Paraparaumu club performs with pride
Ready, set, go: Young athletes shine children’s championships
The Paraparaumu Track and Field Club had a highly successful two days at the Wellington Children’s Athletic Championships held at Newtown Park in Wellington, club captain Brian Seymour reports.
There were some outstanding performances during the competition, headed by Mia Thomson in the 12 girls 1500m, breaking the record with a time of 4m 46.30s and followed up with 2m 25.05s in the 800m.
Olivia McDowell, too, ran superbly in the 13 girls with 4m 46.01s and 2m 24.90s respectively in the 1500m and 800m. The middle distance athletes were to the fore with Lucie Thomson storming home in both the 10 girls 800m and 1500m, Lily Attwood in the 11 girls 800m and Jacob Hassan and Mason Ive in the 11 and 13 boys 800m.
Frankie Hartley and Maggie Barke were another two who showed real promise in the middle distances.
Kobe Kemp was outstanding in the grade 10 boys, winning five gold medals in the 100m, 200m, discus, shot put and long jump.
Rico Poutama also showed his versatility, winning the high jump and placing second in the long jump and hurdles with a bronze in the discus in the 15 boys grade.
Eve Mason showed her potential winning the 13 girls 100m and 200m, as did Daisy Goodman in the 14 girls 100m and 200m.
Luke Jarvis had two outstanding runs in the 15 boys 100m and 200m with times of 11.15s and 22.97s. Both times beat the old records, only to be disallowed due to the wind being slightly over the limit.
Phoebe Corin pulled out a big throw to win the 12 girls discus with 30.85m and Jacob Hassan produced an outstanding effort to win the 13 boys high jump with a PB of 1.68m.
Other gold medal winners were Mason Ive in the 11 boys 400m, Lucy Mettrick in the 11 girls 400m, Ceejay Huriwaka in the 10 girls shot put and Bowie Alderdice in the 13 boys 80m hurdles.
The relays, as usual, were a bonanza for the club with gold medals in the 7 girls 4 x 100m (Felicity Kaulave, Mattais Morton-Jones, Quinn Little and Jack Thomson), 8 girls (Holly Robinson, Isla Fick, Archie Grace and Olivia McGuigan), 8 boys (Sebastian Spring, Caleb Geldenhuys, Ardie Cooper and Axel Christiansen) and 13 medley (Bowie Alderdice, Jacob Hassan, Olivia McDowell, Eve Mason and Amir Al Masri).
Silver medals were won by the grade 11 medley team and the grade 10 medley and bronze by the 9 boys and grade 12 medley.
More than 40 athletes won medals in the relays.
The club won 34 gold, 24 silver and 26 bronze medals, and a large number of athletes reached the finals in their events.