2007 Track Oct-Dec

Palmerston North Mayor Jono Naylor officially opened the clubroom extension (pictured below from left) at the Manawatu Community Athletic Track (MCAT) with an unveiling of a commemorative plaque today. John Callesen and MCAT Chairman Gary Mack also gave speeches.

14 Dec - Manawatu-Wanganui Teams Champs (Sun Dec 16)
"The Manawatu-Wanganui Teams Champs for children aged 7 to 15 will be held at Massey Track starting at 10am Sunday 16 December.  This will be a very exciting and worthwhile day and 41 entries have been received from children in the club.   Athletes can enter up to 4 events.   If anyone has not entered then we may be able to get you into the field, please just urgently contact Peter Blackwood (entry fees are $5 per athlete).  Each athlete scores points for their event depending on how fast they run and how far they jump or throw.  At the end of the day there will be a brief meeting of club athletes attending the North Island Colgate Games (Team Manager Steve Clark) and South Island Colgate Games (Team Manager Peter Blackwood) - we will be discussing our relay teams.

13 Dec - NEWS Tues Club Night - Strahan Moynihan

A special mention on Tuesday club night (11 Dec) for Strahan Moynihan 15, who ripped an incredible 21 seconds off his previous best 3000m time with 9min 40 secs keeping the likes of Andrew Davenport and John Mudgway honest. This follows a creditable 10th placing at the New Zealand Secondary Schools 4km road race. If you hear or see of other performances worthy of a mention please don't hesitate to contact Lance at gray.family@actrix.co.nz

13 Dec - PHOTOS NZ Secondary Schools photos
PNAHC Club Captain Jaime Knyn at the Triple Jump for PNGHS where she finished 17th with a best jump of 10.31m. Photographs courtesy of Anne Thomson. If there are any photographs out there please get in contact with Lance at gray.family@actrix.co.nz

12 Dec - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy rankings list
10 Dec - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy rankings list
10 Dec - Congratulations PNAHC Athletes - NZ Sec Schools
Congratulations to John Kendall (pictured below) for gold in the triple jump and bronze in the Long Jump- Junior Boys, Olivia Burne with gold in the 3000m- Senior Girls, Millie McNie with silver in the Hammer - Senior Girls, Hayden Donnelly who ran a PB by 2 secs for bronze in the 800m- Senior Boys, Jaimee Knyn for bronze in the 300m hurdles - Senior Girls, Shaun McFarlane for bronze in the 200m and PNBHS for silver in the 4x100m Senior Boys. To find the full results go to the following website results


John Kendall at the PNTH round of the teams competition.

7 Dec - PNAHC Athlete wins Old West Road Race
The 27th annual Old West Road Race (approx 10.6km) among Massey University and associated Institutes was held at Friday lunch-time and proved the adage that every dog has its day when Lance Gray snuck home by 5sec to claim the fastest lap in 40m12sec. Considering the record is in the vicinity of 34 minutes he has a bit of work to do! Former PNAHC athlete Jim Jones has also won this very low-key but enjoyable race.

6 Dec - NZ Secondary Schools Timetable (8-9 Dec)
6 Dec - NZ Sec Schools Timed Programme ((8-9 Dec)

4 x 400 Hayden Donnelly, Henry Lourie, Callum McConachy, and Sean Curry

5 Dec - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy rankings list
2 Dec - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy rankings list

Our walkers. From left Sue Hoskin, Lisa MacDonald & Michelle Lei

1 Dec-Central Region League PNth Results overall team individual

1 Dec- Central Region Teams Comp - Report by Alan Adamson
- Ten new stadium records being established
Warm temperatures with a cooling breeze made conditions ideal for the final round of The Central Region Athletic Teams Competition held at the MCAT track in Palmerston North on Saturday. With this meet being used as the final trial by many Secondary School athletes before their national championships in Wanganui next weekend some top performances were expected and the athletes did not disappoint with 10 new stadium records being established during the course of the meeting.see full report

1 Dec- Central Region Teams Comp - PNAHC competitors photos


Maddy, Leisha, Jenny & Elise W14 PNAHC 4 x 100m

29 Nov - NZ Secondary Schools Timetable (8-9 Dec)

28 Nov - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy rankings list

26 Nov - NEWS- Shun Abe leaves PNAHC
Shun Abe has been in New Zealand since April 1997 and will be sorely missed by those fortunate enough to spend time with him. At a function last Thursday night Shun reminded those present of his considerable interests in wine, music and athletics. We all appreciated the Bollinger! As a PNAHC member we will miss his efforts over 200 to 800 metres and in particular his considerable style as illustrated below.


26 Nov - NOTICES- Timetable this weekend (Sat 1 Dec)

26 Nov - NOTICES- Officials Needed this weekend (Sat 1 Dec)
Club members or their parents are required to assist as meeting officials from 11.30 for a Noon start. No experience necessary just let George know if you are available on 027-231 8016.

26 Nov - NOTICES- Carparking this weekend (Sat 1 Dec)
If the limited car parking at the track is full please use the car park on Albany Drive which is just past the Institute of Rugby and Sport. A path leads from this area to the track.

DO NOT PARK ON THE ROADWAY OR THE GRASS VERGE

We use the car park throwing circle for the hammer throw event and need to allow a safety margin. With our top hammer throwers getting out close to 50 metres this margin is limited and we cannot allow vehicles to park close to this area. Not only do you put your vehicle in danger but also the officials.

26 Nov - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy rankings list

19 Nov - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy rankings list

19 Nov - PNAHC 2nd in Central Region League Wellington
by Alan Adamson overall team individual
Provisional Results saw the Manawatu Team finish a close second in the second round of competition in the Central Athletic Team competition held at Newtown Park Wellington on Saturday.

Results:
Wgtn 27753 points
Pnahc 27679 points
Wang 26552 points.

This competition is based on points being allocated for performance which is then is subject to an age factoring adjustment and a teams top 15 performances then counting to the team score. The age factoring allowance certaining counts in the favour of teams with the young athletes or the older master athletes and it was unfortunate that a timing malfunction in one of the 100 metre events saw the performances of some athletes not being able to be scored.

The meeting highlight was once again Hammer thrower Millie McNie who in tossing the 4k hammer out to a personal best 44.76m bettered the Athletics Manawatu Wanganui record for athletes 20 years and under by 37 cm . Millie had a very consistant series of throws with at least one other throw being beyond the previous record. It is perhaps quite ironic that despite bettering the centre record Millie's factored score failed to make the top 15 scoring performances.

On the track it was Olivia Burne who produced the most outstanding performance with a very convincing win in the womens 1500 metres. Tracking Wellington's front running Elaine Brent for most of the way these had pulled well clear of the field going to the bell. Olivia's produced a Snell like finishing kick with 100 metres to go going to the line a comfortable winner in the very good tome of 4m 40.65 sec.

One of the most pleasing aspect of this meeting is the constant performances of our young athletes many of them in their first season of competition. In particular Stacey Gunn and Courtney Poutaka both 12 year old are excelling in the oppertunity to compete on Open competition. Stacey achieved yet another personal best in the triple jump when she leaped 9.39 metres and this along with her 4.33 metre long jump saw her figuring very prominantly in point scoring table.

Once again our hurdlers figured very prominately with Paige Lowe's run in the 80 metre hurdles being our top womens point score and Glenn Weitenbergs 110 hurdles being out top mens point scoring effort. Club captain Jaimee Knyn did not let the swollen knee sufferred in hurdle training stop her from taking on the hurdles again comfortably taking out both the 100 and 300 metre events.

John Kendall and Andy Kruy were again in the top point scorers in the long jump jumping 6.20 and 6.29 respectively Kendall also jumped well in the triple jump with a best leap of 12.72, a little below personal best. He did get one jump beyond his personal best only to have it ruled as a no jump.

Hayden Donnelly's 1m 56.93 in the 800 metres was close to his best time and he showed lots of character in being able to outsprint the experienced Adam Steinmetz for second place. However as in Hastings he allowed the front running Simon Rogers to get away from the field in the middle stages and was unable to bridge the gap. Hopefully Hayden will learn from these two races and recognise the need to adopt a more agressive approach if he is to succeed in future clashes. Still a fine effort.

Adam Millar has been making steady progress in the throwing events and it was pleasing to see that both his discus and shot performances bringing in valuable points. Another pleasing feature was the reappearance in competition of Ben Sutton-Davis. Sutton-Davis was recognised as one of the countries most promising athletes several years ago but has a career hounded by injury which has prevented him competing.

The factored scoring system does not recognise the fine efforts of some of the senior athletes but it was very pleasing to see the very popular Shun Abe take out one of the 800 metre races. Club captain Callum McConachy was again busy with good runs in both the hurdle events. Callum also put the 4x400 relay team into a commanding position with a good opening leg which was never surrendered.

Like the young athletes the performances of our masters athletes prove invaluable in this competition. Club president Brian Curry, Andrew Davenport, Gavin Jensen, Vanessa Story all produced efforts that figured in the scoring points and once the factoring of the walk events are included the efforts of Sue Hoskins, Andrus Lei and Ian Bailey are certain to be included.The Palmerston North club looks to be in a good position to take out the competition when it hosts the final round of competition on Saturday 1 December.

15 Nov - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy rankings list

14 Nov - NOTICES- Central League Wellington (Sat 17 Nov)
Mini-buses leaving PNBHS at 8.30am, cost $25.

Interesting to note that in the South Island there is no teams competition this year, while in the north of the North Island there is what is called a city competition. Seven "cities" will contest the competition with Waikato-Bay of Plenty being split into Hamilton city, Waikato City (all Waikato outside Hamilton) and Bay of Plenty city, and the rest coming from Auckland in the form of North Shore, Waitakere, Auckland and Manukau-Papakura. A Waikato inter-club competition last weekend drew 90 athletes, and with Auckland city teams expected to bring up to 40 athletes each, a field of over 200 is likely. Entry is on the day, making it difficult to ascertain just which elite competitors will be taking part.
(source: stuff.co.nz/waikatotimes/4267966a6414.html)

10 Nov - NEWS - No wind at MCAT!

Resident meteorologists from left Ariana Blackwood, George McConachy, Callum McConachy, Hayden Donnelly, Darrren Gray and Jaimee Knyn unanimously conclude that there was no wind at the Manawatu Community Athletic Track today.

9 Nov - Athlete Profile - Ariana Blackwood
Ariana's scorching 2km steeples at Hastings on Saturday provided a good reminder to how fortunate PNAHC is at having such a talented young athlete. The following profile is an excellent way to kick off the athlete profile section and hopefully encouragement for others to provide their own. I will be out volunteering people shortly. What about that photo. Can't beat wearing the silver fern.
Ariana Blackwood - Athlete Profile

8 Nov - NOTICES
Valerie Vili Breakfast (Thurs 6 Dec)
Valerie Vili and coach Kirsten Hellier will be guests for breakfast (7 to 9am) at the Nosh Restaurant, Novotel in Cuba St. All proceeds to the Cancer Society. Cost $30. Tickets from Addis House 135 Ruahine St ph 356 5355.

8 Nov - NOTICES - Levin Ribbon Day (Sun 11 Nov 10am)
Peter Blackwood Childrens Coordinator PNAHC
Ph: 3248484 (after 630pm) 9522938 (work) (021) 2277112 (cell)
-Grades 7-14 WAIOPEHU COLLEGE BARTHOLOMEW RD, LEVIN
-$5 entry fee on the day
-(Coming from Shannon turn right into Queen St, left into Bartholomew at the first roundabout, then Waiopehu College is on your left past the primary school)
-Athletes must wear Club uniform and Colgate Age Patch.
Note: Grade 12 & 13 athletes intending to compete for Manawatu / Wanganui at the Grade 12 & 13 Interprovincials are expected to attend ribbon days.


7 Nov - NOTICES - Colgate Games Entries due 13 Nov
Peter Blackwood is co-ordinating athletes from PNAHC for both the North Island & South Island Colgate games so if you are interested in competing please get hold of Peter quickly at
peter.blackwood@horizons.govt.nz

7 Nov - PNAHC Rankings by George McConachy
Given the flurry of events George has provided the latest rankings list so enjoy if you have gone well so far. rankings list

7 Nov - Club Night - Kathleen Munn Sizzles
If you listen to event manager George McConachy at Club Night you would swear that his highlight of the evening is the sausage sizzle such is his excitement at announcing that the sausages are ready. It is Kathleen Munn (pictured below) however who runs the BBQ in Shed 2 every club-night making sure that the club feeds the masses as well as providing important funding. Also a great place to park yourself if it gets a bit chilly.

3 Nov - PNAHC win Round One - Hastings
PNAHC kicked off the Central Region League first round with a win and plenty of sun-burn going by the shoulders of Paige Lowe.
At the end of competition the final results were:

Overall Results
Manawatu   27279
Hastings     26803
Wellington  25777
Wanganui   25276
Taranaki      25029
Wairarapa   12249

If you look at the individual results the biggest points scorer for PNAHC in the womens competition was Stacey Gunn with three counting scores (the maximum) in the Long Jump, Triple Jump & 100m. Leisha Neumann also shone under the new rules with two counting efforts in the Long Jump and 100m. Our womens 14 grade contributed a whopping 11 of the 15 counting scores. With the mens competition it was the 110m hurdlers that contributed the bulk of the points. Shaun McFarlane with the 100m & 200m and Jared Robinson with the 110m hurdles were the individual standouts.
overall team individual photos

The winning (but non-points scoring) mens 4x400m relay. From left Hayden Pritchard, Callum McConachy, Hayden Donnelly & Andrew Davenport. Hannah Dunlop just wanted to be in the picture.

30 Oct 2007 NOTICES - Central League Hastings (Sat 3 Nov)
Mini-buses leaving PNBHS at 8.45am, cost $20. Please note new rules mean anyone who is 12 years old & registered with the club is eligible to compete. rules programme

30 Oct 2007 - Olivia Burne Selected for World Champs
Olivia Burne has been selected to represent New Zealand at the World Schools' Cross-Country Championships at Zdar nad Sazavou in the Czech Republic in April 2008. Also great to see the write-up and picture in the Evening Standard subsequently on Nov 6.

30 Oct 2007 - Jennie Melville Childrens Co-ordinator ages 2 to 6
If you ever wondered what Jennie is doing from 5.45pm on a Tuesday night then the photo below illustrates this well. Children form a large part of PNAHC's membership and it is through the likes of Jennie, Childrens co-ordinator Peter Blackwood and the many parent volunteers that makes Tuesday after work, especially when the sun is out, a memorable time for everyone.

That is Jennie with arms raised in the middle there!

28 Oct 2007 - Auckland Marathon Report - Lance Gray
As sole PNAHC representative I can report that the Auckland Marathon is a much different beast to Rotorua though not as flat as I was expecting. The undulations from Devonport to the Harbour Bridge were certainly on the hill side of things and the clip-ons did not collapse under my mass. The slight head-wind from 21km to the turn at 32km in St Helliers was the major challenge for the day. From this point it was a tailwind home and time to reel in a bunch of flagging bodies. Being able to kick it home was the big change from Rotorua and there is nothing more fun than running 'em down at the end! A big thanks to George for the programme and time spent over a Speights Old Dark.Time 2hrs 58min 57secs.

21 Oct 2007 – Michelle Lei & Sue Hoskin dominate NZ Long-Distance Walking Champs - Hastings results
Michelle Lei (pictured below) picked up yet another NZ title winning the Senior Womens 15km race in 1.28.27 with Sue Hoskin following in second with 1.33.14. In the Senior Mens non-championship 10km Andrus Lei won in 55.57.

Michelle Lei at Club Night before her 3000m

21 Oct 2007 - PNAHC Website goes live

A big thanks to Bruce Harding at inSPire.net for sponsoring PNAHC by providing server space for the website.

19 Oct 2007 – Carol McNie Memorial Meeting results photos

It was appropriate that national womens u-18 hammer titleholder Millie McNie (pictured below) should be one of the standout performances at the Carol McNie Memorial Meeting held here at the Manawatu Community Athletic Track on Friday evening. With father George helping officiate, Millie tossed the 4kg hammer an impressive 43.5m, 15 metres further than her nearest rival. The throw was 2m better than her effort at last year's meeting which was a Manawatu Stadium record. She has since surpassed this and Friday's effort was a metre short of her record.
In the women's 100m the Wanganui pair of Tess Meha and Phillippa Syme were separated by .004s with Meha given the decision. In race two the photo-finisher separated the Wairarapa sisters Vicki & Corrina Paine by .03s with Vicki winning. Michael Wilson of Masterton took out the sprint double, the 100m in 11.29 and the 200 in 22.51, both among the fastest run this season.

Jaimie Knyn won the 100 & 300m hurdles while Paige Lowe clocked a personal best running the 400m hurdles on her own.

Callum McConachy and Glen Weitenberg faced off in the first of many duels over the 110m hurdles with Glen as National rep over this distance taking the win. McConachy with no competition over his favoured distance of 400m hurdles ran the lower junior 300m hurdles clocking 41.21 which is the third fastest time by a club athlete. In the 800 metres Manawatu Schools champion Hayden Donnelly comfortably won from Andrew Davenport who has just returned from the World Masters Championships in Italy.

Regarded as one of the best high jumping surfaces in the country was found to the liking of Regan Standing with the 16 year old from Hawera equalling his own stadium record with a 1.90 jump. Tara Lee Robinson of Palmerston North was the best of the women clearing 1.50. Wanganui's Geoff Kirby won the triple jump with a leap of 13.17m, a stadium record for both 17 & 18 year olds. Palmerston North's Andy Kruy was runnerup with a personal best leap of 12.62m and another in the long jump (6.13). Finally a big thanks to Alec McNab who organised the 45 athletes from Wanganui. (Thanks to Alan Adamson for writing the Evening Standard article)

9 Oct 2007 – Club Night Programme B

A big thank you to all of the volunteers for the first major club night of the season.  A superb evening with little wind saw a great turnout of athletes and parents and consequently some very exciting competition.  Aside from the track events the evening allowed the opportunity for athletes to get into the field events with pleasing numbers of shot-putters, discus throwers, high jumpers and long jumpers.  I especially enjoyed watching the children’s shot putting with Anne Thomson providing fun instruction and Colin Gemmell the commentary whilst measuring attempts.  Those competing will be very clear about where their face is and how they exit the circle from now on!

 2 Oct 2007 – Club Night Programme A

A group of keen PNAHC members braved the elements for the first club-night of the 2007-08 season.  Highlights included a well contested 1500 won by Hayden Donnelly from Callum McConachy; as well as a 200m hurdles won by Callum McConachy with Jamie Knyn edging Paige Lowe in the womens event.  No field events were held due to the “spring” conditions!