Auckland Track & Field Championships, Mt Smart Stadium – 26/27 February 2011
Valerie Adams Shotput
In her first competition of the season Olympic and world shot put champion Valerie Adams set a fresh New Zealand allcomers and resident record of 20.33m at Mt Smart Stadium yesterday.This added eight centimetres to her record set at Waitakere in 2009 and equalled in Hamilton in February last year. She holds the New Zealand national record of 21.07m set in Greece in 2009.
Adams was competing in the Auckland championships, after the meeting that she was down to compete at in Christchurch on Saturday evening was cancelled.
“I’m pretty pleased with that, this week has been really hectic, devastating earthquake in Christchurch and I was sort of building up for the Christchurch meeting. But that’s the way it goes and you just got to deal with it,” she said.
“It’s good to come out here and crack 20 metres; that was my goal to break the resident record, I have just one more comp in New Zealand and then I’m out of here,” said Adams.
She is off to Melbourne next weekend and then to the Sydney meeting and returning for the New Zealand championships in Dunedin at the end of March before heading to Switzerland.
Elizabeth Lamb added one centimetre to her personal best high jump clearing 1.86m, to also improve on her Auckland record. Lamb, the 2009 New Zealand senior champion and current W19 champion, said it has been a while for breakthrough to come.
“It’s fantastic, I’ve been looking to jumping this for a while, it’s good to get it out of the way and I now look forward to higher heights,” she said. Her goal is the New Zealand W19 record of 1.91m and the senior record of 1.92m both held by 1990 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Tania Murray.
Andrea Koenen set an Auckland women’s 100m record of 11.54s (+1.6), breaking Kim Robertson’s 1978 record of 11.62s. Koenen followed up the next day winning the 200m in 24.05s (+1.3). Carl Van der Speck also collected the sprint double with times of 10.43s (+2.8) and 21.62s (+3.6).
Alex Parlane, the national cross country champion won the 1500m in 3m 54.01s and the 5000m in 14m 32.46s while Katie Wright was impressive in the women’s middle distance races with run away victories in the 800m in 2m 9.66s and the 1500m in 4m 21.36s.
Frazer Wickes moved up from his junior grade to win the senior 400m in 47.47s. Louise Jones won the women’s 400m in 55.21s.
Pascal Kethers qualified for selection to the world youth championship in France in July after clearing 4.75m in the pole vault. He beat Nicholas Southgate, who had already qualified for the youth championships, on a count back after both clearing 4.75m.
Michael Cochrane won the M19 110m hurdles in 14.13s (+3.4), under the New Zealand record but for the following wind being too strong for the record to be allowed. Cochrane fought hard in the 400m hurdles to hold out James Mortimer in 51.19s, Mortimer clocking 51.31s.
Merewarihi Vaka won the W16 100m in 12.57s (+2.6) and the discus throwing 50.03m.
A total of 152 have been selected to represent Auckland at the New Zealand championships in Dunedin next month. Convenor of selectors Dave Norris said this shows the high standard of athletics in Auckland at the moment.
“The selectors set tough selection standards and we are delighted that 152 athletes achieved the standards,” said Norris.
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