ATHLETICS –
From Friday to Sunday, February 26-28, Mingara Athletics Club hosted the 2021 NSW Country Championships.
Although still awaiting word on the final point tally, the hosts scored many podium places and will fancy their chances at retaining the much longed-for Hoopers Cup.
The event was held at the Mingara Regional Athletics Centre and involved many clubs from the NSW Country, both north and south of Sydney.
Wyong, Gosford and Woy Woy Athletics Clubs also had gold moments throughout the event.
Although competitors from each club were competing in tandem with points accumulating over the three days of events, there were many individual successes for Gosford Athletics.
One stand out performance on Day Two was that of Tyler Gunn in the 400m Opens, whose second personal fastest time of 46.41 saw him stride more than two seconds ahead of any opposition.
“I felt really strong and really happy with the run,” said Tyler.
“I like running at this track as I believe it is a fast track.
Conditions were good so we pushed it.
“I’m just taking each race as it comes and looking forward to the next race and hopefully getting better each time.”
Before this, Day One presented multiple wins for Gosford through Myles Ashby in the 1500m Race Walk, Under 15’s, with a time of 7:41.60 and Kelly Hunter in the 40-49 years Shot Put with 10.49m. Hunter also won the Discus with 39.80m.
A string of track wins came for Gosford in the 1500m runs, firstly through Tahlia Lucas in the Under 13’s with 5:21.10, then Harrison McClusky and Kiara Garcia in the Under 14’s with 4:51.01 and 5:09.42.
Soon thereafter came Chris Quick in the 30-39’s with 4:59.27, followed shortly by Ryan McKendrick in the 40-49’s with 4:23.73, who also won the 800m with 2:09.51, the High Jump with 1.50m and the Triple Jump.
Day Two success in the 100m sprint came to Ernie Leseberg with an 11.51 time in the 40-49’s, as well as in the Discus with a 24.41m throw by Julia Atilla (who also won the Javelin Throw) in the 30-39’s and Danielle McKendrick in the 30-39’s High Jump with 1.10m.
Both the Para Discus and Shot Put was won by Annabelle Rodgers with a 30.09m throw, then a 9.88m shot.
On Sunday, Kannika Chuapram won the 80m Hurdles in the 40-49’s with a time of 18.38.
The 800m brought more gold medals for Gosford through Bryson Norris in the Under 11’s and Kiara Garcia in the Under 13’s, with times of 2:38.02 and 2:30.66.
With this extensive list of gold medals alone for Gosford, the club will consider themselves in the mix for the Hoopers Cup.
Source:
NSW Athletics Live Results (March 1, 2021).
David Tarbotton, NSW Athletics