Year 13 student Cameron Miller competed in the U18 National Decathlon championships after turning 17 the day before the competition started.
The competition consisted of 10 athletic events over two days and is the ultimate test of an athletes strength, speed, agility and endurance.
In this competition he lined up against the best from Auckland and Canterbury after winning the Otago title 2 weeks ago with 5320 points. Cameron started day one with a great 100m in 11.88secs. He followed this up with a personal best in the Long Jump of 6.34m. His next 3 events the Shot Put, High Jump and 400m saw Cameron achieve solid performances. He finished day one with 3103 points which was 185 points ahead of Mathew Aucamp from Auckland.
This was a good start, however both his rival competitors had scored better at Hurdles, Pole Vault and Javelin in their respective regional championships so it was apparent the 185 point lead was going to be difficult to maintain. Cameron managed to run a 16.60 second 110m hurdles which was a personal best by over 1.5 seconds, however Mathew Aucamp ran an outstanding 15.38 seconds. Cameron knew at this stage that it was going to be a long day. The Discus allowed Cameron a brief reprieve with a solid performance of 36.12 metres.
The competition then ramped up with both Mathew Aucamp (AKL) and Jarod Neighbours (CAN) scoring good points in the Pole Vault and Javelin to lead Cameron by 46 and 55 points into the final event the 1500 metres. Cameron also achieved a personal best in the Pole Vault and Javelin however he had been caught by two athletes who did not want to give in.
The 1500 metres was going to be the decider, and at this stage Cameron knew he needed an outstanding run to gain enough points to win the national title. Cameron set himself a target of 4 mins 35 secs. The final gun went off and Cameron tracked the National Mens Champion Max Attwell from Canterbury to perfection and almost upstaged his senior competitior with an exhilarating run to finish first in U18 and second overall in the 1500 metres with a personal best of 4.30.59 secs. This event scored Cameron 741 points, his highest scoring event. This moved him into the winning spot 152 points ahead of Mathew Aucamp, who also passed Jarod Neighbours of Canterbury to gain 2nd place.
Cameron finished in an impressive 5691 points to give himself, Otago Athletics and Otago Boys' High School a national title in Decathlon.
An absolutely outstanding achievement for an athlete who has put years and hours of hard work to achieve this success.
Well done!