lucy Van Dalen in the W19 1500m, by knocking a significant chunk off her personal best to record 4:29.43. This bodes well for her preparation for the World Cross Country Championships (24 March). She also ran right up to her personal best in the 3000 where she finished behind Lucy Oliver (9:48.26 to 9:56.59).
Dallas Bowden underlined his undoubted ability with commanding victories in the M16 1500 and 3000, winning as he liked in 3:59 and 8:33. Another athlete in a class above his competitors was Carl McKenzie. In good form coming off his recent 3:44 PB in Christchurch, he let the pace dawdle in the M19 800m where the first lap was covered in a pedestrian 58/59 secs. He streaked away from the field over the final lap to win in 1:53.83. It was a similar story in the 1500m where McKenzie ran a well judged 3:49.08 to leave a raft of other promising juniors in his wake.
Richard Olsen has been one of many dubbed “promising junior” over the years. In the Senior Men’s 800m, he finished third behind Annese Curreen (Samoa) and new champion Tim Hakwes, but he was unhappy with himself after leaving himself too much ground to make up in the final 200m. In the 1500m final, he was much more tactically aware, and sprinted past Olympian Jason Stewart and Ben Ruthe in the home straight.
Kellie Palmer bucked the trend and won the 800m and 1500m for Senior women by considerable margins. She hopes to gain more competition in the Australian Championships this coming weekend.
Miller continues in good form
Andrea Miller recorded an excellent 13.70 into a strong headwind to back up her recent New Zealand record runs (13.40 and 13.30) despite warming up with a bandaged thigh after experiencing some recent niggles. James Mortimer ran a season best of 14.07 in the final.
Other Dominant Performers
Other athletes to win convincingly were Stu Farquhar with 76.85m in the men’s Javelin Throw and Melina Hamilton in the women’s Pole Vault (4.15m).
One more into the World Youth Team
Elizabeth Lamb produced a 2cm Personal Best to jump 1.75m to book a ticket to the World Youth Championships.
Murray Taylor for the IAAF
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