News & Updates

Welcome to the Athletics New Zealand Weekly Round up.This week’s edition includes:

Results from Day 1 & 2 of the IAAF World Championships
Results from the NZ 24 hour championship, winter throws meet at AUT & Phil Costley XC shield / Dave Dixon Relay Baton at Hanmer Springs
International results from Australia & the Cook Islands
Road and Trail race results from around the country
Murray McKinnon
Athletics New Zealand Correspondent
P: 0274 806086
E:murray@mckinnon.co.nz

2019 IAAF World Championships
QATAR
IAAF World Athletics Championships, Khalifa International Stadium, Doha – 27 September/6 October 2019
27 September:
Julia Ratcliffe started New Zealand’s campaign at the World Athletic Championships in Doha with a top 16 placing after sending the hammer out to 70.45m in the qualifying rounds.

The standard was 72.00m to automatically qualify or to be one of the 12 best performers. She opened with 67.07m, the 70.45 came next and finished with a 68.21m.

The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games gold medallist said she had one of the best head spaces going into the competition.

“I’ve only done one other competition since the Commonwealth Games, so it’s been a big mental game and trusting that the training I’ve done would get me through without having too much practice in competition.

“So I’m really stoked how I attacked it mentally and it was pretty calm out there which was a change from the last few competitions and I had a great time out there and I’m stoked to be here.

“There’s heaps to be grateful for and heaps to just enjoy out there and I was able to take it all in,” she said.

I was always hoping for the 72m qualifying mark and I know it’s in there, just got to get in a few more competitions which would do the trick.

“I finished 14th so that will give me bonus points for the Tokyo qualifying which is the end goal.

“I didn’t think I’d be competing at all this season, but I got a bit of friendly pressure to go to Oceania Champs and that went really well so I thought why not do World Champs, so it’s a bit of a bonus comp for me and having no pressure on me to come in and just enjoy it,” said Ratcliffe.

The heats of the 100m was an experience that will stand Edward Osei-Nketia in good stead for the future. The promising 18 year old was drawn between two of the leading contenders for the title Andre De Grasse and defending champion Justin Gatlin.

“I was between those two on the starting blocks so I tried to keep my mind focussed and try not attack and I hit the first 30m and I had a bit of self-doubt during the race which probably let me down to be honest. The first part was so good,” he said

The New Zealand junior record holder with a time of 10.19 finished in fifth and 26th overall in 10.24, to narrowly miss the semi-finals by two places and a hundredth of a second.
“It was an experience and I’ll now train for the New Zealand season and hopefully try and make the next Olympics,” he said.

28 September:
Camille Buscomb qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games after clocking a personal best of 31:13.21 finishing 12th in the 10,000m.

“I felt really good during the race and I had quite a lot of energy for quite a lot of the race and I’m really pleased how I finished the race because I felt like I was dropping off a bit with five laps to go and I really tried to hang on because you can also gain and lose a lot of time in three or four laps. I really wanted to get the Tokyo time but I didn’t have any idea where I was at.”

“I tried to just keep the girls in front of me in sight and then I was really excited to see the time. That’s way higher than I’ve ever placed before in a senior champs and that’s definitely my best performance I’ve ever done in a senior championship,” said Buscomb.
“Conditions were really good. I could feel the air con every now and then, but then other periods of time felt nothing. So it was a good combination. You’d get a whiff of cool breeze and then you’d heat up again.”

Buscomb who is coached by Nick Bideau said that a Tokyo 2020 10,000m qualifier was always the goal.

“I had to basically run a qualifier tonight because there’s just not many 10,000m and so the goal was always to try and run a qualifier. But obviously it’s hard to think about in the race because you’ve got to try and just give your best performance.”

Bideau had three other runners he coaches in the field, who are part of a training group with Buscomb, and who also ran personal bests, Susan Krumins of Netherlands seventh in 31:05.40, Ellie Pashley of Australia 13th in 31:18.89 and Sinead Diver of Australia 14th in 31:25.49.

Zoe Hobbs in her world championships debut competed in the fifth of six heats in the women’s 100m. She was quick off the blocks alongside defending world champion Tori Bowie of the United States and finished sixth in 11.58. Hobbs was outside a time needed to qualify as one of the six fastest outside the first three in each heat. Zoe will take to the track again on tomorrow morning NZT for the 200m heats.

Competing at his fifth world championships Quentin Rew produced an outstanding result of 11th in the 50km race walk in 4:15:54.

He excelled in the most brutal conditions for a 50km race walk, a near midnight start in 30 degrees. He steadily improved his placing throughout the race from 24th at 5km, to 17th at 20km and 18th at halfway. Between 30 and 35k he went from 17th to 11th which he held over the final 15km. The 35 year old has now built up an impressive record in the event on the world stage. At his previous four world championships he was 24th in 2011, 17th in 2013, 10th in 2015 and 12th in 2017 in London in his personal best time over the distance of 3:46:29. On top of this he was 27th in the 50km at the 2012 and 12th at the 2016 Olympic Games.

New Zealand Competition Results
AUCKLAND
New Zealand 24 Hour Championship, AUT Millennium Stadium, North Shore – 28/29 September 2019
Mike Fields (Port Hills) 201.2km, Greg Yee (Dunedin) 188.0km, Mark O’Sullivan (Lower Hutt) 171.2km. Becky Nixon (Queenstown) 186.4km, Alice Adiwinata (YMCA Auckland) 131.2km, Valerie Muskett (Hampden) 98.0km. 12 hour; Bryan McCorkindale (Christchurch) 112.8km. Susan Marshall (Christchurch) 84.0km.

Winter Throws Meeting, AUT Millennium Stadium – 28 September 2019
Liam Ngchok-Wulf 5kg SP 15.04m PB, 1.5kg DT 48.49m, 5kg HT 52.24m PB. Matthew Aucamp 1.75kg DT 34.75m. Raphael Kibblewhite 7.26kg HT 31.88m PB. Kaia Tupu-South 5kg SP 15.96m, 4kg SP 13.97m, DT 45.21m. Centaine Noom-Duckworth DT 34.06m, 3kg HT 56.34m PB, 4kg HT 42.37m. Nadja Kumerich 3kg SP 11.68m, DT 33.62m, 3kg HT 39.47m PB. Brianna Tirado 500g JT 32.58m PB.

HANMER SPRINGS
Phil Costley Cross Country Shield and Dave Dixon Relay Baton, Woodland Walk Reserve – 26 September 2019
The Primary Sports Canterbury team won the Phil Costley shield. Over 350 year 5 to 8 school children from Canterbury, Tasman, South Canterbury and Wellington took part in the 15th Inter-Regional Cross Country Championships. Canterbury were too strong on their home turf, winning five of the eight teams’ races and also taking out the 8 x 1km Inter-Regional relay to retain the Dave Dixon Relay Baton. Wellington’s Joe Martin (Karori Normal School) and Canterbury’s Elliot Graves (Hillview Christian School), backed up their wins at the Aims Games Cross Country to win the year 7 and year 8 Boys’ races respectively. Josh Rae (Casebrook Intermediate), another Aims Games champion, was the winner of the AWD 1000m, which was held for the first time at the event.

Running legend and holder of 33 NZ national running titles, Phil Costley (49), presented the medals and the Shield and also raced in the Open/Past Competitors’ race and was edged out by Chanel Muir (Catholic Cathedral College), the Canterbury Secondary Schools’ cross country champion.

International Results
AUSTRALIA
IAAF Road Race Gold Label, Sydney Marathon, 15 September: Further result Lisa Cross 2:55:04 (8).

COOK ISLANDS
Round Rarotonga 31km Road Race, 21 September: Brendon John Thompson 2:05:37 (2), Lisa Cross 2:05:55 (1).

Road and Trail Races Around the Country
Auckland
O’Hagan’s 5km, Viaduct Harbour, 24 September: Harry Harris 17:20, Keith Burrows 17:39, James Parker 18:05. Isabel Emerson 21:32, Laurence Missone 26:18.
Devonport Half Marathon, Windsor Reserve, 29 September: Matthew Peach 1:19:34, Sasha Daniels 1:19:46, James Butchers 1:21:01. Karen Donaldson-Barron 1:27:09, Bethany Bromfield 1:29:46, Laura Holyoake 1:30:00. 10km; Ben Dalton 36:22, Josh Whiteley 37:07, James Marsh 37:19. Amelia Green 40:54, Hannah Leonard 41:04, Laura Brown 44:56. 5km; Sophie Robb 18:57, Mark Carryer 19:16, Samuel Rickerby 19:28.

Hamilton
Hamilton Half Marathon, Flagstaff Park, 29 September: Jacob Priddey 1:11:10 debut, George Gwynn 1:16:33, David Haunschmidt 1:17:42. Cath Braddock 1:33:04, Tanja Miller 1:33:33, Kelly Sutherland 1:34:29. 10km; Jonny McKee 33:50, Charli Miller 38:14.

Nelson
26th Abel Tasman 33km Coastal Classic, Kaiteriteri to Marahau, 28 September: Vajin Armstrong 2:28:44, Isaac Stuthridge 2:46:09, Simon Angus 2:46:20. Kirsten Wright 2:54:16, Dana Paton 2:56:57, Jenny Stewart 3:03:43.