The absolute stand-out, was the new Canterbury record throw of 16.75m in the W18 Shot Put by Tapenisa Havea (LIAC). Her throw added a remarkable three quarters of a metre to Jaiyden Busch’s (COBU) record. With most of the season still in front of her, Havea looks destined to break through the 17m barrier in the near future. It, again, illustrates the depth of quality of this event in the province.

A second record late in the day was achieved by Ethan Gow in the Under 17 (SELW) triple jump, with a leap of 13.67m achieved on his first jump. This is a personal best by over 30 centimetres and surpasses the old record held by Matthew Walsh (PTOC), the previous mark being 13.42m.

Although not at a Canterbury record level, Alfie Baker’s (CCCA) jump of 2.01m places him as second ranked in the country this season. With one of the strongest fields ever, for the Senior Boy’s title at the NZSS Championships in Tauranga next month, Baker’s breakthrough, where he cleared new PB’s twice in the competition, sets him as a real contender.

A preview of this contest will occur at the end of the month at the Rhythm & Jumps meet where Jayden Williamson (Akl: 2019 Senior Boys winner) and Quinn Hartley (Sthl:2019 Junior Boys winner) will clash alongside Baker.

W17 athlete, Gracie Pratten (PTOC), showed exceptional promise with her 10.88m winning effort in the Triple Jump. With the retirement of Greer Alsop (COBU) from the sport, Pratten becomes the leading exponent of this event in the province. A small improvement on this performance will likely make her a contender in Tauranga in December.

Daniel Roswell’s (CHAV) season gets better as the weeks pass by. His 800m victory was within 0.5sec of his Personal Best from January. Although trailing by almost 5 seconds behind Roswell, second placed Louis Andrews (COBU), backed up his PB 100m run with a 2 second PB.

The mixed race also featured the season 800m opener for 2015 World University Champion, Angie Petty. She won the women’s section comfortably with her time of 2:07.82.

Another Christ’s College athlete moving into good form this season, approaching the NZSS track and field championships, is John Wells. He upset the leading sprinter of the season, so far, Elliott Nye (COBU), in the 200m. His run of 22.26sec, with a 2.2 m/s wind, was just outside the allowable reading. Nye was second with 22.45 from 16-year-old Will Chun (COBU) in 3^rd.

The round-about of recent Women’s sprint winners continued on Saturday. Julia Burnham (COBU), lead Maia Broughton (COBU) by 0.1sec across the line in the 200m, with Multiple NZ hurdles Champion, Fiona Morrison (COBU) a further 0.12sec in arrears.

Next weekend will see a small number of our leading Combined Eventers traveling to Dunedin to compete in. the South Island Combined Events Championships which incorporates the Canterbury Combined Events Championships.