Jordan stars at Saxton Track inagural meet

PATRICK HAMILTON/The Nelson Mail

FIRST UP: Alex Jordan, 17, of Stoke.

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Last night's first official meet at the new Saxton Field athletics track started with a bang, and that doesn't mean Alex Jordan's 10.8sec 100m effort in the meet's first event.

Eighty-six-year-old Harold Nelson, a 1948 Olympian and 1950 Empire Games six-mile champion who has spent much of his past 58 years coaching and officiating at meets in Nelson, fired the starting pistol for the ceremonial first lap.

More than 70 competitors and spectators trotted around the million-dollar all-weather Mondo track. Then the competition began.

The next shot from the starter's gun sent Jordan down the lightning-fast home straight five metres ahead of Andrew Moore, his nearest competitor, who finished in 11.3sec. Brodie Hewlett was third in 11.5sec.

Jordan, the reigning New Zealand M16 champion at 200m, returned 20 minutes later to dominate the 300m in 35.5sec. Garry Creegan-Almond finished second in 36.9sec.

Dillon Anderson, who won the M19 100m in 11.6sec, was third in 37.1sec. Hazel Bowering-Scott won the women's sprints, 12.7sec in the 100m and 43.8sec in the 300m.

Moore's speed propelled him to a dramatic win over Clemens Hoeden in the men's M19 long jump. Hoeden took the lead with 6.11m on his fourth jump, only to watch Moore top him by a centimetre on his next jump. Moore reached 6.25m on his final jump and later cleared 1.80m to win the high jump.

Mandy Bowden won the women's high jump with 1.40m.

Ryan Hunter won the open men's long jump (5.17m) and high jump (1.55m). Wade Cooper captured the M16 long jump (5.40) and high jump (1.65m). Masters competitors Nigel Fearn won the long jump with 4.62m, and Tony Aikenhead the high jump with 1.45m.

Dale Pritchard won the men's discus (35.55m) and shot put (11.88m) as did Megan Aikenhead in the women's discus (23.04m) and shot (8.34m). Courtney Clarke and Meghan Kirk traded places in the M19 throws with Clarke winning the discus with 33.24m and Kirk the shot put with 11.43m.

Daniel Baxter threw 29.82m to win the M19 discus, and Chris Line won the M16 discus (30.61m) and shot (11.06m).

April Crawford led the women's 1000m start-to-finish, holding off fast-closing Emma Dallison for victory in 3min 16.2sec.

Ewoud Noordeloos did the same in the men's open 1000m. His 2min 39sec effort was two seconds clear of runner-up Jordan Miller. Zascha Mann outsprinted a tight-knit group for third in 2min 45sec.

Fourteen-year-old Joel Ross whipped past front-running Baydon McGuckin on the final turn to win the M16 1000m in 2min 51.9sec. Henry Wallace closed fast to finish second in 2min 53.6sec, and McGuckin and Mike Lowe tied for third in 2min 55.5sec.

Nyle Sunderland out-duelled Peter Hague in the 3000m race walk and finished in 16min 50.7sec.

Five-time national champion Kim Hogarth, using the meet as a buildup for his athletics season, edged masters runner Cliff Bowman in the mile by three-tenths of a second with his time of 4min 55.5sec. Brian Kemp was third in 5min 2.7sec, and early leader Gus Shirley fourth in 5min 10.7sec.

Maria Hillier was the first women's finisher in 6min 14.1sec.

The second seniors meet at the Saxton Field athletics track will be held on Friday, starting at 6pm. Saxton will host the first seniors interclub meet, the first day of the Hester Shield, on November 21.