That’s reaqlly good news, I was a little worried he may have partially-ruptured some ligament because the problem seemed to recur for so long so that’s great news, though as you said, 8 races over 2 days is going to test it.
That many races is also going to trash his CNS. They should cut down the number of rounds in each race to 3, or at least cut the number of rounds of 200 to 3. Every year nowadays the finals are rather slow, and all the fastest times come in the quarters on the afternoon of day 1. I can’t see the sprint records falling any time soon with so many races. The kids either break them in round 2 and drain themselves further, or wait til the final and discover they have nothing left to push that hard. I’m pretty sure the records would have been set when there were less competitiors and less rounds. I mean, the junior boys records are 10.88/21.52 !!! Or maybe it only affects the senior boys as they’re no longer kids and closer to the big time (ie, senior mens). Their records are 10.60/21.40 ?
Oh well, just make sure he dosen’t get too excited and destroy his fields by 10(50)+ m’s when 5 would be sufficient. lol.
Just back from the Secondary Schools. My son did okay. He won the 100s and came 6th in the 200s.
He found the opposition extremely tough. There were some really strong runners from the South Island against whom he had never run. He focused on the 100s and was desperate to win that event. So, he gave it his all. After the race, I think he was just physically and emotionally drained and could not pick himself up for the 200s.
The 200 final was just about an hour later and he was in lane 8 because of an error of judgement on his part in the semis. We had advised him to just try to qualify for the finals. Top four finishers were to qualify. He was in lane 5 and had two of the strongest in the field inside him. I think he tried to pace himself by them and so kept looking to his left and felt confident he was qualifying so slowed down at the end, not realising that someone was coming up on his outside. So he just scraped into the finals. It was a good learning experience for him.
8 races in two days was also too much and the times of all the athletes reflect that. The 200 winner was a surprise, but someoene who did just the one event.
In hindsight, maybe we should have had him do the long jump instead of the 200s. The winning jump was 6.55 (with a tailwind) and he has been jumping around that quite consistently. I don’t think he is quite strong enough for the 200s as yet.
All in all, we are very happy with his performance and he does have one more year in the grade.
Congrats. lol, 100m winner, and still another year. That’s crazy. Particularly since, as you said, there was some very good competition.
Yeah, he’s still qute young so no need to worry to much about the strength (running) as yet, it’s something you could concentrate on when you really pick up the intensity, duration, and frequency of trainings when he becomes a senior boy. He’d be ready to start following a more intense training plan by then.
Yeah, he could have won LJ but nvm. He got the gold he wanted, and that’ll do wonders for keeping him interested and enthusiastic.
Did you see the junior 400m winner? WOW! 47.79, broke the 33yo junior boys record AND the senior boys record. Smart guy as well. Ran for 2nd place in his heat and semi, 53.high and 54.low, and was probably as fresh as a daisy when he lined up for the final. Your son might meet him over 200m this season. Could be fun.
Yes I watched the race. He won by 20 - 30 metres at a guess. He was just phenomenal. He ran a 49 sec 400 m at the Colgates in Jan this year and has had some fantastic 100 m times also this season. In fact we were worried that he would do the 100s at the NZSSA lol. I don’t think my son would stand a chance against him in the 200s, but the 100s could be interesting. They will probably meet at the NI Secondary Schools and the Nationals.
I warned you some of the guys from down here were pretty quick
That 400m time was freaky fast. Probably the fastest 400m run this season. I know Cory Innes hasn’t run any so far (100’s & 200’s) and Todd Mansfield ran 47.5 (PB) on Saturday.
Do you know whether Innes feels he has a shot at the NZ record this summer, 2 seasons ago he got close with 46.57.
Is Mansfield going to specialise over 400m, or was it just a SE2 race workout?
Dolphin should run the 400m, he’s gone 46.72 without even training for it.
Yolvin, is your son still young enough to compete in North Islands? If he is, i’d imagine he’ll destroy the opposition as most of those guys he raced against at nats would be too old.
What are your current plans for specialist events for Yarride? Will he continue the 1/2/LJ into the forseeable future, or will you perhaps look at the 2/4 in a years or two time??
RE Fraser Wickes, he’s run a 22.27(+2.0) 200m, but with his peak for nats, he probably would have gone 21.high???
Not sure sorry, he didn’t race that well in Europe and has only just started racing again the last few weeks. We have a 400m on Saturday so will be interested to see if he runs that. I’ll let you know.
That was a SE workout for TM and I doubt he will be running any more, 1 a season is usual for that squad wit the 100 / 200 runners…well all except for Chris D. He flew over the first 200m and said he got a bit cocky along back straight then visibly tied up pretty badly over last 60m into approx 2.5 wind. His goal is 200m @ sub 21 and the way he is going right now it looks probable.
Yolvin, is your son still young enough to compete in North Islands? If he is, i’d imagine he’ll destroy the opposition as most of those guys he raced against at nats would be too old.
What are your current plans for specialist events for Yarride? Will he continue the 1/2/LJ into the forseeable future, or will you perhaps look at the 2/4 in a years or two time??
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He is currently 14 so will be competing in the Intermediate grade at the North Island Secondary Schools. He will also be at the NI Colgates in Jan. This is last year at the Colgates, where he has been competing from the age of 7. I think he is going there to compete but also just have fun without putting too much pressure on himself.
For now he just wants to concentrate on the 100/200/LJ. For the future, I’m not sure. It depends a lot on how he grows I suppose. His favourite is the 100s but if he has a few knockbacks I’m not sure how he will respond. He is also pretty good at cricket and soccer and may decide to go back to those sports. He loves athletics right now, because success and failure is totally in his own hands which is what he likes. He is suprisingly mature in his outlook and quite phlegmatic about his performances. So for the time being we are just enjoying his successes.
I used to love soccer and cricket when I was his age and younger, but I found that I grew out of them. If he already loves athletics, then he may grow into loving it even more (or not), particularly if he enjoys tough trainigs when he begins them.
Yeah he had a good meet. conditions were not ideal but he enjoyed himself. there wasn’t much pressure as at the NZSSA and it was his last colgates.
He is going to Brisbane next month as part of an U18 NZ team for the Australian State Champs. I think these are similar to the Inter-Provincials. He is looking forward to them, though he will be running against some 16/17 yo I guess.
While that is good I hope his (and others) expectations aren’t too high. So long as he goes there with the intention of learning rather than winning he should be right. I know a few who went to the Junior Olympic meet in Sydney last year and were pretty demotivated as a result, got a bit of a rude awakening just how good some overseas athletes are. In one case one of the top field SS athletes gave up :eek: :o and is now concentrating on Rugby.
Who else is in the team? I haven’t seen any details.
I think he realises that it is purely a learning experience. His only hope is that running against the stronger athletes will pull him into doing a PB.
There are 5 girls and 5 boys going - mainly from AKL and Chch. Some of them are Frazier Wickes, James Doyle, James Hutchins, Liz Lamb. Cannot remember who the others are. Manager is Joan Merrillee from Chch.
Wow! Is he any good at that sport? What position? Because he was a very good FE athlete as you said. With a bit of speed improvement he’d have been a potential decathlete probably.
