Athtletes excel at Colgate Games
The Paraparaumu Track and Field Club received outstanding results at the North Island Colgate Games held in Inglewood, Taranaki, in January.
The club took a team of 34 athletes to compete of which there were 25 aged 10 to 14 and nine aged 7 to 9. Of the 25 aged 10 to 14, 19 athletes came home with medals. They gained three gold, six silver and five bronze medals.
Individual winner Ben Lambert placed first in the 14 boys 100m with 11.83 into a strong head wind and also gained a third in the 200m. Lucas Lambert won gold in the 12 boys 80m hurdles which was a meritorious effort considering his limited participation in that event. Daisy Goodman ran outstandingly well to win silver in the 10 girls 100m in a time of 14.72 with all of the sprinters running into a head wind. This was Daisy's first year in the major grades and she performed outstandingly well as did Rico Poutama who won silver in the 11boys discus with a throw of 27.43m, a season's best.
Another outstanding performer was Te Maia Sweetman who won silver in the 11 girls 100m in a time of 14.34 behind Whakatane's Lily Anderson who was one of the outstanding competitors at the games. Te Maia also won bronze in the 200m. Amy Jarvis won bronze in the 10 girls long jump with a leap of 3.87m and Poppy Rae-McGregor gained a bronze medal in the 12 girls 1500m in her first outing at a track meeting.
Other athletes who performed with distinction were Niamh Gedye who in her first year competing on the track achieved three fourth placings in the 13 girls 100m, 200m and 80m hurdles. This was an outstanding effort considering her lack of experience and she has a very promising future. She was less than a metre from bronze in the 100m and 200m and anchored the 13 girls relay team who finished third. On top of that she ran a superb 400m to assist the grade 14 medley relay team into second place. Josh Lotsu ran very well in the 13 boys to finish a close fourth in both the 100m and 200m as well as collecting gold in the 14boys 4x100m relay. Daisy Goodman missed out on a medal in the 10 girls high jump on countback. All three girls cleared 1.26m and Daisy was the unlucky one. She also ran the anchor leg of the 11 girls 4x100m relay in which they finished second losing by 1/100th of a second or as they say in horse racing lost by a nose. Kohurangi MurrowRewi was fourth in the 10girls discus with a throw of 22.12m. Many of the athletes achieved personal bests, one of those being Jacob Kilmister who took 10 seconds off his best time in the 14 boys 1500m running 4min 41.54 sec's.
The relay teams were a revelation. The 14 boys won gold in a sizzling time of 46.90 seconds. Compare this to last year when they finished second to Pakaranga in 50.83. The team was Joaquin Llera, Ben Lambert, Zane Wakeling and Josh Lotsu. The 13 girls team which contained three 12-year-olds finished third. That team being Abigail Lotsu, Niamh Gedye, Kristiana Smith and Tapini Raea. The 11 girls which had two 10-year-olds in Daisy Goodman and Amy Jarvis teamed up with Te Maia Sweetman and Paisley Richardson to finish second missing out on gold by 1/100th of a second. The other gold medal went to the 8-year girls, a team containing one boy in Zander Sweetman who along with Phoebe Corin, Mia Thomson and Blake Terry ran their hearts out to elation of the team supporters. In the medleys, the teams contain five competitors of which two must be girls. Team members must run 800m, 400m, 200m and two of them run 100m. Teams can run those distances in any order which creates what is known as organised chaos. No one is sure who is winning until the final lap. Paraparaumu won two silver medals. The grade 14 team outdid themselves finishing in second place. The team was Joaquin Llera, Jacob Kilmister, Niamh Gedye, Ollie Craner and Kristiana Smith. The grade eleven team also won silver and that team was Joel lambert, Rico Poutama, Te Maia Sweetman, Ethan Mupariwa and
Paisley Richardson. The two other teams the club entered were the 11 boys 4 x 100m, the 9 girls 4 x 100m and the grade 12 medley. The 11 boys were a close fourth, the 9 girls who had two 7yr boys in their team finished sixth as did the grade 12 medley team.
The U10s too had a successful games. They do not have heats, semis and finals like the older competitors. As a result each race or division has three placegetters who all receive a pennant. All who take part in these events receive a competitor's ribbon. Individual firsts were gained by Phoebe
Corin in the 8girls shot put, Ella McGuigan in the 9 girls 60m, Blake Terry in the 8 girls 60m and 200m and Mia Thomson in the 9 girls long jump. Second placing went to Phoebe Corin 8 girls discus, and third placing to Isabel Corin 9 girls shot put and discus, Phoebe Corin in the 8 girls long jump, Elane Potgieter in the 9 girls 60m, 100m and 200m, Zander Sweetman in the 8 boys long jump, Blake Terry in the 8 girls 100m and Mia Thomson in the 8 girls 200m, 100m, 60m and discus. In Mia's case a total of six placings including the relay and Blake achieved four placings including the relay. The team achieved a total of 34 placings from 34 competitors which by any measure is outstanding, considering there were 1200 competitors.
Four athletes took part in the South Island Games which were held in Christchurch. Ben Lambert continued his great form winning the 14 boys 100m and finishing third in the 200m, although he was promoted to second because the second placegetter was from Queensland. Lucas Lambert was second in the 12 boys 80m hurdles and Mia Thomson had another amazing weekend finishing second in the 9 girls 200m and long jump with a new PB of 3.46m and third in the 100m and 60m. This brought her tally to 10 placings over both games.