A team of 14 Whakatāne Children’s Athletes competed with distinction at the North Island Colgate Games over January 9 to 11.

The event was held at Tauranga in very hot temperatures ranging 28 to 30 degrees.

The star performances came from Zayne Humberstone-Kara, winning bronze medals in the boys’ 10 years discus and shot put.

Zayne’s discus distance was 24.54 metres in a very large field of 46 athletes. His shot put of 9.58m was just 0.12m behind the winner.  

Zayne has a very good training ethic and much more can be expected from him in future competitions.

Aaliyah Sexton also had a great competition, narrowly missing out on a medal in the girls’ 13 years long jump.

Aaliyah’s fine personal best jump of 4.74m for fourth was just 0.04m behind the bronze medallist in a field of 34.

Aaliyah also jumped a personal best  of 1.45m for eighth in the high jump.

Lilly Anderson was seventh in the 13 year girls’  discus 1kg, with a great 23.83m, and 14th in the long jump with another personal best, 4.30m.

Te Manawanui Pearson-Tooley ran a very fast personal best  time of 66.4 seconds to come seventh in the final of the 12 year boys’ 400m final.  

This is a very promising event for Te Manawanui.  

Ryker Hauser also ran a good 69.5 seconds to place 14th , with both boys in the top half of the field.  

Ryker also ran well in the 800m/1500m double.

Rangiaho Teepa placed 11th in the 13 year boys’ shot put with 6.98m and Miane Smith was 14th in the 12 year girls’ shot put with 6.91m.  

Roimata Willians ran barefoot in the searing track temperatures in her girls’ 11 year 400, 800 and 1500m races with a very good 6.06.8 in the 1500m for 15th.  She ran 5.45 for sixth in the 1500m on grass and with track shoes could have achieved fifth place. She has a bright future.  

Alaska Roper, in the girls’ 13 year 200m, ran 29.56s, Taingunguru  Pearson-Tooley, in the girls’ 10 years 200m and Puretu Teepa in the boys’ 10 year shot put also performed well.

The club put up a girls’ 4x100m relay team for the first time in several years.  

The team, in running order of Roimata Williams, Alaska Roper, Lilly Anderson and Aaliyah Sexton, ran in the girls’ 13 years grade.  

They placed 10th in a very creditable time of 56.88 seconds, missing  the final by 0.64s, and were in the top eight for the North Island, but were beaten by two international Victorian teams. Still a great effort.

The youngsters in grades 7-9 years also all did very well.  

In these grades, the athletes compete for pennants in groups of eight generally. The star of this group was Aleutian Roper, with great wins in the girls’ 100m and 200m in the girls’ 8 year grade. A very good sprinting result.  

Ella-Rey Sexton in her awaited first Colgate’s came a good second in the shot put, third in the long jump and 60m in the girls’ 7 years.

Mia Teepa also did well in the girls’ 9 year grade 200m and discus, bravely competing with a swollen foot.

Team head manager Chantel Smith said “all the athletes did very well in tremendous heat and a very high standard competition.There were many personal bests.”