Connon just wins N.Z. decathlon

Press, 23 March 1981, Page 17

Connon just wins N.Z. decathlon

By

ROD DEW

A personal best pole vault of 4.ium and a solid final run in the vital 15v0m gave the fait;-haired Auckland physical education teacher. Grant Connon, the edge ne needed to win his first New Zealand senior decatnlon championship at Queen Elizabeth II Park on Saturday. Connon, competing in only his ninth decathlon, finished the testing two-day championship with 6727 points. But he was under pressure all the way from the New Zealand pole vault champion. Kieran McKee, of Canteroury, who completed the 10 events with just 11 points The championship was one of the closest since the event was first introduced as a championship in New Zealand in 1949. Sven the third-placed man. Peter McNab, of Otago, was in the hunt right until the last event. His final total was 6603, but with the 1500 m to go he was only 17 points behind Connon. McNab lifted himself into contention with a splendid javelin throw of 64.32 m in the second-last event —an Otago record. Before the 1500 m, Connon held a tenuous lead with 6216 points, McKee was second with 6213, and McNab third with 6199. The fastest of the three over 1500 m would take the title. None doubted their ability to win ,but after two slow laps it was Connon who found the extra reserves of strength to beat his : two rivals.

His third place in 4min 42.25, just two strides ahead of McKee, was enough to cement over-all victory.

“The result of every decathlon 1 do seems to hings on the 1500,” a weary but elated Connon said afterwards, “'lhe way this one was run suited me. I knew I could out-sprint the others if the early pace was slow enough. As it was, all I had to do was sit there and relax.”

Connon, who i s 24 and has only been competing in athletics seriously for three years, intends to turn his attention to building up for the Brisbane Commonwealh Games next year. ■His aim next year is to exceed 7500 points and with a best already this season of more than 7000 this target seems well within his ability. “I can improve in every event,” he said. However, he will place special emphasis on the 110 m hurdles, pole vault and the hight jump, all good scoring events. ,

McKee, holder of the New Zealand pole vault record at 5.01 m, ironically lost his chance of almost certain victory with a vault of only 4.40 m, one of his lowest this summer.

Spurred on by the knowledge that McKee had the ability to win with a good pole vault. Connon lifted his own personal best by 10cm to 4.10. When McKee failed to better 4.40 m, his improvement proved decisive. “Even an average pole vault of 4.60 m would have been enough to win the championship,” McKee said afterwards. “But when the time came I was just too tired.”

Nevertheless, he recovered to achieve a personal best of 46.70 m in the javelin and entering the final event, the 1500 m. he still felt he coulfi win. “I was aiming to beat Grant in the 1500 m. I have a faster time. But he was too strong. 1 tried to come off the bend, but 1 had: nothing left.”

McKee far from downcast over his narrow defeat. He • did four personal bests—shot I (U.o2m). 400 m, 110 m hurdles I (la.9Bsi and javelin—and his final > score was also his best What is ■ more, he achieved this without ■ training for the decathlon. I “I only competed because the championship was in Christ- : church. This was mv first de- • cathlon since 1978. 1 am reallv pleased with the way the season ' has finished up.” The Canterbury champion, Terry Lomax, finished fourth over all, but was prevented from 1 achieving a high score by injury. “I was suffering from a bruised heel before I started. I rolled an ankle in the shot and the back of mv knee has been plaving up. Apart from that 1 am in top shape,” he said. Connon, who abandoned a promising rugby career to concentrate on the decathlon, led after the first dav with 3453 points. 28 ahead of McKee. The junior women’s pentathlon vyas won bv a comfortable margin by the outstanding Canterbury schoolgirl. Angela Pule, with a score of 3535 points. And in the high jump she had the satisfaction of lifting the New Zealand senior record to I.Bom. This was the third time in recent weeks that she has broken the national mark. She started with 1.78 m In winning the Canterbury championship. increased it to 1.79 in winning the New Zealand junior title at Auckland, and on Saturday added another centimetre. Now she is aiming for a height of 1.83 m and the old imperial 6ft barrier. i

The high jump was the third event of the pentathlon, but her

learlierI earlier efforts appeared to have no harmful effects. “I. guess I used the first two events to warm up," she said. Miss Pule now holds the Canterbury senior and junior high jump titles, the New Zealand senior and junior titles in the same event, and the junior pentathlon. She is not finished yet. Next Saturday she competes in the Canterbury secondary schools championships at Queen Elizabeth II Park, and her main target win be a leap of 1.83 m. The final inter-club meeting of the year produced a number of noteworthy performances, although most of the leading performers had already ended their season.

Vai Young (Technical! won ths discus with an excellent distance of 45.78 m from her young rival, Jan Bishop (Technical). Miss Bishop, runner-up to Mrs Young in the national championship. threw 43.58 m. Miss Bishop won the javelin with a fine throw of 44.78 m Mrs Young made a rare appearance in this event .finishing second with a modest 23.24 m. Lyn Russek (Auckland) won the long jump with 5.43 m from Margaret Forsyth (Waikato), reversing the result of the national pentathlon long jump the previous day.

Michael Gilchrist (Technical) won the senior 3000 m in Bmin 16c from Jeff Elliott (Olvmpic). A junior, Vern Roberts (Toe H), claimed first place in both the 200 m (23.35) and the 800 m (Imin 53.85), an unusual double. Another double, but in the field, was achieved by Matt Leech (Technical). He won the discus with 42m and the shot with 13.29 m.