Nelson runners star at secondary school champs

While teenage sprint sensation Brad Kershaw has become used to the attention his feats attract, it was something new for Josh Mitchell at the Tasman Secondary School Track and Field Championships last week.

Brad and Josh were both unbeaten in their events at the Saxton Field track.

With his training partner and rival Rhian Douglas sidelined with a hamstring injury, Josh seized his chance to shine and broke the 17-year-old record in the U16 boy’s 400 metres.

“Looking at the race a few days beforehand, I thought I could beat Alex Jordan’s record. I felt really strong coming off the bend,” says Josh, who is homeschooled.

He is now hoping to break the 50 second mark at the South Island Secondary School Track and Field Champs back at Saxton on 5-6 April.

Josh also took out the 200m and was confident of breaking another record in the long jump.

He was the only competitor to clear six metres but was disappointed to fall short of the 6.36m record.

His mother Cassie was one of the officials at the long jump pit and red-flagged his first attempt.

Coach Tony Aikenhead says Josh brings a lot of power and speed, and the 400m is ideal preparation for a long jumper.

“Josh works very hard and has made massive improvements in both running and long jump,” declares Tony.

Meanwhile as expected, national age grade champion Brad Kershaw comfortably completed the U15 sprint double.

The 200m was decided on heat times, rather than a final, while he narrowly broke the 100m record of 11.67 seconds in his heat.

The feat had gone unnoticed.

“I am just focusing on the fundamentals at this meet ahead of the South Island champs,” says Brad.

But after anchoring the Nelson College team to take out the 4x100m relay, he confirmed he was going to really try and eclipse the 100m mark.

In a repeat of his slow start at the nationals last December, Brad recovered and scorched to 11.27 to slash two fifths of a second off the record.

Recapping on his three wins, Brad says he really enjoyed the team aspect of the relay.

“They are a great bunch of lads.”

The only disappointment was that his coach Sara Biss couldn’t be there after snapping her Achilles tendon at a recent training session.

Golden Bay athlete Ruby Darwin, a training mate of Josh’s, also completed a treble. She easily broke the U16 triple jump record and claimed the long jump and 200m as well.

Fourteen schools competed at the TSS champs, but entries dropped by 15 to 20 per cent after rain forced the meeting to be moved from Tuesday to Thursday last week.