Happy New Year! While many of us have been enjoying a good summer break, ACA athletes have continued to post impressive performances in major national events in Auckland and Bay of Plenty.
At the New Zealand 10,000m Championships held in the Tauranga Domain last Tuesday evening, 5 January, Jonathan Jackson ran fourth in the combined Senior Men’s/Men 19 race, placing second to Aaron Pulford in the M19 championships. His time of 30m 53.3s qualified for selection to both the world junior cross country championships and the world junior track and field championships. A great effort, Jono – well done!
At the New Year’s Day meeting in Tauranga, 19-year-old Lydia O’Donnell ran third in the Senior Women’s 3000m in 9m 43.47. A highlight of that event was the appearance of New Zealand’s Olympic 1500m medallist Nick Willis in the Senior Men’s 800m and 3000m. He’s clearly progressing well after undergoing knee surgery last year and won both races, in times of 1m 54.56s and 8m 28.12s respectively.
Jono Jackson also starred at the John Walker Night of Miles held at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland on 20 December. His explosive finish gave him victory in the Junior Mile, defeating Aaron Pulford by 0.41 seconds in a time of 4m 12.54s.
At our home stadium, ACA was very well represented throughout the evening, and it was wonderful to see our Men’s 16 & Women’s 16 runners dominate their respective races. Ben Moynihan and Daniel Josephs ran one-two in the M16 race, while Georgie Grgec and Sally Wilkins filled the same positions in the W16 Mile.
In the John Walker Men’s Medley Relay Challenge (100m, 200m, 300m, 400m) the ACA Acers (Ross Walker-Smart, John Campbell, Harry Wilde & Jaxon Bonnici) lived up to their name by winning in a time of 2m 04.79s.
This meeting also attracted one of New Zealand’s international stars, discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina who exceeded the performance standard for the Commonwealth Games in five of her six rounds. The two-time Commonwealth champion and 1997 world champion opened with a throw of 57.04m, improving in the next two rounds to 58.51m and 59.27m. She finished off with a 57.11m and 57.61m, all throws better than the standard of 56m, confirming her fifth equal ranking in the Commonwealth this year.
Check out the full John Walker Night of Miles results here.
