Senior Wānaka athletes punched well above their weight when they brought home 19 gold and 16 silver and bronze medals after competing at the Athletics Otago Club championships in Dunedin last weekend (February 11-12).

Hosted at the Caledonian Ground, the relatively small team of 12 Aspiring Athletics Club (AAC) athletes, competing in U16, U18, U20 and Open grades, performed impressively under blustery conditions which negatively affected race times.

“This was especially so in the 100m and 200m in which the sprinters faced quite strong head winds,” AAC coach Michael Beable said.

Golds were achieved in two out of three team relays over 100m and 400m, as well as by individuals in 100, 200 and 400m sprints, middle distances (880m and 1500m), and across a range of field events, from javelin to triple jump. 

“To say we are proud of their achievements is an understatement,” AAC president Kirsten Wyatt said.

While the weather conditions weren’t conducive to setting new records, several athletes did perform close to their personal best achievements and one is now ranked first in NZ for her performance.

Ranked NZ #1 women’s U18 400m sprinter, Phoebe Laker trains at the athletics grounds beside the Wānaka Recreation Centre. PHOTO: Wānaka App

Phoebe, who’s just turned 14, continued her remarkable progress with excellent wins in the women’s U16 100m, 200m and 400m, as well as participating in the winning women’s 17yrs+ 4x100m relay. 

Her 400m time of 57.83s was the fastest time set across all women’s 400m age groups at the meet (close to her new Otago record of 57.58s set at the NZ Secondary School Championships in December 2022) and she’s presently the #1 ranking in NZ in 2023 for 400m for women U18, according to Athletics New Zealand’s website. 

Also with a national ranking, sprinter Jackson Rogers performed close to his best winning the 200m men’s open in a tight finish, and ran third in the 100m.

In the men’s U18 events, 16-year olds Cody Armstrong and Matthew Botting continued their friendly rivalry with both achieving personal bests; Cody won the 400m (PB 53.49s) one second ahead of Matthew (PB 54.68s); but the tables were turned in the triple jump which Matthew won (with 12.32m) and Cody settled for second place with 11.95m.

Cody also placed second in the 100m and 200m and Matthew ran third in the 200m.

Seventeen year old Naimh Townsend won the women’s U20 sprints, claiming 100m and 200m golds. Georgie Bruce was second behind Niamh in the 200m and was also second in the women’s U20 400m, third in the 100m and third in the discus.

Middle distance runner Billie Crowe won both the women’s U18 800m and 1500m. Michael said she’s had something of a later start to the season but is expected to improve further before attending the provincial and secondary school champs next month.

Also showing good form at 800m was Amaya East who won the women’s U16 in an encouraging time of 2:27.46, he said.

In the women’s 17+ relays, Billie and Amaya teamed up with Amaya’s sister Millie and Pippa Raffills to comfortably win the 4x400m relay by 2.68s.

Millie also ran in the 4x100m relay and, together with Phoebe, Niamh and Georgie, won gold in 51.01s.

Meanwhile the men’s 17+ 4x100m relay team of Cody, Matthew, Jackson and Ryan Young, was beaten in a tight finish by 0.25s.

“They had not run together as a team before, and clearly needed a bit more time fine-tuning their baton changes,” Michael said.

In field events, 18 year-old Ryan Young won the men’s U20 discus, long jump and triple jump and sixteen year-old Ryan Enoka won gold in the men’s U18 shot put, discus and javelin.

Unfortunately for the two Ryan’s, they were the sole competitors in their throwing events as none of the other club’s fielded competitors, Michael said.

“Each…athlete represented our club with pride and they are the epitome of great role models for our junior athletes. We are excited to continue to watch their progress as senior athletes of AAC,” Kirsten said.

Phoebe Laker, Niamh Townsend, Ryan Young and Jackson Rogers will now represent Otago at the New Zealand National Athletics Championships in Wellington (March 2-5).

AAC athletes still at school now look forward to the Otago Secondary School Athletics Champs (March 10-11) and the South Island SS Champs in Invercargill (March 31-April 2) which will conclude this 2023 season.