And another athletics season is over.
This season we were interrupted in our training by a month-long trip to China over Christmas and the New Year. It was definitely worth it, but it made it harder to get top performances when we only trained two or three times the entire time we were over there.
Mulan:
This season Mulan got new personal bests in triple jump (10.44m), long jump (4.67m), heptathlon (3026 points), 200m (29.40s), 800m (2:50.68s), 600g javelin (19.92m) and 4kg shot put (8.00m). She got the club record in the triple jump and heptathlon.
Mulan's big aspirational aim for this season was to achieve the qualifying standard in the triple jump to allow her to compete at the National Champs. For the Under 20 women this was 10.20m, and she needed to get this at a recognised competition by the 16th of February.
At the beginning of the season she jumped 10.00m twice, so we knew that if she trained well and had good conditions it was possible.
One challenge was that Auckland Athletics doesn't put on many triple jump competitions. In the new year and before the 16th of February there was only one competition, on the 10th of January. And this was the day after we arrived home from our China holiday.
Not ideal, but Mulan had a go. Understandably, jetlagged and with little training, Mulan didn't get the standard, falling short with a 9.65m jump.
Mulan's next option was to ask for special dispensation, explaining her situation and pointing out that there are very few girls meeting that standard, so the competition would be quite empty. Unfortunately the answer came back no, because they don't give dispensations to juniors (under 20s).
We chatted about this with the Takapuna Athletics Club president. He immediately said let's have our own official triple jump competition at the club. He arranged for four nationally qualified athletics officials to come to the club and put on a recognised competition on the 11th of February. (Thanks everyone, you were amazing!!)
Meanwhile, Mulan kept training daily.
On the day of the competition we were worried that the wind would be too strong (it has to be 2.0m/s or less). But it died down enough, and the conditions were perfect. Seven of us competed, to make it a real competition and to give Mulan a rest between her jumps.
The results of the Takapuna Triple Jump Exhibition are here. Delightfully, on her third jump Mulan got a wind legal 10.22m. She'd done what she needed to do, the competition was recognised, and she qualified for the Nationals. More daily training followed after that.
And then at the Nationals Mulan did even better, coming 4th with a jump of 10.44m. (Oddly, one of the girls competing didn't appear to have met the qualifying standard, with no recognised jumps over 10m. We have no idea why there was this apparent inconsistency in selection.)
Auckland Senior Champs (21-22 February, 14 March), Under 20 Women
1st triple jump (9.96m)
1st javelin (19.16m)
2nd long jump (4.67m)
New Zealand Champs (5-8 March), Under 20 Women
4th triple jump (10.44m)
Live results here
New Zealand & Auckland Combined Events Champs (21-22 March), Under 20 Women
2nd Auckland, 4th New Zealand heptathlon (3026 points)
Miya:
This season athletics has not been such a big priority for Miya, as her focus has been on school and music, preparing for her school orchestra trip to China in April. We can't do everything, and we have to make choices. Consequently Miya hasn't trained so frequently and so hasn't improved from last season.
Nonetheless, Miya has still done very well, coming 5th= in high jump at the Nationals. She also picked up a gold medal at the Secondary Schools Nationals as part of her school's 4x100m relay team (school magazine article here). And she broke her school high jump record, clearing 1.60m at the Westlake Girls Athletics Day (school magazine article here). She also got a new personal best in the long jump (4.56m).
We also got to see Miya on TV! Her Nationals high jump competition was shown on TVNZ here.
New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs (5-7 December), Junior Girls (Under 16)
7th high jump (1.58m)
13th triple jump (9.67m)
15th 80m hurdles (13.97sec)
19th 300m hurdles (53.73sec)
1st 4x100m relay (Westlake Girls team)
Auckland Senior Champs (21-22 February), Under 18 Women
1st triple jump (9.75m)
3rd high jump (1.50m)
Auckland Secondary Schools Champs (19 March), Intermediate Girls (Under 17)
3rd high jump (1.55m)
3rd triple jump (9.96m)
Me:
This season I newly moved up an age group to the 50-54 years category. This meant that my hurdle heights lowered and my throwing weights lightened. Much easier!
For the past several years I had been giving myself a personal fitness goal of still keeping up with Mulan and Miya when I turned 50. For the most part I think I succeeded in that. I'm still faster than the girls at the sprints, though the girls have better fitness and endurance. Miya has been beating me in high jump for a few years now, and this season Mulan beat me in triple jump by 2cm, but in long jump I'm still ahead of them both (for now).
For the new age category I got club records in triple jump (10.42m), long jump (5.10m), high jump (1.45m), javelin (27.14m), 400m hurdles (1:24.81sec) and pentathlon (2277 points). My pentathlon points was a new personal best.
Auckland Senior Champs (21-22 February, 14 March), Masters Men 50-54
1st triple jump (9.74m)
1st long jump (4.95m)
1st high jump (1.45m)
1st javelin (27.14m)
1st 400m hurdles (1:24.81sec)
2nd 60m (8.22sec)
2nd 100m (13.19sec)
2nd 200m (27.57sec)
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