Pam Hendren

Pam Hendren (née Weigel) was one of two fine athletes from the same family.

She represented New Zealand at three Commonwealth Games as well as winning seven New Zealand long jump titles from 1969-81.

Her older sister, Bev, was a brilliant junior athlete and represented New Zealand at two Olympic Games and an Empire Games, and won four national long jump titles, plus one over 100 yards.

Pam, born in 1951, really first made her mark on the national scene when she claimed her first national title in 1969. The following year she represented New Zealand at the Edinburgh commonwealth Games, where her leap of 5.72m placed her 10th of the 14 in the field.

In 1974, she had two days as a headliner at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games. In the qualifying round, she uncorked a fantastic first jump of 6.37m to head the qualifying list.

That jump remained her personal best and is still 7th on the all-time list. Unfortunately, in the final two days later, Weigel was unable to repeat the effort and had to be satisfied with a best of 6.11m, for 9th place.

The Aucklander reappeared at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982, by which time she’d married Neil Weigel. Her best effort in Brisbane of 6.33m earned her 8th spot.

Weigel, who represented the Waitakere club, had some solid performances in Australia – she finished 2nd in the Australian nationals in 1976 and was 2nd in the Australian Commonwealth Games trials in 1982.

She later moved to Tutuaka, near Whangarei.