Wind buffets javelin win by O’Rourke

Press, 23 December 1985, Page 26

Wind buffets javelin win by O’Rourke

By

ROD DEW

A blustery north-west wind reduced performances but failed to prevent the Commonwealth Games champion, Mike O’Rourke (Auckland), gaining a narrow win in the javelin at the annual Technical invitation track and field meeting at Queen Elizabeth II Park on Saturday.

His best effort of 76.68 m in the third round was well below his expectations. It was, nevertheless, good enough to keep him ahead of his Canterbury rival, John Stapylton-Smith, who was well below his recent form.

“It was a real pre-Christ-mas down,” a disappointed O’Rourke said of his throwing after the contest. “Everybody threw poorly, and the bad conditions did not help.” After an 84m throw a fortnight earlier, the powerful Auckland thrower was hopeful of an even bigger distance on Saturday.

Unfortunately, he never mastered the difficult conditions completely, and had to be satisfied with a victory over the Canterbury man, who has taken over as New Zealand champion. O’Rourke, clearly disgusted with some of his performances, deliberately fouled most of his throws. He recorded only two legal performances, a 75.02 m effort in the second round, and his winning throw. Stapylton-Smith, a gold medallist at the Pacific Conference Games in June, had even more cause for dissatisfaction, especially after an 81.50 m throw on grass a week earlier. His best on the day was a modest 74.96 m in the second round. He was in constant danger of losing , his second place to the Waikato athlete, Gavin Lovegrove, who finally took third place, with 74.72 m.

“I was just not hitting it today,” Stapylton-Smith said. He refused to blame the. windy conditions. “You can battle the conditions. My technique wasn’t right. I might have put too much pressure on myself.” The national women’s javelin champion, Lyn Osmers (Canterbury), also suffered a rare defeat. Her loss came at the hands of the rapidly progressing young High School Old Boys thrower, Catherine Knowsley, who thrived in the conditions and recorded a personal best of 45.10 m. Osmers had to settle for 42.64 m, several metres less than her recent best, and

the runner-up position. Not surprisingly, the javelin throwers were not the only athletes affected by the wind. Performances were generally down on what was hoped for, although there was some outstanding competition in the meeting, which featured selected Countrywide grand prix events. The stiff headwind for the 110 m hurdlis certainly did not suit the national chamEion, Lynette Stock (Canterury). A slight figure, she took a severe buffeting and was more than a second slower than her recent best with her time of 14.895. This gave her third place behind Helen Pirovana (Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay) and Cassandra Kelly (Auckland), who recorded 14.77 s and 14.845, respectively. In several events, some of New Zealand’s leading athletes produced excellent individual performances which in better conditions might have resulted in Commonwealth Games qualifying efforts. There was an enthralling contest in the men’s high jump between two longstanding rivals, Terry Lomax (Auckland) and Roger Te Puni (Wellington). Fortunes changed swiftly as the contest progressed in the blustery conditions, but in the end it was Lomax who triumphed for the second successive year. Both men cleared 2.10 m, an excellent height in the conditions. Lomax, who is moving back to his old home city of Christchurch early next year, was the first to. clear 2.10 m, on his second attempt, and this was all that gave him the win. Te Puni, the reigning national champion, had to wait for the third round for his clearance. Although the bar was then moved up to 2.13 m, neither jumper managed a clearance. Lomax emerged the winner. However, it could so easily have ended very differently. The former national champion struck trouble at 2.05 m, only scraping through in the third round. “My run-up was com-

pletely out,” Lomax explained later. “I had to move my marker a metre between my first jump and my last.” The height was below that which both jumpers have cleared in recent weeks, but Lomax was happy enough with his win, and not at all disappointed at missing 2.13 m. “I have competed in the pole vault and the 110 m hurdles, and the legs were starting to get a little tired,” he said. Jeff Brown (Otago) claimed third place with 2.05 m on a count-back from Kris de Jong (Northland) who cleared the same height. Keith Olds (Old Boys), who has managed 2.10 m this summer, was halted at 2.00 m and this was good enough for only fifth place. The women’s high jump was just as close. The New Zealand champion, Trudy Painter (Otago), managed to hold off her 17-year-old schoolgirl challenger, Tracey Phillips (West Coast North Island), but the outcome was only decided on the countback.

Both cleared I.Bom, which was quite outstanding. Third place went to the young Canterbuiy jumper, Megan Young, with a clearance of 1.65 m. She beat Genevieve Sullivan and Lyn Osmers (Canterbury) on the countback after all three had cleared the same height. The Brisbane Com.monwealth Games pole vaulter, Kieran McKee (Canterbury), went within an ace of breaking his New Zealand record of 5.02 m. After winning the contest with a good vault of 4.80 m, he had the bar lifted tb 5.03 m and had three very good attempts. “I had the height but my timing at the top was all wrong,” he said afterwards. He is, nevertheless, confident that he will break the record now that athletics has returned to the main stadium. “Another month on the rubber and it will come,” he predicted. His brothers, Derek and Stephen, took the minor placings with vaults of 4.65 m and 4.18 m, respec-

tively. Derek was very close to bettering 4.80 m for the first time, bringing the bar down with a touch. , The New Zealand Permanent Building Society “Athlete of the Week’’ award, restricted to Canterbury athletes, went to Elizabeth Ryan for her fine win in the women’s discus. She stretched out to 45.34 m, a performance which gave her an edge over the country’s topranked thrower, Nerida Morris (Auckland), by a mere two centimetres. Vai Young (Canterbury) filled third place with 41.88 m. Simon Geary (St Bede’s College), an under-16 competitor, earned the junior of the Week” award for his winning effort of 243 s in the boys’ under-18 200 m.

Three special Adidas “Athlete of the Day” awards were made. Two of these went to the two 20km walkers, Murray Day and Graham Seatter (both Canterbury), for their courageous performances late in the evening. Their attempt on Scatters New Zealand record of Ihr 30min 17.3 s sroved5 roved an impossible task i the blustery wind.

Day was the first to finish, in Ihr 30min 39.95, almost certainly the secondfastest time ever recorded in New Zealand. His was a remarkable performance, especially so because he suffered from stomach cramps for much of the long

journey. Seatter, whose form deteriorated markedly after leading through the halfway point on schedule for a new record, carried on, finishing a lap behind in another relatively fast time of Ihr 32min 55.015.

“It was a bit tough,” Day said. “That was certainly not record-breaking weather.”

Seatter, who coaches Day, said it was “far too tough. I got away from Murray and felt terrific. I was confident that I could maintain that pace until the finish, but in the space of four laps I just fell apart I think I probably underestimated the effect of the wind,” he said.