New Zealand Combined Events Championships, Douglas Track & Field, Waitakere – 15/16 February 2014
Nicholas Gerrard regained the New Zealand decathlon title with a solid performance and personal best score of 7375 for the ten events over the weekend.
The 21 year old started with a 100 metres sprint of 11.41 (-2.1) and was just one centimetre short of his personal best in the long jump clearing 7.54m (+2.3). He concluded the first day covering the 400m in 51.28s.
Yesterday his best came in the pole vault where he cleared 4.20m a 10 centimetre improvement on his previous best. He won the title in 2012 and was second to Scott McLaren last year with 7033 points. His latest effort moves him up to tenth on the New Zealand all time list.
The Commonwealth Games standard for selection is 7700 points and Gerrard will attempt to exceed this at the Australian championships in early April.
Gerrard summed up his two days as strong
“I started off very strong, good 100m into the wind, strong long jump, shot was solid, a solid two metre high jump and the 400m was pretty good. Day two has a lot of room to improve, but a good 119 point personal best so we’re on track for a large total in Aussie,” said Gerrard.
“A score of 7700 is definitely achievable and towards the magical 8000 points,” he added.
The decathlon was won by Kiesuke Ushiro of Japan with a score of 7885. He only took the lead after the pole vault where he cleared 4.90m. Ushiro also won the New Zealand championship event in 2010 in Hamilton with 7711.
Portia Bing likewise is chasing a Commonwealth selection in the heptathlon. Bing easily retained her national title with a score of 5695 for the seven events. In the final event the 800m the 20 year old ran a personal best of 2m 17.37s. Bing who has a best of 5774 will be after the games standard of 5900 at the Australian championships.
Bing was happy on certain things over the two days.
“I had a big PB in the 800m, I ran it a lot different than I have in the past, I actually went out there and gave the first lap a good crack, ran it in 66 seconds which was really good for me.
“It is my first heptathlon in nearly a year so it is good to come back and I’ve just got to work on a few little things for the Aussie champs,” she said.
Aaron Booth secured four individual personal bests in the hurdles, pole vault, shot put and discus throw on his way to winning the junior decathlon title with a PB score of 6287. Alex Mander had a PB 5kg shot put of 13.43m in winning the youth octathlon with a PB score of 5297.
Phoebe Edwards was out to a personal best long jump of 5.32m (+1.6) in winning the youth heptathlon title with a PB score of 4454.
Paige Harwood retained her junior heptathlon title with a score of 4916. Stephen Te Whaiti won the masters M50 decathlon with a score of 6504.
Our thoughts go out to the Technical Delegate to the championships Heather O’Hagan who sustained two chipped bones in her ankle after an accident during the first day of competition We wish Heather a speedy recovery.
Results:
Decathlon
Senior: Nicholas Gerrard (NHB) 100m 11.41s 771, long jump 7.54m 945, shot put 14.53m 761, high jump 2.00m 803, 400m 51.28s 757, 110m hurdles 15.42s 799, discus throw 41.37m 692, pole vault 4.20m 673, javelin throw 56.19m 681, 1500m 5m 11.90s 493 total 7375 1, Stephen Buckley (Tak) 6789 2, Jack Henry (Cant) 6355 3. Event won by Kiesuke Ushiro (Japan) 7885.
Junior: Aaron Booth (Wait) 11.67s 717, 6.37m 668, 12.41m 631, 1.91m 723, 54.11s 635, 15.88s 746, 37.84m 621, 3.20m 406, 46.76m 541, 4m 53.35s 599, 6287 1, Max Atwell (Wanganui) 5530 2, Hamish Dewar (Cant) 5263 3.
Youth: Alex Mander (Cant) 100m 12.29s 595, long jump 6.30m 652, shot put 13.43m 693, 400m 53.15s 675, 110m hurdles 15.34s 809, high jump 1.81m 636, javelin throw 42.57m 479, 1000m 2m 50.70s 758, 5297 1, Ben Collerton (Cant) 4898 2, Sam Stewart (Sthld) 4710 3.
Masters: M50; Stephen Te Whaiti (Tauranga) 6504 1, Wayne Doyle (Otago) 6246 2, Paul Davies (Otago) 3961 3. M55; Ian Craven (Otago) 4388 1.
Heptathlon
Senior: Portia Bing (NHB) 100m hurdles 13.91s 991, high jump 1.73m 891, shot put 12.07m 666, 200m 24.52s 931, long jump 5.76m 777, javelin throw 35.37m 579, 800m 2m 17.37s 860 total 5695 1, Natalie Booth (Wait) 3638 2.
Junior: Paige Harwood (Pak) 15.19s 817, 1.76m 928, 11.77m 646, 27.34s 684, 5.61m 732, 33.64m 546, 2m 40.83s 563, 4916 1.
Youth: Phoebe Edwards (Wgtn) 14.89s 856, 1.67m 818, 9.27m 482, 26.54s 751, 5.32m 648, 21.33m 314, 2m 38.97s 585, 4454 1, Natasha Eady (Wait) 4424 2, Danica Davies (Otago) 4091 3.
Speak Your Mind