McConachy takes silver at national decathlon champs

OPINION: ATHLETICS
A personal best score of 5447 saw Palmerston North Athletics Club captain Callum McConachy take home the silver medal from the New Zealand Decathlon Championships in Hamilton at the weekend.

The competition had an international flavour with three athletes from Japan competing by invitation.

It was one of the visitors, Keisuki Ushiro, who won with 7711 points, narrowly ahead of Commonwealth Games hopeful Brent Newdick, who took the New Zealand title with 7676. Japanese athletes took out the next two placings.

McConachy, finishing in fifth, was the second-best New Zealander. On the way to his best decathlon score, he also produced personal bests in pole vault and javelin.

Ariana Blackwood, perhaps showing signs of a heavy workload, was slightly down on her best efforts in scoring 3251 points to finish fifth in the women's 16 heptathlon.

The competition in this event was outstanding with the multi-talented Portia Bing from Auckland achieving a brilliant 4893 points, which bettered the standard set for the New Zealand record of 4800.

The meeting was held in conjunction with the Porritt Classic where Olivia Burne found that even running a personal best in the 1500 metres of 4min 29.45sec, she had to be content with fifth place. The Porritt Classic also saw the first appearance for the season of world and Olympic champion Valerie Vili, who delighted the crowd tossing the 4kg shot out to 20.25m.

To put this in perspective, many of you will be aware of a rugby field and the distance from the goal line to the 22m line.

Vili is landing her shot very close to where the kickers would drop out from.

While on the subject of Vili, it was interesting to hear during one of her acceptance speeches at the Halberg Awards, thanks going to her manager, Nick Cowan.

He will be remembered as a top Manawatu athlete in the 1990s, winning national 400m titles and representing New Zealand at a couple of world championships.

Cowan was enticed to Auckland by Athletics North and has never looked back, spending some time working for adidas before taking on the role of CEO of Water Polo NZ.

He has now set up his own sports management company and, as well as Vili, he has swimmer Moss Burmester and volleyball stars Anna Scarlett and Susan Blundell in his stable.

Cowan is also contracted to the New Zealand Academy of Sport as their athlete sponsorship and marketing advisor. This week's athletics focus moves to West Auckland where we will see the first under-21 test between Australia and New Zealand.

The Palmerston North club will be represented by Scott Burch in the 400 metres, Andy Kruy in the long jump and Olivia Burne in the 3000 metres. Tuesday is always a busy night with the Palmerston North club operating their club night at the Manawatu Community Athletic Track at Massey University.

For social joggers and walkers, don't forget the Manawatu Striders Super 7 series starting from the YMCA in Park Road.

- © Fairfax NZ News