Elizabeth Ryan outstanding in inter-club discus

Press, 2 December 1985, Page 34

Elizabeth Ryan outstanding in inter-club discus

A superb throw of 45.88 m by Elizabeth Ryan (Technical) in the senior women’s discus stole the limelight in the Canterbury inter-club track and field meeting, held in warm conditions on the No. 2 ground at Queen Elizabeth II Park on Saturday. The performance would have been good enough to win her the New Zealand championship earlier this year — an event in which she finished third.

Her sequence was remarkably consistent. After an opening throw was ruled out, she turned in a promising 43.46 m and then produced her first really big throw of 45.76 m. This was followed by 42.28 m, a second no-throw, and then the winning distance of 45.88 m, which thrusts her right to the top of the national ranking list. Heather Marsters (Auckland), who is the national titleholder, previously held top ranking with a distance of 44.28 m, set at the Pacific Conference Games in Berkeley,

California, earlier this year. Now she has slipped to third, behind the remarkable evergreen, Vai Young (Technical), who came up with an excellent 44.30 m throw in the fifth round at Queen Elizabeth Park on Saturday. Mrs Young, who set the existing national record of 53.70 m at Rugby Park 21 years ago, remains a very strong threat to her younger rivals. The senior New Zealand Permanent Building Society “Athlete of the Week” award went to the New Zealand javelin champion, Lyn Osmers (Technical), for her outstanding heptathlon score of 5181 points the previous week-end. Although the event was held on the grassed No. 2 ground, and finished in the rain, she finished within 194 points of a Commonwealth Games qualification score.

On Saturday, she gained a comfortable win in the senior high jump with a clearance of 1.60 m — some 13cm less than her best in the heptathlon. Her performance was matched in

the high jump by Megan Young (Technical) in the under-18 section. Megan and her younger sister, Kirsten, dominated the under-age high jumping. Kirsten won the under-16 grade with a leap of I. Both girls are daughters of Vai Young. Scott Bowden (New Brighton), a young sprinter of outstanding potential, was awarded the junior “Athlete of the Week” title after a particularly fine win in 22.3 s in the senior 200 m. Bowden, who is still an under-18 competitor, also won the under-18 100 m, in 11. The senior 100 m sprint was woh by Evan Peterson (Technical) competing again in Canterbury after an absence of three years. He recorded a modest 11.9 s on the grass, and was quite happy with this in view of problems he has had with a foot injury over the last month. The decathlon specialist, Peter Henry (Old Boys), won the 60m dash in 7.3 s and Peterson had to be content with a 7.4 s run for second, just edging out the very promising Craig Galilee (Old Boys), ~who recorded the same time. .■ Later in the day Peterson, a former New Zealand junior long jump champion, tested himself in the long jump pit for the first time for four weeks — and came away reasonably satisfied. He won the event, with a 6.86 m leap, by a comfortable margin from Chris Middleton (Technical), 6.22 m, and Stephen McKee (Toe H), 6.18 m. Peterson, who injured his right foot in training at the start of the season, had been advised not to compete but wanted a performance so the Canterbury selectors would

consider him for the annual triangular meeting against Otago and Southland at Dunedin in a fortnight. “I felt tired afterwards,” he said. “There were only three in the competition and the jumps came around fairly quickly. But there were no problems, and I think I will come around fairly quickly now.” John Stapylton-Smith (Technical) won the javelin with a solid distance of 74.20 m. This was a light workout for him and the distance was well down on his best. Oliver Ball (Technical), who is making rapid- progress, claimed second place with a worthy 66.60 m. On the track, the New Zealand junior 5000 m and steeplechase champion, John Gilbert (New Brighton), kept his name to the fore with a win in the senior 800 m in a modest 2min 1.25. Warren Sheddan (Olympic) easily won the senior 5000 m in 14min 51.5 s with the marathon specialist, Gavin Donaldson (Christchurch), filling second place in 15min 6s. The women’s 3000 m proved an easy win for the former New Zealand road champion, Anne Marie Tweedie (University), although she failed to break lOmin by 6.55. Some of the leading women sprinters preferred to stay away from the meeting and avoid the risk of injury on the slightly uneven grass runway. There were, neverthless, some good efforts. Janet Lloyd (Ashburton) won the senior 60m in 8.2 s from Briar Woods (University) but was beaten by an under-18 competitor, K. Downie (Technical), in the senior 200 m. Downie recorded 26.15, and Lloyd was a tenth of a second slower.