We had a busy and satisfying weekend at the Auckland Track and Field Championships. The results are here.
Miya has newly gone up to the Under 16 grade, and she competed in three events.
Long jump was Saturday, and it was tough competing on a day with blustery winds and sharp downpours. But happily she got a couple of great jumps in, including a 4.47m, which earned her 9th place.
Then on Sunday it was triple jump and high jump. The weather was perfect, and Miya was on fire in the triple jump, with three of her four jumps well over her previous best. Her best jump, of 10.04m (wind 1.2), earned her a silver medal. It's also easily over the entry standard that allows her to compete at the Nationals in March.
In the high jump, Miya pleasingly didn't miss a height at 1.35m, 1.40m and 1.45m. She was close on her attempts at 1.50m, but didn't quite get it this time. This earned her a bronze medal (equal with two others).
Miya has now qualified for the Nationals (and Auckland team) in both high jump and triple jump. She's got another three weekends of competitions to qualify for long jump and hurdles (fingers crossed for legal winds, as her performances will likely be good enough).
Mulan's still in the Under 18 grade, and she also competed in three events.
Shot put is mostly just a fun and relaxing event for Mulan. Her 9.09m was not bad, but on other days she's occasionally got it out into the high 9s and she's hoping one day to get it over 10.
Her long jump, also in tough weather conditions, was a satisfying season best of 4.50m, and this earned her a bronze medal.
And finally, Mulan triple jumped soon after Miya's huge new PB. Sibling competitiveness meant Mulan was also looking to get over 10m, but she had to settle for an excellent new PB of 9.89m (wind 0.4), which earned her silver.
I'm still in the Master's 45-49 age group, and I competed in five events.
On Saturday I ran the 60m in 8.25sec and the 100m in 13.17sec. I also jumped 5.16m in the long jump. Then on Sunday I jumped 1.40m in the high jump and 10.46m (wind 1.1) in the triple jump. This earned me two gold medals and one silver medal (and two 4th places).
A big thing for me now is endurance, and I needed to pace myself so I had enough energy left for the later events. In all three jumps events I didn't use up all my attempts -- just two long, two high, and four triple. It was probably about right, though who knows whether in the long and high one more attempt might have given better results.
