Tasman athletes heading to Colgate Games
More than 800 Kiwi children are taking their marks in Invercargill this weekend for New Zealand’s pre-eminent children’s athletics competition – the South Island Colgate Games.
This year 53 clubs from around the South Island have enrolled teams, with Invercargill’s St Pauls Harrier Athletics Club topping the list with 83 children signed up to compete.
The Tasman region has 37 athletes competing, headed by Athletics Richmond with 17.
Marlborough have 11 competitors, Athletics Nelson eight and Motueka one.
Nelson hosted last year’s South Island event at Saxton Field.
Among Richmond’s leading contenders is 10-year-old Micayla Whiti, who won gold in both the 100m and 200m events at least weekend’s North Island Colgate Games at Hawke’s Bay Sports Park in Hastings.
She recorded a winning time of 13.94sec for the 100m and 29.33sec for the 200m.
She was one of five Richmond athletes competing in Hastings, including 13-year-old Hayley Bond who qualified for both the 100m and 200m finals.
Bond isn’t competing Invercargill this weekend.
Other prominent Richmond athletes are Adam Stack, Harrison Inch, Lilly Zwart and Jacob Neal.
Zwart won gold in the girls’ grade 10 high jump last year in Nelson, while Neal won gold in the grade 11 boys’ 800m and 1500m and Stack in the grade 12 boys’ 100m and shot put.
All three are competing up a grade this year.
Nelson’s leading contenders are sprinter-long jumper Ben Walker (grade 11 boys), middle distance runner Jordan Stirling-Rowling (grade 14 boys) and Sophie Wemyss (grade 14 girls).
Nelson-based New Zealand Children’s Athletics Association president Brian Cockeram said he was happy with the size of the competitive field.
‘‘They’re on a par with other times we’ve had it down in Invercargill and that’s the general trend,’’ Cockeram said.
‘‘When we go back to a venue, we can just about predict the numbers.
‘‘It will have a very high standard, they always do.
‘‘We still get some of the cream of the North Island . . . so there’ll be some very good athletes down there and you don’t know, someone could be new into the sport in and just pop out – and that’s always good to see too.’’
Colgate Games South Island chairperson Sue Wilson said shot put and high jump were the hot favourites for 2017.
‘‘The Rio Olympics has really inspired the kids with many giving a new sport a try this year,’’ Wilson said.
‘‘The children are looking to the success of people like Eliza McCartney and realising it’s never too late – or too early to try something new.’’
Colgate general manager John Garside said the event was New Zealand’s longest running children’s athletics competition with a proud history of putting future Olympians on their course.
‘‘This year the children competing have had a huge amount of encouragement from senior athletes like Eliza McCartney, Tom Walsh and Nick Willis,’’ Garside said.
‘‘The children have been training hard all summer, likely hoping to have a chance at winning one of the four Nick Willis Scholarships up for grabs this weekend.
‘‘A lot of the parents and grandparents here in Invercargill have also competed over the years. It’s a real Kiwi institution and rite of passage for emerging athletics talent.’’