Four South Canterbury athletes performed well at the World Masters Games held at Sydney’s Olympic Park last week. Mandy Shirtcliffe, Richelle Cannell, Ron Munro and Wayne Doyle all performed with distinction in their events, picking up two medals.
The competition attracted over 1000 athletes from all over the world and included past Olympians and many age-group world record holders.
Mandy Shirtcliffe, competing in the 45-49 age group, won a bronze medal in the javelin and was also placed fifth in the 400-metre final.
Wayne Doyle showed his class against an international field by winning a silver medal in the 45-49 pole vault with a height of 3.1 metres.
Doyle also had four top six finishes after being placed fourth in the triple jump, fifth in the discus (35.56m), sixth in shot put (11m) and also sixth in the javelin (44.4m).
Richelle Cannell, competing in the 40-45 year old category, also performed above expectations to make the finals of the 100m and 200m.
Cannell ran personal bests in both finals, recording 13.85s in the 100m final to finish eighth, and stopped the clock in 28.7s in the 200m for sixth place.
It was a great effort, particularly considering the depth of experience in the field and the fact she had just recovered from a hip injury.
She said it was amazing being in a final against the world’s best.
In the 70-74 age group, veteran athlete Ron Munro competed well in the 100 and 200 metres.
Munro finished fourth in both sprints and was happy with his times.
`It’s an incredible feeling knowing that four athletes from a small place like Timaru are amongst the best in the world,” Doyle said.
