AUCKLAND – Athletics, Mt Smart Stadium – 12 March 2011
110m Hurdles
Michael Cochrane finally grabbed the New Zealand M19 110m hurdles record outright after a slashing sprint over the sticks in 14.06s on Saturday evening.
The Tauranga athlete, who is now resident in Auckland attending university, recorded 14.06s, to better the previous record of 14.22s that he jointly held with James Mortimer.
Cochrane said that he knew the record was there going into the race.
“I’ve been doing consistent New Zealand records with illegal winds, so it was just a matter of time before I did it with a legal wind,” he said.
“The conditions were perfect coming into it, so I knew that it was going to be close,” he added.
Cochrane now holds the New Zealand M19 110m and 400m hurdle records.
“It’s quite cool to have both of them. I’ve trained hard for both and they go hand in hand,” said Cochrane.
Cochrane will race at the New Zealand championships in Dunedin at the end of the month.
“That will be my last race ever at that height of hurdle so I think that I can lower today’s record further,” he said.
Peter Callagher of Pakuranga set an Auckland M19 record of 14.44s in finishing second to Cochrane, clipping 0.04s off Antony Pownall’s time from 1997.
Mortimer raced the 400m flat in 48.30s. Sarah Cowley won the 100m hurdles in 14.20s.
Hayden McLaren, up from Christchurch, ran a personal best of 3m 41.64s in winning the 1500m. Brett Tingay also from Canterbury was second in 3m 49.65s.
“That’s a good two seconds off my previous best, I’m in good shape so I thought I’d just go for it tonight,” said McLaren.
“With QEII Stadium wiped out, I’ve moved up to Auckland to stay with my coach Chris Pilone for a few months and keep the training going at a high level before kicking on to Europe,” said McLaren.
Reid Hunter and Paul Hamblyn provided the perfect pace for McLaren.
“They were good pace makers, I just cruised around there for a good kilometre and then all I had to do was run the last lap,” said McLaren who has yet to decide whether he will race the 1500m at the nationals.
Katie Wright ran her best 1500m this season of 4m 21.26s. Louise Jones covered the 400m in 54.61s, while Andrea Koenen was sharp in the sprints winning the double in 11.78s over 100m and 23.94s in the 200m. Isaac Tatoa held out the men’s 100m field in 10.68s. In the jumps Ryan Roselli of Wellington was out to 7.18m while Todd Swanson cleared 14.37m in the triple jump and Nneka Okpala recorded 12.62m in the women’s triple jump.
In the throws Damian Smuts won the shot put with 14.80m and the discus 43.96m. Ana Pou’hila-Kisina won the women’s shot with 15.30m and the discus throwing 45.66m. Earlier in the day at Sovereign Stadium Smuts had the hammer out to 55.05m and Mark Cumming threw 49.51m. Millie McNie had a throw of 49.46m in the hammer, Nicole Bradley W19 hammer 43.90m and Ella Pilkington had a personal best of 41.02m in the W16 hammer.
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