Commonwealth Games will stimulate track and field season

Press, 6 October 1989, Page 23

Commonwealth Games will stimulate track and field season

By

ROD DEW

The track and field season, which formally opens at Queen Elizabeth II Park tomorrow, promises to be the most stimulating and competitive for more than a decade as top athletes attempt to catch the attention of the three wise men responsible for selecting the track team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland.

Most athletes with any Games aspirations at all will be well advanced in their training, and should be looking for strong early competition to prepare them for the national trials, which will double as the 1989-90 championships, in the Games stadium at Mount

Smart on November 24, 25 and 26. The track nominations for the Games team are expected to be announced immediately after the trials, so early form is vital.

The Canterbury programme has been designed to help. The first important meeting of the season is the third, on October 21 and 22. This will be a pre-Games trial for the decathlon and pentathlon and will double as the Canterbury championships — some four months ahead of the usual schedule. Canterbury’s two top all-roun-ders, Peter Henry and Terry Lomax, should both be looking for high scores

in this. The Mobil national league qualifying meeting will be held over two days on October 28 and 29, and the first day of the ANZ Bank club championships will be on November 4. The championships will be broken into two parts by a major pre-Games trials meeting on November 11. This will also include the Canterbury 3000 m steeplechase championship, which should feature one of New Zealand’s brightest Games hopes, Peter Renner. After an outstanding season last summer, Renner only needs

to keep injury free to be certain of a Games place. But his aspirations are somewhat higher than just a place in the team. The second day of the club championships is scheduled for November 18 — the last week-end of competition before the vital final trials in Auckland.

Those looking for competition against New Zealand rivals will have plenty of choice. Two other pre-Games trials are planned for November, one in Wellington on November 4 and the other in Auckland on the same day as the Canter-

bury pre-Games meeting. In some respects, it is a pity that the national secondary schools’ championships will be held on December 1,2 and 3, a week after the Games trials. This event might throw up some unexpected talent which might even have been worthy of consideration for the Games — if any gaps remain. There will almost certainly be a few school athletes at the Games in New Zealand colours, although they will have previously proved themselves in open competition. Even after the main trials, the season promises to remain very busy in December. The annual triangular meeting between Canterbury, Otago and Southland will be held in Dunedin on December 9. The same week-end, the country’s top multi-event athletes will contest the Mobil national decathlon and heptathlon championships in Wellington. The championships will also be a final trial for Games selection for these athletes. The New Zealand 10,000 m championships for men and women will be held separately from the main trials,, giving the distance runners a chance to attempt qualifying runs over shorter distances under trial conditions. The 10,000 m championships have been allocated to Wellington, and will be held in conjunction with the multi-event championships, making this one of the most important meetings of the national season.

In January, those athletes named in the Games team will begin adding the final polish to their preparation. The traditional New Year meeting at Ashburton will be on January 6, and after this there will be a succession of pre-Games meetings, most featuring international competition.

The first of these will be on in the Games Stadium at Mount Smart on January 13, followed by another in Hamilton four days later. The biggest pre-Games meeting will be on January 20 in Auckland.

Also in January will be the South Island meeting, which proved so successful last season. This will feature Canterbury competing against the Rest of the South Island at Queen Elizabeth II Park. The Games athletics begins on January 27 and ends on the last day of the Games, February 3. Many visiting Games athletes are expected to stay on in New Zealand for the post-Games meetings which will follow. Some of the multi-event competitors are likely to stay on for the one-hour decathlon in Auckland on February 6, and a substantial international contingent is expected to travel to Wellington for a post-Games meeting on February 7. Canterbury will stage the last of the post-Games meetings, on February 10. This meeting will also include the first day of the Canterbury championships, which will continue on February 17 and 18. The Canterbury 3000 m championships will be held a week after the end of the main championship programme, on February 24.

The Canterbury veterans’ championships are the next day. On March 2, 3 and 4, Canterbury will host the New Zealand under-20 and under-18 championships, and the senior 3000 m and 5000 m championships which have been removed from the earlier Games trials programme. The track walk, and the senior women’s triple jump will also be decided at the meeting. The Canterbury children’s championships are set down for March 10 and 11, and the last senior Canterbury championships of the season, the senior men and women’s 10,000 m, will be held on March 17.

The national league finals will be in Wellington on March 10 and 11.

A long season will wind up with the Christchurch secondary schools’ championships at Queen Elizabeth II Park on March 24, and the South Island secondary schools’ championships on March 31 in Gore.