Funding boost for rising motorsport star
Rising motorsport star Thomas Boniface doesn’t have a lot of time to consider options when he is lapping Formula Ford competitors at 230kmph.
‘‘There is not a lot of time to think except to be 100 per cent focused on the corners and gear changes, ‘‘ the 15-year-old New Plymouth Boys’ High School student said.
‘‘If I lose focus it can be catastrophic to my performance and for other drivers.’’
Boniface has been circuit racing since he was six years old, starting with karts and progressing up through the grades to Formula First and Formula Ford.
Boniface was one of 21 young Taranaki sports people aged between 11 and 18 who received funding from the 2019 Cameron Clow Trust recently.
It is the third time he has received funding from the trust, which is named after the late Cameron Clow, a New Plymouth sportsman who was killed in a cycling accident in 2009 while teaching in Bahrain.
Clow was involved in rugby, swimming, surf lifesaving, triathlons and multisports and was passionate about getting young people involved in sport.
The 2019 awards were the final year of funding by the trust after a decade of helping raise nearly $50,000 for around 200 young sportspeople to follow their aspirations.
Trustee Warren Clow said the time was right to end the funding programme.
‘‘It has become increasingly difficult to raise money without public funding,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve had great support from sports clubs in the region but it is very demanding.
‘‘We’ve achieved what we set out to do to help young sports people but we’ve just run out of energy.’’
Boniface said he would use his award to help pay for a regulation FIA (International Automobile Federation) race suit, necessary to compete at Formula Ford level.
The 2019 Cameron Clow Trust sports awards recipients were: Sasha Reid (swimming), Thomas Boniface (motorsport), Caitlin O’Connell (basketball), Tom Butland (surfing), Fletcher Moles (canoe racing/surf lifesaving), Brooke Reid (squash), Vyania Punsalan (chess), Jessica Kingi and Joshua Kingi (in-line hockey), Brayden Meuli (swimming/surf lifesaving), Jordan Whittlestone (tennis/ hockey), Imogen Hodge (ballet/ dance), Brooke Jorgensen (gymnastics), Jack Jorgensen (BMX), Parris Mason (touch), Ebony Leake (hockey), Danial Callebaut (swimming/surf lifesaving/cross country/ triathlon), Dean Clarkson (hockey), Levi Limmer-Martin (basketball), Jack Rangiwahia (hockey), Madison Metcalf (highland dancing), Bella McEwan (hockey/surf lifesaving).