Tākaka athletes step up for the cup

JO RICHARDS

Last Sunday, 13 young athletes from Tākaka Athletics Club travelled over the Hill to Saxton Field stadium for the inter-club Winstone Cup competition.

Club secretary Maree Fleming summed up a day of mixed, but mostly good, fortunes for the Tākaka team. “There were many highs and a few lows; as usual, it was a great day out.”

Among the highs were a new club record, some season’s bests, a couple of first-time competitors, and numerous podium finishes.

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Eight-year-old Eli Miller and Ali Reynish(12) were competing at inter-club level for the first time. “Understandably, both were very nervous,” said Maree. “But they bettered their season’s bests, Ali’s being quite significant, and were keen to compete again.”

The highlight of the day was 15-year-old Ella Baigent whose 8.69m shot put throw beat Geena Gross’s long-standing club record by a margin of 0.61m; it was definitely a good day for Ella who was placed 1st in discus and 2nd in shot put, with season’s best throws in both events. Her younger sister Paige also performed well with a 2nd place finish in the 100m but unfortunately pulled a calf muscle in the 400m, an injury which ruled her out from the

13-year-olds’ girls’ high jump. Her teammate Ruby Darwen, however, stepped up and produced an impressive 1.40m jump, another season’s best, to take 1st place. Ruby’s success continued with 2nd place in the 200m and 3rd place in the long jump and 400m.

In the boy’s competition

Cooper Strange won the 10-year-olds’ 100m and came 2nd in the high jump, while Blake McCleely achieved a season’s best in the long jump and discus, and Warren Hitchcock was placed 3rd in the shot put. Hunter Austin bravely tackled the 1500m race, showing great determination by finishing the race he clearly wasn’t enjoying.

The 12-year-old boys had a very good day; Aiden Best lived up to his name coming 1st in the discus, 2nd with the shot put, 2nd in 200m, and 3rd in 100m, while his teammate Lucas McCleely achieved 1st in 1500m and 3rd in the long jump.

The impressive individual performances were put down to effective team work.

“The athletes were inspired by three coaches watching and instructing them,” said Maree, adding that the young competitors get to do it all over again soon. “They will be competing over two days at the Tasman Championships in two weeks’ time.”