Mene Mene surprises with fine discus throw

Press, 7 December 1981, Page 22

Mene Mene surprises with fine discus throw

An outstanding personal best discus throw of 46,90 m by the former New Zealand decathlon champion, Mene Mene (Technical), thrust him unexpectedly back into the limelight at the Canterbury inter-club track and field meeting at Queen Elizabeth II Park on Saturday.: ■; • Coupled with a personal best shot of 14.67 m earlier this season, Mene is now well on the wav to regaining his place in the New Zealand team for the Brisbane Commonwealth Games next year. A New Zealand representative in the decathlon at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games in 1974 and the winner of the national decathlon title on many occasions, Mene had put all his Brisbane aspirations into the shot basket. But after Saturday’s performance, he freely admits: “I'm confused.’’ . ' ‘ Mene has been \ training specifically for the shot. The discus has become a secondary event, so he was not expecting anything unusual on Saturday. A week off training with a severe bout of hay fever should not have helped, either. “It certainly surprised me.” said Mene afterwards. “That is nearly two metres further . than my, previous best. I think the shot must remain my chief event, but I will now put more work into the discus. I might get back more to decathlon-type training and work hard in both events.’’ A strong blustery wind confronted the discus men on Saturday and Matt Leech

(Technical). ' previously unbeaten this summer, failed to achieve the same degree of ' control. He had to be content with a throw of 44.10 m and second place. For Mene, it was an almost unbelievable event. His previous best was 44.90 m and he was not far short of this with his opening throw of 44.40 m. He improved to 44.72 m in the next round before dropping to 42.18 m in the third. But that proved to be his worst effort. A 45.80 m gave him a personal best in the fourth round and then he sent the big one of 46.90 m whirling out on his fifth attempt. A final throw of 45.80 m put the seal on, a remarkable series. Mene, now 35, achieved his best in the shot of 14.67 m just a few weeks ago and he is determined to break 15m before the end of the year. His sights are firmly fixed on the 15.70 m qualifying distance for the Brisbane Games — a distance he is satisfied he can better this summer in spite of some problems. “Unfortunately, my training has been upset with hay feVer. I don’t know what is causing it. I have never had it before, but it has really knocked me around in the last three weeks,” he said. In spite of this it did not stop him winning the shot with a fine effort of 14.48 m. Again, Leech filled the runner-up position. His best on the day was 12.70 m. . Another spectacular cannonball finish by the new Zealand cross-country representative, Tom Birnie (New

Brighton), enabled him to snatch a last-stride victory from Neil Lowsley (New Brighton) in the senior feature 1500 m. Birnie, now 29, left his finishing run late, as usual. But it was obvious that he had lost none of his pace when he finally let loose. He reached the finish in 3min 53.75, a good time in difficult, windy conditions. Lowsley was barely a stride behind in 3min 53.8 s after looking a comfortable winner coming into the finishing straight. “There was always the nagging thought that Tom was there behind me,” Lowsley said later. “I did not know whether he could produce that incredible sprint finish at this stage of the season. He did. But Tom can never surprise me now.” Lowsley. the New Zealand 3000 m steeplechase champion, is aiming to win selection for the Brisbane Games in the steeplechase. Michael Gilchrist (Technical) gained an impressive win in the senior 800 m in Imin 53.25. He led practically all the way and finished with excellent form, a good omen for the important races ahead this summer. The women’s 800 m went to Lyn Tipper (University) with a solid run in 2min 20s, finishing 1.9 s ahead of the New Zealand cross-country representative, Ann Marie Keown (University). Wayne Paul (Papanui-Red-wood) proved too strong for the New Zealand, junior champion, Khalid Mohammed (University), in

the 400 m hurdles. His time was 53.35, a worthy effort in the blustery conditions. Mohammed, who still has some sharpening to do, was second in 56.85. Bernie Harland (Technical). Canterbury’s top hammer thrower for many years, gained yet another win on Saturday, this time with a distance of 52.52 m. Matt Leech was runner-up with 43.48 m. Evan Peterson maintained his dominance in the 100 m. He finished comfortably ahead of Jeff Barnfield (Toe H) in Ils. Barnfield was three-tenths of a second slower. Peterson completed the sprint double with a 22.8 s win in the 200 m. The women’s 100 m went to Donna Barraclough (Avon) in 12.45. She also won the 200 in, in 26.65. Bev Peterson (Technical), Canterbury’s fastest woman, was still out of action with ankle problems but expects to be fit in time to run for Canterbury against Otago and Southland at Invercargill next Saturday. Jan Bishop (Technical) found the wind troublesome in the javelin and she was below her best with 41.86 m. However, it was still good enough for a comfortable win over the second-placed competitor, her sister, Shirley, who threw 28.16 m. Vai Young was missing from the fields on Saturday and this took the pressure off Jan Bishop in the discus. She won easily enough with an excellent distance of 43.48 m. Shirley Bishop filled second place with a 36.46 m throw.