Sun sport
The Sun
Sport inbrief
APPEAL STARTS The annual Surf Life Saving New Zealand Summer Appeal launched on Monday. Donations go to the 74 surf life saving clubs around the country. To donate, visit the Surf Life Saving New Zealand website or for an automatic $3 donation, text ‘SURF’ to 849.
HAWKE CUP The Marlborough Cricket Team was beaten on the first innings by the Nelson Griffins in their two-day encounter over the weekend. Nelson, bolstered by a century to opener Daniel Cooper, scored 230 in their first innings, and Marlborough could only muster 137/9 in reply. Nelson was 114/2 in their second innings when stumps were called.
CHRISTIE NOMINATED Tasman Makos captain Shane Christie has been nominated in the ITM Cup player of the year category at the Steinlager Awards. Coach Kieran Keane has been nominated in the coach of the year bracket. The ceremony will be held in Auckland on December 11.
KEANE COACH OF YEAR Tasman Makos coach Kieran Keane was named coach of the year at the Nelson Sports Awards on Friday night.
POLO The Blenheim polo team won the B grade tournament, held at Rewi Murray Park, over the weekend. The weekend of action doubled as the first round of the Bright Enterprise South Island Open.
T20 CRICKET Criterion Hotel Wairau Valley and Biddy Kates Celtic got off to winning starts in the WineWorksT20 Competition on Friday night. The next round is on Friday evening at Horton Park.
TRIATHLON 226 total competitors turned out for the Marlborough Women’s Triathlon over the weekend. Mary Lister won the individual event in 52 minutes and 27 seconds, seven seconds ahead of Jacinda Thompson. Other winners included the Bikefit Marlborough team in the social team category and Gill Smith in the walking division.
VOLLEYBALL Marlborough Volleyball’s Subway Spikers’ & Premiers’ School’s Competition completed its fifth round last Friday, with only one round robin round to go before the finals on December 12. Renwick Diggers, who won their game two sets to one last week, received the Subway Fair Play Team of the Week award.
Wednesday December 3, 2014
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Moston blazes moto cross By Adam Poulopoulos A local motocross rider has gone from spending time off the bike to reclaiming his national title in two months. Moston Wadsworth rode away with victory at the New Zealand Veterans’ and Women’s Motocross Championships in Southbridge, South Canterbury last month. Wadsworth won the 50-54 years age group category, finishing 12 points ahead of his nearest challenger, Ricky Trumpeter from the West Coast. Wadsworth won four of the five races in the 15-man division. Wadsworth also came second in the combined age/placing rankings from the feature race. His victory completed a journey which had seen him resume his career two months ago. A multiple national champion already, he gave up the sport a year and a half ago, citing a lack of interest. He says he had not quite discovered
Moston Wadsworth with his NZ Veterans’ trophy.
the sharpness he had before the hiatus, but was happy all the same. “I’ve done a reasonable amount of practice the last three months to get ready for it.
“I’m not quite 100 percent race fit but I’m happy with how it went.” Next year’s national championships are in Taranaki, but Wadsworth will be racing in the
55 plus age group. Overall, 10 Marlborough Motorcycle Club riders competed in the event and 126 riders completed altogether.
Marlborough youngsters take awards Alistair Gifford capped off a huge year by being named sailor of the year at the 2014 Tasman Secondary School Sports Awards. Gifford, who represented New Zealand at the Youth Olympics in China earlier this year, was presented with the accolade on
Sunday night. His Marlborough Boys’ College schoolmates Joshua Leach, Quinn Udy and Joel MadsenClark were also recognised as shooter, squash player and male mountain biker of the year respectively. Marlborough Girls’ College
student Liv Bishop made it a Blenheim one-two in the mountain biking category to win the female award. Sprinter Lucy Sheat was named female athlete of the year, while Georgia Catterick won the female road cyclist award. Right Alistair Gifford.
Touching the top By Adam Poulopoulos The time spent creating a touch rugby culture has culminated in Queen Charlotte College making the national tournament for the first time. The 14-strong squad is preparing to travel to Papakura for the 20-team tournament, to be held from December 12-14. Coach Jack Saxon says the school, with a roll of 380, was the smallest competing at the tournament. “It’s quite rare for a school of our size to make it to nationals. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a school that small.” Q CC wi l l comp et e against schools with vast talent pools, in some cases four or five times the size, but Saxon says the school’s “robust touch rugby culture” held them in good stead.
The sport is QCC’s most popular, with about 25 percent of students enrolled. The school’s prizegiving has been shifted to early next week to accommodate the tournament. Saxon said there were several reasons for the sport’s popularity. “It’s a social sport and it’s a mixed school. “Everyone’s welcome to learn as long as they’re committed and ready to get fit.” Saxon said the focus had been on learning attacking and defensive systems, to cancel out the pool of natural ability larger schools have at their disposal. As the culture has grown the number of enrolments has also increased. “There’s been a lot of scaffolding put in at each level,” Saxon says. “We’ve created a ladder to the rep team, which
The Queen Charlotte College touch team earlier in the year.
helped us create a factory of young players.” The team’s build-up has been stymied by injuries, exams and a leadership camp. Saxon said while the team had high hopes, they
needed to have realistic expectations “To an extent, making nationals is the icing on the cake for the year. “Our goal is to make the top ten, but for a small school like us to do that
would be like climbing Everest.” QCC qualified for the national tournament after winning the regional competition and finishing fourth at the South Island meet.