Wānaka athletes got off to an excellent start to the 2024-25 season, setting new records and personal bests at last weekend’s (October 12) meet in Dunedin.

Four Aspiring Athletes Club (AAC) members competed in track events at Athletics Otago’s first new season interclub meeting, earning podium finishes in every event.

Year 13 Te Kura o Tititea Mt Aspiring College (MAC) students Cody Armstrong (18) and Matthew Botting (17) both ran in the Senior Men’s (age-18-19 grade) 100m and 400m. Cody was placed second and Matthew third in the 100m but Cody excelled in the 400m, winning in 49.95sec and setting a new personal best (PB) time.

AAC coach Michael Beable said by slicing “a sizeable 0.61 seconds” off his previous PB, Cody had displayed remarkable form, especially so early in the season.

“Just over two years ago, his best 400m time was greater than 61 seconds,” Michael said. 

“Now, through regular, proper training he’s reduced that time substantially, by more than 11 seconds, [and broken] the 50-second barrier for the first time.”

Matching Cody’s achievement, two-time national title holder in women’s Under 16 400m Phoebe Laker (15) broke the age-15 grade 400m record, winning in a new PB time of 56.93sec and surpassing the Otago Clubs 400m records for women aged 15-17 years old.

Champion Phoebe Laker is unrivalled as she wins the women’s Age-15 grade 400m.

“This is at least the fourth time she has broken these Otago records - a rare and outstanding achievement,” Michael said.  

Phoebe, who is Year 11 at MAC, also won the women’s Age-15 grade 100m, in 12.87s.

Year 13 MAC student Niamh Townsend (19) also continued to outclass her rivals in the senior women’s (age-18-19 grade) 200m, winning in a time of 26.67sec. She ran second in the 100m.

And fellow Year 13 student Matthew placed third in the Men’s 18-19 grade 100m and ran close to his PB in the 400m with a time of 53.08 seconds.

All four athletes had performed “superbly” given it was just the start of the season and their winter training had been impeded by the loss of 15 training days due to heavy rain making the grass training grounds unusable.

Unlike many of the athletes with whom they compete, the Wānaka athletes are at a disadvantage with no all-weather track to train on, Michael said.

He expects further improvements in sprint times from each athlete once repairs to their regular training track (which is shared with Wānaka’s football clubs in winter) are completed in November.

“It’s a great shame we don’t have an all-weather track. We certainly have the athletes to warrant one,” Michael said, recalling that, despite pleas to the Queenstown Lakes District Council, there was still no plan to fund a synthetic track in Wānaka. 

Instead, Michael is hoping for better weather to allow the MAC athletes to complete their preparations for the upcoming New Zealand Secondary Schools National Athletics Championships, which will be held in Timaru on December 6-8.  

PHOTOS: Supplied