These summer holidays are more about days at the track than days at the lake for one former Te Kura o Tititea Mount Aspiring College (MAC) student.

Wānaka athlete Ryan Young has been at home training for the summer competitions ahead, which will culminate in the NZ National Championships in Dunedin (March 6-9).

Ryan currently has the second best Long Jump, and Triple Jump, of all males in New Zealand.

Aspiring Athletes senior coach Michael Beable told the Wānaka App Ryan’s recent results in Auckland events confirm Ryan “as the most successful, former MAC athlete, ever, in jumping at national level”.

Ryan usually trains on an all-weather (rubber surface) track in Christchurch, and he told the Wānaka App the grass feels “pretty long” on the track at Wānaka’s Three Parks.

Being home is less of a holiday and more about training, he said, with his routine of sprinting, jumping, and weight training.

“I’m probably training five or six times a week from an hour to two and a half hours.” 

Ryan has been competing in athletics in Wānaka since he was ten-years-old. The Aspiring Athletics Club encourages young athletes to do running, jumping, and throwing until around 13 or 14 when “you can start picking a couple of events”, Ryan said.

Ryan preparing to land at the McKinnon Shield meeting.

He advised young Wānaka athletes “to give everything a crack”.

“I’ve always enjoyed long jump. Michael got me into the triple jump and I’ve been chipping away at both.”

He said he was “really happy” with his progress.

Ryan set a substantial personal best (PB) of 7.11m when winning the long jump at the McKinnon Shield meeting in Auckland on December 14.

Michael said long jump is Ryan’s less favoured jumping event, and his greater potential may be in the triple jump (in which he jumped 14.32m off a short runup in Auckland on November 30).

Ryan’s next long jump competition will be the Lovelock Classic meeting in Timaru this Saturday (January 11).

“I hope to keep improving,” he said, adding that he is aiming to jump “7.20-ish”.

PHOTOS: Supplied