New Zealand Athletics Championships

The New Zealand Athletics Championships is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by Athletics New Zealand, which serves as the national championship for the sport in New Zealand. It usually takes place over a three-day period from Friday to Sunday. Typically organised in the Southern Hemisphere summer months of February or March, the competition was inaugurated in 1887 as a men-only event, with women's events being added to the programme from 1926 onwards.

New Zealand Athletics Championships
SportTrack and field
Founded1887
CountryNew Zealand
Related
competitions
Australasian Athletics Championships

In 1893, teams from the Australasian colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand competed in the first formalised Australasian Athletics Championships meeting. A New Zealand team continued to compete in this event until the 1927/28 event (since only Australian Athletics Championships).[1]

National championship events were held twice in 1973 and 1989, with the 1974 and 1990 championships brought forward and not being held that year.[2]

The early years of the meet served as a colonial competition for the British dominion. New Zealand also sent teams for the Australasian Athletics Championships during its lifetime from 1890 to 1927.

Separate annual championship events are held for the 10,000 metres, 3000 metres, combined track and field events, cross country running, mountain running, road running and racewalking events.[3]

Events

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The competition programme features a total of 36 individual New Zealand Championship athletics events, 18 for men and 18 for women. There are six track running events, three obstacle events, four jumps, and four throws. Track races were contested over imperial distances until metric standardisation in 1970.[2]

Track running
Obstacle events
Jumping events
Throwing events
Walking events

The 3000 metres distance was incorporated into the main track and field championships from 1989 up to 2005 for men and from 1976 to 2005 for women. Men contested a 220-yard hurdles until 1970 (with the final event being in the 200 metres hurdles format). A men's 5000 m track walk was introduced in 1975 and was amended to the 3000 m distance in 2000.[2]

Women had an additional short sprint event over 75 yards, which was last held in 1960. The women's programme gradually expanded to match the men's. A women's mile run was first added in 1968 and changed to 1500 m two years later. The 10,000 m was added in 1985 and the 5000 m was included the following year. (Road running also expanded in this time with the first women's marathon national championship occurring in 1980 and a half marathon national title being awarded from 1991 onwards.) The women's 80 metres hurdles was converted to the international standard of 100 m in 1969 and the first women's 400 m hurdles happened six years later in 1975. The women's pentathlon was expanded to the heptathlon at the combined events championship in 1982. The inclusion of triple jump in 1988 boosted the women's jumps programme and the addition of both hammer throw and pole vault in 1992 brought the women's field events to parity with the men. A women's walk was added in 1985. Women achieved parity of events across the programme with the introduction of a women's 2000 metres steeplechase in 1997. This was lengthened to 3000 m to match the men's version in 2001.[2]

Editions

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Year Date Venue Results
1996 1–3 March Auckland
1997 March Christchurch
1998 6–8 March Wanganui
1999 26–28 February Hamilton
2000 10–12 March Christchurch
2001 23–25 February Hastings
2002 1–3 March Auckland
2003 21–23 March Dunedin
2004 12–14 March Wellington
2005 11–13 March Wanganui
2006 27–29 January Christchurch
2007 2–4 March Inglewood
2008 28–30 March Auckland 2008
2009 27–29 March Wellington 2009
2010 26–28 March Christchurch 2010
2011 25–27 March Dunedin 2011
2012 23–25 March West Auckland 2012
2013 22–24 March Auckland 2013
2014 28–30 March Wellington 2014
2015 6–8 March Wellington 2015
2016 4–6 March Dunedin 2016
2017 17–19 March Hamilton 2017
2018 9–11 March Hamilton
2019 8–10 March Christchurch
2020 6–8 March Christchurch
2021 26–27 March Hastings
2022 3–6 March Hastings 2022
2023 2–5 March Wellington
2024 14–17 March Wellington 2024

Championships records

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Event Record Athlete/Team Date Meet Place Ref
800 m 1:44.87 James Preston 15 March 2024 2024 Championships Wellington [4]
5000 m 13:43.53 Hayden Wilde 26 March 2021 2021 Championships Hastings [5]
Shot put 21.79 m Tom Walsh 26 March 2021 2021 Championships Hastings [5]

Women

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Event Record Athlete/Team Date Meet Place Ref
100 m 11.07 (+1.8 m/s) NR Zoe Hobbs 3 March 2023 2023 Championships Wellington [6]
400 m hurdles 55.44 NR Portia Bing 5 March 2022 2022 Championships Hastings [7]
Hammer throw 73.55 m NR Julia Ratcliffe 26 March 2021 2021 Championships Hastings [5]
Javelin throw 62.40 m NR Tori Peeters 5 March 2022 2022 Championships Hastings [7]

References

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  1. ^ Australasian Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  2. ^ a b c d New Zealand Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  3. ^ Summer Championships. Athletics New Zealand. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  4. ^ "King James produces epic 800m performance". ANZ. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Steve Landells (26 March 2021). "Ratcliffe breaks Oceania hammer record with 73.55m in Hastings". World Athletics. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Zoe Hobbs re-writes the record books at the Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships". ANZ. 3 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Bing and Peeters fire on captivating day in Hastings". ANZ. 5 March 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
Championships data