A home-town victory in the wheelchair mile to Kurt Fearnley and a new meet record to Queenslander Robbie Crowther in the men's long jump have headlined the Hunter Track Classic, the second leg of the Australian Athletics Tour.
Surging past American Josh George on the home straight, three-time Paralympic champion Fearnley won in 3:22.57 with George at 3:22.99.
"Everybody got stuck in to it and we finished a fair bit quicker than I thought we would which is great," Fearnley said.
"I've never raced like that before, with the crowd in the outer lanes on the track, and it made for an awesome environment. They were so close. It kind of felt like you were in a tunnel. It's always good to race here in my home town of Newcastle."
Not to be outdone in the women's 400m, the national champion Morgan Mitchell from Victoria looked strong as she entered the straight to take the lead from Glasgow 2014 starter Caitlin Sargent and win in a season best time of 53.01, an improvement of more than a second.
Queenslander Sargeant was second in 53.56.
"To take so much of my time from my race in Bendigo is amazing and this early in the season it is where I want to be. The next stop for me is Perth and I can't wait to get there now, the conditions are always great," Mitchell said.
In the men's 1500m, Jeff Riseley (Vic) was first past the post in a time of 3:39.77 to launch his Tour campaign in style, while Brittany McGowan (Qld) took victory in the women's 800m in 2:05.05.
Soaring to new heights in the field was Crowther with his meet record 8.03m (w: +2.4) more than enough to win the men's long jump from Angus Gould (ACT, 7.59m) and Nichol van Gelder (NSW, 7.56m), with sprint sensation Jack Hale (Tas, 7.47m, w: +3.7) placing 5th.
The distance is his biggest ever season opener, a mere seven centimetres shy of the 8.10m required to stake his claim for selection to the 2015 IAAF World Championships and just nine centimetres shorter than his career best.
"I didn't know what condition I was in coming into the competition so to come away with this is a great result. My coach was happy too so I can't complain," Crowther said.
Share
