Josh Taylor. PHOTOS/SUPPLIED
ATHLETICS
CHRIS COGDALE
[email protected]
Wairarapa athletes were in the medals at the National Track and Field Championships held in Christchurch over the weekend.
Gold medals were won by Mikael Starzynski and Max Spencer as part of the Wellington Under-20s 4 x 400m team, and Jack Lewington in the AWD [athletics with disability] T37 Under-17 long jump.
Starzynzki ran the second leg and Spencer the anchor leg as Wellington finished in a time of 3 minutes 23.6 seconds, edging Canterbury by 1.36 seconds.
Starzynski also won a silver medal as part of the Wellington Under-20s 4 x 100m team, running the third leg, finishing 1.72 seconds behind Canterbury. A bronze medal in the Under-20s 400m, missing the silver by .07 seconds, wrapped up a successful meet for the Athletics Wairarapa athlete, who was competing out of his age group.
Lewington, 15, of Wairarapa Track and Field added a silver medal in the Under-17s T37 200m and a bronze medal in the shot put.
Liam Lamb [Wairarapa Track and Field] was another athlete competing out of his age group, winning a bronze medal in the men’s Under-20s 5000m in a personal best of 15.52.55.
A dawdling pace did not suit Lamb, but he finished well, running the last kilometre in 2 minutes 40 seconds, and the last 400m in 56 seconds, crossing the line just 0.58 of a second behind winner, Wellington teammate Toby Gualter, and missing silver by 0.1s.
Joe Quinn [Athletics Wairarapa], who has just turned 16, won a bronze medal in the Under-18 men’s hammer throwing a person best of 51.32m. He backed that up by throwing a further PB of 43.58m, with the heavier weight, in the Under-20s hammer.
Josh Taylor [Athletics Wairarapa], also competing out of his age group, won a silver in the Para Open long jump and a bronze medal in the Para Open 400m.
Max Spencer [Athletics and Cycling Masterton], who has signed a scholarship with the prestigious Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, stepped up to the Open Men’s 800m.
A slow first lap of 62 seconds did not suit Spencer and he didn’t have the kick in the final 40m, crossing the finish line in 1.55.55, almost six seconds slower than his personal best set the week before.
16 year old Kosta Mills [Wairarapa Track and Field] also impressed, finishing 8th in the men’s Under-18 800m.
Keelan Ward and Ethan Butcher were other Wairarapa athletes to set personal bests at the championships.
