Otago continued its winning style at the New Zealand track and field championships at the weekend.
Fergus McLeay, Jackson Rogers, John Gerber and Shay Veitch stole the show on Saturday in Wellington, storming home to win the men’s 4×100m relay with a time of 40.74sec.
The gold medallists were 2.16sec faster than closest rival Manawatu-Whanganui.
Alexa Duff also continued her sensational season with the javelin to win gold in the women’s under-18 event.
The 17-year-old threw 41.84m on her fifth attempt to secure top spot. She also won silver in the women’s under-20 javelin with her throw of 38.62m.
Phoebe Laker rounded out Otago’s gold medals for the day, winning the women’s under-16 400m with her time of 58.16sec.
Todd Bates (56.14m) took home silver in the men’s hammer throw, Mate Poduje (2.03m) won bronze in the men’s high jump, and Emelia Adamson (1.68m) was crowned the women’s under-16 national high jump champion.
Olympian Tom Walsh was dethroned after 13 years as the national shot put champion.
Rival Jacko Gill threw 21.80m to win the title from Walsh, who threw 21.25m.
After six years away from the national championships, Eliza McCartney had a golden return.
The Olympian has been plagued with injuries since her bronze medal in Rio, but produced a clear 4.61m to beat defending champion Olivia McTaggart and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Imogen Ayris.
The national championships finished yesterday. A full report will feature in tomorrow’s paper.
