The final track and field meeting at the Caledonian Ground before the Christmas break began with plenty of promise but ended with a whimper.
Conditions on Saturday proved favourable for all disciplines, as Sam Bremer (Hill City-University) and Hanna English (Ariki) set track competition alight with impressive 1500m victories.
Rory McSweeney (Taieri), promising junior Hugh McLeod-Jones (Hill City-University) and Fiona Harvey (Taieri) provided impressive performances in the javelin.
Harvey celebrated her 55th birthday in style, establishing an Otago masters women's 55-59 javelin record of 23.05m.
McSweeney (29), competing in the para F44 grade, enhanced his ranking of seventh in the world with a throw of 46.58m.
McSweeney, who had his lower left leg amputated as a 3-year-old following a traffic accident, had reconstructive surgery a year ago to stop his knee constantly becoming dislodged during competition.
Although surgery addressed the problem, McSweeney has had to adjust his throwing technique in order to throw in a straight line.
While thrilled with his technique on Saturday, he was aware his power was down but his strength was up.
Holly Robinson, a silver medallist at the world paralympic championships last year, showed solid early-season form, achieving a distance of 32.08m. Robinson is ranked second internationally in the F46 grade with a distance of 35.57m.
Coach Raylene Bates is thrilled with the form of McSweeney and Robinson, who are both setting themselves up nicely for the business end of the season following the Christmas break and potential qualification for the world championships next October.
Competitive qualification begins in earnest for that at the Porritt Classic on February 7, followed by the Otago, Canterbury and New Zealand track and field championships in quick succession, after which the pair will head for the Australian national championships.
An emerging talent in Otago field events, McLeod-Jones (16) was the best of open competition in javelin competition with a distance of 53.25m. He then proved the best of the day in discus competition with 42.06m and in shot put with 13.64m.
Taieri throwers Bradley Tarleton and Todd Bates had a titanic battle in the hammer, Tarleton winning with a distance of 54.32m and Bates second with a personal-best throw of 51.32m.
Earlier, English headed a list of athletes in the 1500m fields recording personal-best times when she stopped the clock at 4min 39.23sec to win the open women's grade.
Bremer won the open men's section by the length of the straight after a commanding run that saw him record a time of 4min 1.48sec.
A ding-dong battle ensued for second and third between Hill City-University clubmates Kerrin Williams and Kirk Madgwick. Williams crossed for second in a personal-best time of 4min 14.45sec and Madgwick was third in 4min 14.65sec.
As the curtain began to fall on 2014 competition, Jonah Smith (Caversham) added the Otago 10,000m title to his list of achievements as a first-year senior.
Smith (20), an English student and reigning Otago 3000m steeplechase champion, won the Otago 10,000m title twice as a junior, and remembers the title being decided by 100th of a second when 2009 national cross-country champion Andrew Davidson went ahead on the line to deny Caversham clubmate Daniel Balchin the title in 2011, in a shade over 30min.
Despite the 10,000m race on Saturday being something of a fizzer, due to a lack of entries, Smith used his memory of the 2011 title race as an inspiration to win the title in 36min 49.28sec.
Earlier this year, he finished runner-up in the Otago half-marathon championship and Peninsula Challenge. He has a personal best over 10,000m of 33min 35sec.
Other highlights of the meeting
• Twin sisters Joccoaa and Leonie Palmer (Taieri) battled for family bragging rights. Leonie finished second in the junior women's long jump with 4.68m and Joccoaa third with 4.30m. Leonie went on to win the junior women's triple jump with 9.97m, while Joccoaa finished third in the junior women's 100m in 13.27sec and won the 200m in 27.54sec.
• Liz Wilson kept in touch with the record books, finishing second in the open women's 400m in 61.87sec, an Otago record for the masters women's 50 grade and just outside the national record held by Gail Kirkman (Fiordland) of 60.83sec.
• Christina Ashton (Taieri) recorded a double, winning the junior women's 100m in 12.78sec and the 100m hurdles in 15.41sec.
