Good win to Ritchie in inter – club decathlon

Press, 4 December 1978, Page 3

Good win to Ritchie in inter - club decathlon

By

ROD DEW

Mike Ritchie (Toe H),i aged 23, has his sights set on the national decathlon crown after winning the demanding, two-day, Canterbury inter-club event which ended at Queen Elizabeth II Park last evening.

Richie completed his tenth event, the 1500 m, in an impressive 4min 30.2 sec, scoring a grand total of 6895, his best by 523 points.

It was also only 122 points outside the Canterbury record set by the former national champion, Mene Mene (Technical), three years ago.

Mene was conspicuous by his absence but there was no lack of competition for Ritchie. The national highiump champion, Terry Lomax (High School Old Boys), displayed some unsuspected talents by leading overnight and hanging on yesterday to claim second place with 6519 points. His was an outstanding performance too, especially because it was the first serious decathlon of his career. He has only contested one other decathlon and that was as a

16-year-old nearly five years ago. Had it not been for a weakness in his throwing events he would have been closer to Ritchie at the finish. Although the high jump will remain his main concern his success has prompted him to seek a place in the field for the national decathlon at Wellington next March. Lomax provided one of the highlights on the firsti day with an unsuccessful attempt on the national high-jump record of 2.1 m, which he shares with the Auckland athlete, Lindsay Guthrie.

After clearing 2.07 m he requested a height of 2.11 m. Twice he just tipped the bar off with the back of his leg and on the third occasion he hit the bar on the way up.

However he was well satisfied with his leap of 2.07 m, which gained him 917 points, the highest individual tally of the contest. It also puts him on top of the national rankings for the event this season.

Third place over all went to Kieran McKee (Toe H) with another solid score of 6376. Alan Tucker (High School Old Boys), who was never far behind the others, was fourth with 5844. For Ritchie the decathlon started well on Saturday morning with a personal best time of 11.3 s for the 100 m. But it was not quite good enough to give him an initial lead. Lomax was the fastest with his 11.2 s and Tucker recorded 11.35. Ritchie took the lead with a splendid Jong jump of 7.08 m, only the third time 7m has been exceeded this season. Lomax regained the lead with a shot of 10.99 m, not a great effort but still better than Ritchie could manage. Lomax consolidated his lead by winning the high jump. A win in the 400 m in the good time of 50.8 s after a. close tussle with Tucker, his coach, left him with an overnight score of 3754.

Ritchie was 156 behind but not concerned.

However, Ritchie, a television cameraman, had a problem to overcome before he could resume the contest: he had been assigned to film the “Superstars” contest yesterday morning. Fortunately, this was at Queen Elizabeth II Park behind the main stadium. Ritchie worked from 8 a.tn. to 10.45 p.m. and then sprinted to the start of the 110 m hurdles at 11a.m. Lomax won, with Ritchie third behind McKee. But he quickly settled down and from then on was unbeatable. He won the discus with 33.54 m, the pole vault with 4.20 m, and the javelin with 47.26 m. He ended the contest by leading the 1500 m from start to finish.

The junior decathlon was won by the national junior champion, Stephen McKee (Toe H), after a keen tussle with Murray Weir (Toe H). McKee scored 5678 points, 137 more than he scored in the national event earlier this year. Abbreviations used in the following results are Avon (A.), Christ’s College (C.C.), High School Old Boys-Te Kura (H.S.), New Brighton (N. 8. Toe H (T.H.): SENIOR

100 m.—T. Lomax (H.S.), 11.2, 756 points, 1; M. Ritchie (T.H.), A. Tucker (H.S.), 11.3, 733 (equal 2). Long jump.—Ritchie, 7.08, 836, 1; Lomax, 6.81. 780, 2; K. McKee (T.H.), 6.40, 693, 3. Progress points: Ritchie 1569, Lomax 1536, McKee 1319.

Shot.—Tucker, 11.55, 569, 1; McKee, 11.43, 561, 2; Lomax. 10.99, 531, 3. Progress points: Lomax 2067, Ritchie 2061, McKee 1880.

High jump.—Lomax, 20.07, 917, 1; Ritchie, 1.95, 813. 2; McKee, 1.9, 769, 3. Progress points: Lomax 2984, Ritchie 2874, McKee 2649.

400m.—Lomax, 50.8, 770, 1; Tucker, 50.9, 766, 2; Ritchie. 51.9, 724, 3. Progress points: Lomax 3754, Ritchie 3598, McKee 3300, Tucker 3114, R. Falconer (A.) 2516.

110 m hurdles.—Lomax. 15.7, 777, 1; McKee, 16.4. 712, 2; Ritchie. 16:5, 703, 3. Progress points: Lomax 4531, Ritchie 4301, McKee 4008.

Discus.—Ritchie. 33.54, 552, 1; Tucker, 32.52, 530. 2; McKee, 32.28. 525, 3. Progress points: Lomax 4948, Ritchie 4853, McKee 4533.

’ Pole vault—Ritchie, 4.2, 859, 1; McKee, 4.05, 820, 2; Lomax. 3.05, 543. 3. Progress points: Ritchie 5712, Lomax 5491, McKee 5353. Javelin.—Ritchie. 47.26, 595, 1; Tucker, 43.1, 537, 2; McKee. 41.3, 510, 3. Progress points: Ritchie 6307, Lomax 5989, McKee 5863. 1500m—Ritchie. 4:3.3, 588, 1; Tucker, 4:32.3. 574, 2; Lomax, 4:39.1, 530, 3. Final points: Ritchie 6895, Lomax 6519, McKee 6376, Tucker 5844. JUNIOR 100 m.—S. McKee (T.H.), 18.1, 622, 1; M. Weir (T.H.), 12.1, 560. 2; P. Moore (N. 8. 12.3, 520, 3. Long jump.—McKee. 6.3, 671, 1; Weir, 6.18, 644. 2; G. Stanley (L.), 5.42, 472, 3. Shot.—McKee, 11.27. 550, 1; Stanley, 10.87, 523, 2; Moore, ■9.28. 406, 3. i High jump—Weir, 1.8, 680, 1; McKee, 1.7.. 588, 2; Stanley, 1.55, 400 m—McKee, Weir, 54.7, 614, equal 2; Stanley, 56.4, 552, 3. Overnight progress scores.— McKee 3045, Weir 2838, Stanley 2435, Moore 2435. 110 m hurdles.—Weir, 17.6, 613, 1; McKee, 19.1, 506, 2; Moore, 21.5, 366, 3. Discus.—Moore, 30.56, 487, 1; McKee, 28.6, 442, 2; Weir, 25.62, 370, 3. Pole vault.—McKee. 3.9, 780, 1; Weir, 3.35, 630, 2; Moore, 2.75, 452, 3. Javelin—McKee, 42.28, 525. 1; Moore, 40.42, 497, 2; Weir, 35.56, 3. 1500m.—Weir. 4:41.4, 1: McKee, 5:5.2, 2. Final points. McKee 5678, Weir 5389, Moore 3947. UNDER 18 100 m.—K. Mohammed (C.C.). 12, 580, 1; A. Wells (C.C.), 12.2, 540, 2; I. Robertson (C.C.), 12.3, 520, 3. Long jump.—Wells, 6.22, 653, 1; Mohammed. 5.53, 498, 2; Robertson, 5.51, 493. 3. Shot.—Mohammed, 9.32, 409. 1: M. Phillips (C.C.), 8.09, 313, 2; Wells, 7.98, 304, 3.

High jump—Robertson, 1.85, 725, 1; Wells, 634, 2; Phillips and Mohammed, 1.6, 493, equal 3. equal 3.

400m.—Mohammed, 54.4, 625, 1; Robertson. 57.3, 521, 2; Wells, 61.6, 384, 3.

Overnight progress scores.— Mohammed 2605, Weils 2515, Robertson 2501, Phillips 1885. 110 m hurdles. —Robertson, 16.4, 712, 1; Mohammed, 16.6, 694, 2; Wells, 21.8, 350, 3.

Discus.—Mohammed, 30.96. 496, 1; Wells, 24.7, 347, 2; Phillips, 19.98, 222, 3.

Pole vault. —Robertson, 3.35, 630, 1; Mohammed, Phillips, 2.90, 498. equal 2.

Javelin. —Mohammed, 40,48. 498, 1; Phillips. 35.88, 427, 2; Wells, 23.46, 209. 3.

1500m.—Mohammed, Robertson, 4:54, 441, equal 1: Wells, 5:1, 355, 3. Final points: Mohammed 5232, Robertson 4284, Wells 4228, Phillips 3688.