Chris Brake clears 2.03 metres in the high jump at the Athletics Nelson twilight meet at Saxton Field last Wednesday. Photo: Simon Bloomberg.

Brake jumps at US scholarship

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Tapawera athlete, Chris Brake, showed he is in top form, equalling his personal best and the Tasman Centre record in the high jump at the Athletics Nelson twilight meeting at Saxton Field last Wednesday.

Chris cleared 2.03 metres before narrowly missing out at 2.06m to equal his best jump, recorded at the national secondary schools champs in Hamilton last year. It is only the second time he has jumped two metres at Saxton Field since clearing the magical mark on the track in November last year.

Ironically, Chris will not be able to take that good form into any upcoming competitions because of a clause in a US college athletics scholarship he is negotiating. “I was hoping for anything over 1.95 metres tonight so I’m over the moon about jumping 2.03,” Chris says. “I’ve been really fatigued lately because of all the travel and work so I wasn’t expecting too much.

“But I’ve got nothing planned in terms of meetings because of the scholarship. I can’t say which college it’s with yet because we are still finalising things but one of the conditions is that I can’t compete in any recorded competition after December 1.”

Chris, who won a jumps treble at his final national secondary school’s champs last year,  says it is difficult training and competing in all three jumps so he plans to focus on the high jump and triple jump this season.

The next track and field meeting at Saxton Field will be the Tasman Club championships on November 22 followed by the Athletics Nelson twighlight meet on November 28.