Track and field club excels at Colgate Games
Paraparaumu Track and Field Club athletes took part in both the North and South Island Colgate Games held in Auckland and Dunedin recently. A very proud club captain, Brian Seymour, reports on their efforts.
The club had a relatively small team compared to previous games but those who took part performed admirably.
Our team in Auckland consisted of Mia Thomson, Lucie Thomson, Lucia Harfitt, Phoebe Corin, Daisy Goodman, Campbell Stratford, Hayley Kirton, Harrison Stratford, Jack Thomson, James Kirton and Isla Kirton.
Outstanding performances came from Mia Thomson in the grade 12 girls. She won both the 1500m and 800m with a new best time of 2 min 25.8s in the 800m. She was also third in the high jump, clearing 1m 35cm and 5th in the 400m final in 64.4s. Her 1500m time was 4min 57.16s just outside her PB.
Mia’s sister, Lucie, was equally as impressive, winning the 10 girls 1500m in 5min 18.64s, placing second in the 800m in 2min 39.34s, third in the high jump with a height of 1m 23cm, fourth in the discus with 17.45m and fifth in the 400m in a time of 72.99s.
Lucia Harfitt was another to perform with distinction placing third in the 1500m in a time of 5min 29.63s, third in the 800m in 2min 39.45s and third in the 400m in 70.42s.
Phoebe Corin was third in the grade 12 girls 1200m race walk and also finished ninth in the shot put and seventh in the discus. Daisy Goodman was fifth in the 14 girls long jump, fourth in the 100m and eighth in the 200m.
Campbell Stratford had a busy games, winning both his divisions in the 9 boys 100m and 200m was second in the 60m, third in the discus and fourth in the long jump. This was a truly outstanding effort by Campbell.
Hayley Kirton placed third in the 9 girls shot put and James Kirton third in the 7 boys discus. Harrison Stratford, competing in the 14 boys para events, won both the shot put and discus and was second in the 200m.
South Island Games
A slightly smaller team journeyed to Dunedin for the South Island Games but once again we were treated to some superb performances. The team consisted of Mia Thomson, Lucie Thomson, Phoebe Corin, Daisy Goodman, Jacob Hassan, Jonaton Meron and Yoav Meron.
Mia Thomson was again to the fore with first placing in the 1500m in a new best time of 4min 53.05 secs and first in the 800m in 2min 26.35s. Lucie Thomson too had another outstanding games, winning the 1500m in a new PB of 5.14.59 secs and placing second in the 800m in 2min 38.59s. Lucy was also third in the discus with a throw of 16.12m.
Phoebe Corin finished third in the discus with a great throw of 31.31m, she was seventh in the shot put with 8m 58cm and fourth in the 1200m race walk. Daisy Goodman placed fifth in the 100m but was, in fact, the third New Zealander home. The rules were changed this year which classified not only Australian athletes as visitors but also North Islanders. This meant that the two Australian athletes who finished ahead of Daisy kept her out of a place because three visitors were not allowed to medal. The other outstanding performance in Dunedin was from Jacob Hassan who finished second in the 13 boys 800m with a superb time of 2min 15. 26s. He was fourth in high jump on countback with 1m 60cm.
This was an outstanding performance by a small team who came home with five gold medals, two silver medals and five bronze medals from the North Island games. They won two gold pennants in the under 10 grades, one silver and three bronze. In the South Island they won three gold, two silver and one bronze.