30/5/2017
Caterina Poletti and New Plymouth team thrilled with record Hillary Challenge winEarlier This month a group of adventure racing students representing New Plymouth Boys’ High School and New Plymouth Girls’ High School won the 17th annual Hillary Challenge by a record margin. The combined New Plymouth team beat the elements, including gale-force winds, heavy rain and a night spent camping under Mt Ngauruhoe, and 11 other eight-person teams from around the country to win by some 600 points to second placed Waimea College over the course of the five-day event. Teams are split into four boys and four girls so non co-ed schools such as New Plymouth Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools join forces. This was their first win in three years and continued their tradition of never having finished lower than second. This year’s winning New Plymouth team members were Jack Boon, Calum Sutherland, Oak Jones, Jason Bond, Nicola Godwin, Annabel Jones, Poppy Mitchell and Caterina Poletti. Year 12 competitor Caterina Poletti was not only competing in her first Hillary Challenge, she only took up the sport last year. “The Hillary Challenge was by far the hardest thing I have ever done, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was the most rewarding, amazing experience that made us incredibly pleased to finish let alone win,” said Caterina. Caterina explained that consistency and an understanding of each other’s strengths and the hours spent training beforehand in and around New Plymouth were the keys to winning. “We got on well together and we all offered different skills to help out when required.” “We had trained really hard for this event since late last year – most times twice a day and including 4.00am starts before school. “We couldn’t have done this without the wisdom and support of our coach, Mr Hewlett [also a teacher at NPBHS].” The first two days the 12 teams were put through their paces in a series of problem solving challenges. “We didn’t know how we had gone compared to others over the first two days, some things we felt we did well though, others not so well, so it gave us confidence to find out after the first two days we were in the lead.” New Plymouth won four of the 12 challenges on the Monday and Tuesday. On days three and four was the Rogaine expedition, which included a night spent camping outdoors at the foot of Mt Ngauruhoe. “Getting to camp out under the stars under the foot of the mountain was a terrific experience.” The Rogaine was a 50-60km trek from the Desert Road to the Chateau at the base of Whakapapa, navigating check points along the way, and New Plymouth won that by more than 400 points to second placed Waimea College. “That was really hard, especially with torrential rain and strong winds as well, but also really rewarding.” Day five was the multisport race, which consisted of a 10km run, a 6km paddle, a 20km mountain bike ride and then another 6km run. New Plymouth won this stage in about four hours, 15 minutes ahead of Waimea who also finished second overall. There’s several events coming up for members of the team and Caterina said she can’t wait to get back into it. “We had a few days off afterwards to recover and some of us had another couple of days off school with colds, but we are ready to go now and take on our next challenge.” That is likely to be the Kawerau Gravity Sports 6-hour Adventure Race followed by some more events throughout the year. The team is also lining up the Coast to Coast race across the South Island early next year. She said she is keen to compete in the famous GODZone adventure race one day too. Last year’s Kawerau 6-hour event was Caterina’s first taste of adventure racing, after being signed up by a friend, giving it a go and loving it. That’s perhaps got something to do with her upbringing. “I was brought up near Makahu, which is 45 minutes inland from Stratford.” A quick glance at the map shows that to be about as rural New Zealand as you can get, so it’s no surprise she loves the outdoors and adventure. She was a boarder at New Plymouth Girls’ High School in Year 9, but her family moved up to New Plymouth the next year so she’s a day student and a townie now. Adventure racing is not her only sport. “I have represented Taranaki in rugby since year 8, and love that sport too. I currently play for the New Plymouth GHS team in the local school competition. My favourite position is flanker but I have been playing lock lately as well.” She has also been a member of the NPGHS 7s team that competed at the Condor 7s in Auckland over the past two years. Despite her super-busy sporting life, she is also keeping ahead academically, doing level 3 NCEA with a year of schooling still to come.
22/5/2017
CSM: Photos of the week for 22 MayBelow are some selected Photos of the Week highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events, news stories and achievements from the past week in NZ secondary school sport. Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at [email protected] Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted.dit. 1. Nelson College for Girls netballer Tali Uia (right) with Tactix player Zoe Walker last week. Goal shoot Uia scored 71 goals for her school against Waimea College last Thursday and is one of six up and coming players from the Mainland Netball Zone to be selected in the Pathway to Tactix programme. Uia said her dream is to make a career out of netball and Walker wants to see ambitious Nelson talent like that joining her in the Tactix in the future. Photo credit by Marion Van Dijk and read more here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/sport/92772587/nelson-college-for-girls-goal-shoot-tali-uia-on-the-pathway-to-tactix 2. The senior boys Manawatu Secondary Schools cross country race was dominated by Palmerston North Boys' High School runners, who made up the top five. The winner was Alex Hull (pictured leading here), who finished the 4.8km in 17 minutes 40 seconds, ahead of second placed Harrison Porritt. "It's pretty tough going back up that massive hill," he said. "It was a challenging course, but it certainly helps for the bigger up-and-coming races." The 16-year-old, who is year 12, wants to be in good form for the Super 8 cross-country and the national championships. Tessa Webb of Feilding High School blitzed the field to win the senior girls race. Photo credit David Unwin and read more here http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/sport/92677209/Tessa-Webb-wins-Manawatu-schools-cross-country-title-at-a-canter?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 3. The Tokoroa High School Rugby League team who last week won the Upper Central Zone Secondary Schools Rugby League qualifying tournament, gaining them top the qualifying position from the region for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rugby League Tournament in September. Photo credit: Waikato Secondary School Sport at https://www.facebook.com/sportwaikatosecondaryschools/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf 4. Aquinas College Year 13 student Ella Akkerman was recently selected last week in the New Zealand team to compete at the Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in July. The 17-year-old will team up with partner Jasmine Milton from Rangitoto College in the girls' doubles event. They are part of the 34-strong New Zealand team to compete in the Bahamas alongside 1300 athletes from 70 countries. Photo credit George Novak and read more at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503345&objectid=11857577 5. The first real cold snap of the year hit much of New Zealand over the weekend, including Dunedin where it snowed. Indoors, the ice hockey season is underway. Photo credit: Otago Secondary School Sports at https://www.facebook.com/osssa.org.nz/ 6. Mount Maugnanui College’s Raiha Ensor narrowly missed a place in the top eight, placing third in her quarterfinal and ninth overall, at the International Surfing Association World Surfing Games in France overnight. Raiha was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Teresa Bonvalot (Portugal) and Frankie Harrer (Germany). Ensor found herself with the heat lead for the first ten minutes before her opponents caught up. However, she was left requiring a 5.74 point ride to advance and fell short on her last wave posting a 4.13. Ninth overall sees Ensor vastly improve on her 22nd placing in 2016, a factor that is not lost on the 17-year-old. “I'm super stoked on how I improved my placing in comparison to last year which was my goal for this event. I can use this performance as more motivation for the World Junior Championships scheduled for Japan in September” added Ensor. Photo credit: ISA World Surfing .
17/5/2017
Declan Honan-Crann impressing in AFLGreen Bay High School’s Declan Honan-Crann has had a busy last few weeks representing the New Zealand U16 and U18 teams in AFL, leading the U16s haka and earning a MVP accolade. He’s also been impressing playing for his club side Waitakere Magpies and was recently awarded the Rising Star award for round 7 of the New Zealand AFL Premiership. College Sport Media caught up with Declan about his recent achievements playing AFL, as well as his three other sports, rugby, football and tennis. Congratulations on playing for the NZ U16 and U18 teams recently. How special was it to put on the black uniform and represent New Zealand, and to also lead the haka for both teams? I led the Haka in our first international on Anzac weekend against Australia in Wellington. An experience I will never forget, representing my country in sport at such a young age is a privilege I will always be thankful for. Calling the haka was special and losing my voice was very much worth it. Aside from that mum and dad deeply appreciated my efforts of showing leadership and displaying my culture in a New Zealand representative side. Tell us about the matches on Anzac weekend, playing for the U16 National side (AFLNZ Academy)? We played against Victorian side Mornington Peninsula. Unfortunately we didn't get the result we wanted, but the team efforts were appreciated by the supporters and coaches and we were proud of our efforts. First game was to understand how the Australians play, very tough side with loads of experience. I received the Man of the Match which gave me confidence and I was happy with how I played, considering I was up the previous night, vomiting from food poisoning before the first game. Our second game was played at Westpac Trust Stadium, and it was an immense experience I will hold deeply considering you don't have the chance to play in a huge stadium every day. We didn't get the win but the scoreline was definitely an improvement compared to the first game. We finished the campaign holding our heads high. You recently went over to Australia with the New Zealand U18 Hawks? How was experience playing against the Australians on their home turf in Melbourne? We played the one game on Mt. Martha Stadium. We went into the game hard with strong tackles and a simple gameplay of sticking to our role on the field. The atmosphere was amazing and the Australians came back hard with their experience and knowledge of the game, the first quarter let us down but the last 3 quarters we won, coming back with the momentum scraping towards a win, but unfortunately, just falling short. We were proud of our efforts and all the boys knew it was an experience we will surely never forget. Over Easter you competed in the 2017 AFL New Zealand National Combine championship, along with 36 leading AFL players in New Zealand? I took out the agility test with a time of 7.89sec, which personally I was really proud of and was presented a medal, 20m sprint with a time of 2.998sec, standing vertical leap was 70cm, running vertical leap was 80cm, and unfortunately pulling out of the beep test early because of lower back pains. You recently won the AFL Premiership Rising Star Award for Round 7, was that a surprise? It was, as it was my first week back into AFL after a hand injury and being out for six weeks. I broke my knuckle over summer. Being out for six weeks was tough but I was still running and making sure I was fit for when I came back into the game. What local teams do you play for? My club is the Waitakere Magpies, plus the AFL NZ academy. Unfortunately my school does not play AFL. How did you start playing AFL and how long have you been playing? I played for school in an inter-school tournament called the Hawks Cup, played for fun with mates for a run around then got asked to join the AFL Academy to develop my skills and progress growth onward to hopefully achieve more with AFL. This is my third year and I'm still learning and honing my skills each time I play. What positions do you play in NZ, and what is your role is on the field? I play wing, on-ball, half forward flank and sometimes fullback. As for any AFL player’s role on the field, the number one thing is communication. Talking to teammates so they know how to dispose the ball whether that be a kick or handball, or when to dispose by calling for it or telling them when they’re ‘hot’ which is a term for when someone is close to tackling etc. My role individually changes for each position I play, but for the one I played most in for premiers would be wing, which is making hard leads up and down the field creating options for a kick or handball, usually this position runs their guts out. What are your goals in AFL? I would love to continue with premiership and club footy and see where it takes me from there, it would be nice to play over in Australia but I’ll see where the future takes me. How often are you practicing or training for AFL specifically? How much running is involved? Not too often, I do fitness in my own time that being cross-fit or street running. But the game involves loads of running up and down the field, very fast game but that’s what I enjoy about it. You also play other sports? Rugby - I have played club which was my Suburbs team from only the age of 11-13, in that space playing in the Walter Dixon Tournament, which was Auckland based representative junior rugby, then continuing on to more trials with Roller Mills representative rugby and the U14’s blues development squad. Unfortunately not making the final team for those trials didn't stop me from playing at high school in the 1st XV since year 9, being the youngest player in the team. The success over the past few years has been great, but now, not having a rugby team at school reduces my chances of improving my rugby game and enjoying it. I would not normally play football at all but I thought it would be good for fitness and a nice run around since the rugby hasn’t been available to me. I played my first inter-school game on the weekend and ended up scoring a goal and getting man of the match in my very first football game ever! Tennis. I’ve always enjoyed playing it in my own time and only last year I joined a club to see how that went, so I entered a tournament for singles and doubles with my best mate Ben Adolph, and I ended up winning the singles tournament and placing second in the doubles with Ben.
15/5/2017
Photos of the week for 15 MayBelow are some selected Photos of the Week highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events, news stories and achievements from the past week in NZ secondary school sport. Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at [email protected] Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted. 1. Last week’s 2017 Genesis Energy Hillary Challenge secondary school adventure racing champions, the combined New Plymouth Girls and Boys High Schools team. The Taranaki schools team won all three components of the race - team challenges, expedition and multisport race to win comprehensively. Their total combined winning score of 3,750 was a Hillary Challenge record. Waimea College and Sacred Heart Girls and Thames High School finished second and third respectively. The annual race at Tongariro National Park was over five days and was non-stop every day. 2. Navajo Prentice (Villa Maria College) Nick Moulai (St.Bede’s College) won the respective Senior Girls and Senior Boys races at last week’s Canterbury secondary schools Road Race championships. Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/SchoolSportCanterbury 3. The Hillcrest High School 1st X1 Girls Football team beat Howick College 4-1 in a national qualifier game at Pukekohe High School last week, booking their spot in the Premier Football Tournament NZSS in Taupo in Tournament Week in September. Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/hillcresthighschoolhamilton/ 4. Hamilton Boys’ High School’s Caleb Cutmore has been selected in the 12-strong New Zealand team to compete at the 2017 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Japan in September. Cutmore recently competed in Brazil, finishing fifth at the International Rip Curl GromSearch Final, alongside New Zealand teammate, Elin Tawharu of Mount Maunganui College who finished third at the same event. Photo credit: NZ Surf Photography 5. Orewa College surf lifesaver Ella Drinnan has been selected to represent New Zealand as part of the team travelling to Wroclaw, Poland for the 2017 World Games in July. The World Games is a multi-sport event, last held in Columbia in 2013. It has 27 official sports. The lifesaving component is a pool competition, taking place from July 21-22, and New Zealand will join teams from Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland and Spain. The achievement for the Orewa Surf Lifesaving Club member follows her selection to the New Zealand Development squad announced at the conclusion of the SLSNZ National Championships in Christchurch in March this year. At just 17, Ella will be one of the youngest in the 10 strong team of top Kiwi lifesaving athletes, including two Black Fins from the 2016 Lifesaving World Championship team. Photo credit Amanda Wignell and read more here http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/rodney-times/92350473/ella-drinnan-named-in-surf-life-saving-nz-world-games-team 6. Wellington College hosted Scots College in a Wellington Pool B Grading Football fixture at Wellington College Artificial. A hat-trick to Calvin Harris and a double to Ollie Whyte was enough to give Scots College a comprehensive 5-0 win, bouncing back after week one's 4-0 loss to Rathkeale College. Photo credit: Wareham Sports Media
8/5/2017
Photos of the week for 8 MayBelow are some selected Photos of the Week highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events, news stories and achievements from the past week in NZ secondary school sport. Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at [email protected] Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted. 1. Jack Carswell of Cambridge High School was the only rider in the U15 category to go under 25 minutes (23.54) in the time trial at the weekend’s Age Group cycling Nationals in Cambridge. In contrast, the U19 women’s time trial was very closely fought, with the top five stopping the clock within 22 seconds of each other. In what was an extremely close battle between them, Mount Aspiring College’s Phoebe Young took the win in 24.30mins. Photo credit: Ed Wright and read more at http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/carswell-fisher-black-lead-way-age-group-nationals/ 2. A group of league boys playing union are looking to prove they can be the surprise team in the UC Championship. The St Thomas of Canterbury College first XV started the Crusaders region secondary school competition with an emphatic 64-5 win over Burnside High School. Among them is 17-year-old centre Jordan Riki. The former Christchurch Boys’ High School student was named the under-16 player of the year at the New Zealand Rugby League awards in January and is part of the Brisbane Broncos youth system. Photo credit and read more at: http://www.star.kiwi/2017/05/league-boys-boost-st-thomas-union-hopes/ 3. Mount Maunganui College’s Elin Tawharu, 16, finished in a career best third place at the 2017 Rip Curl GromSearch International Final held on Maresias Beach, Sao Paulo, Brazil over the weekend. She was one of 16 competitors from seven different regions around the globe, including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Indonesia, South Africa and South America. Photo credit and read more here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503345&objectid=11851193 4. Opunake High School were winners of the boys section and Sacred Heart Girls College won the girls in the Quick Rip Rugby tournament held last Friday at Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth. Held in conjunction with TRFU, TSSSA Quick Rip saw 40 junior teams come together to battle it out. Photo credit: TSSSA at https://www.facebook.com/Taranaki-Secondary-School-Sports-Association-TSSSA-518617574885675/ 5. Kyle Chen is gearing up for what is shaping up to be his busiest year of his young but very successful boxing career. The 16-year-old Kerikeri High School Student with an amateur record of 38 wins and six defeats was recently named as one of two young New Zealand boxers to have been accepted into the AIBA international boxing association's Road to Buenos Aires programme, in preparation for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina. Photo credit and read more at: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503448&objectid=11848700
Historically Australia has dominated New Zealand in Trans-Tasman touch, but New Zealand is closing the gap and the Kiwis are hoping youthful exuberance can overcome Australian experience in the three-test series over the weekend on the Sunshine Coast. In 2016, New Zealand won the second-test and narrowly lost the series 2-1, the best result in many years. New Zealand have picked seven players under 20 for the 2017 rematch and Under-18 wing Tarkyn Loloselo is hopeful of big things. “We have done a lot of analysis of the Australians and feel like we are well prepared for the challenge. Australia is older than us, but if we don’t panic we can beat them,” he believes. The 60-man training squad selected earlier this year has been culled to 16. Loloselo is one of four wings in the team earning his place after a strong showing in the Under-18 Trans-Tasman series. “We lost that series 3-0, but I learned a lot from that experience. Australia played with great composure. They are workhorses. Even when they were behind they were the calm ones and we were screaming at each other. If we keep our cool we will compete.” Loloselo reflects. Loloselo has been playing touch for nine years. He attends St. Peter’s College in Auckland where he is a perfect. In 2016 he was a member of the Counties Manukau team that won the National Championships. “That was a real highlight. We beat Waikato in the final which doesn’t happen very often. It was great to represent my hometown in Christchurch where many of us had never been before.” Loloselo accl Loloselo believes speed and communication are his greatest assets on the field, something New Zealand won’t be short of. “Michael Kavanagh, Mita Graham and Connor Pamatatau are our most experinced players. Mita and Michael share the captaincy and Connor is real good with his fast foot work and creating plays.” Loloselo says. Raiki Willison and Josh Duff are the other Under-18 rookies in the team. Willison plays in the middle and Duff is the best player in his age group in Otago. Loloselo’s favourite touch player is former National rep Luke Chapman. New Zealand also plays Japan in a warm-up test on Thursday. All matches are at the Sunshine Coast Stadium at Kawana Waters. The Touch World Championships are in Malaysia in 2019, another benefit of New Zealand selecting a young squad. 2017 Open Trans Tasman Game Times (NZT) Game One – Friday, 12 May 7:00pm – Australia vs New Zealand Mixed Open 8:10pm – Australia vs New Zealand Women’s Open 9:20pm – Australia vs New Zealand Men’s Open Game Two – Saturday, 13 May 5:00pm – Australia vs New Zealand Mixed Open 6:00pm – Australia vs New Zealand Women’s Open 7:00pm – Australia vs New Zealand Men’s Open Game Three – Sunday, 15 May 12:00pm – Australia vs New Zealand Mixed Open 1:00pm – Australia vs New Zealand Women’s Open 2:00pm – Australia vs New Zealand Men’s Open aims. This is the second time the U18 New Zealand Hawks have travelled over to Australia and follows on from the Mornington Peninsula Junior Football League’s tour of New Zealand over ANZAC weekend in Wellington. Part of the tour will provide the team an insight into Australian club football and attending an AFL game at Etihad Stadium. Head Coach Chris Mundell has chosen a squad full of talent and will look to return to New Zealand having developed his players and build their knowledge of the game of AFL. Management Team Head Coach - Christopher Mundell Assistant Coach - Samuel McKenzie Assistant Coach - Mick Coultard Manager - Tom O'Keeffe Physio - Nico Donnell-Brown NameRegion Alastair Maisey - Auckland Blake Nahu - Bay of Plenty Callum Hill - Brisbane Carlos Donnell-brown - Auckland Chai Proctor - Otago Clayton Walters - Waitakere Dawson Mele - Counties Declan Crann - Waitakere Hayden Johnston - Otago Jacob Tucker - Harbour James Dakin - Auckland Joel Brown - Auckland Joseph Alesich-Tamariki - Harbour Josh Mackie - Otago Joshua Morgan Ranui - Wellington Lachlan Kennedy - Northland Luke Dunning -Harbour Maxwell Hicks - Harbour Misilifi Faimalo - Wellington Sebastian Serrano-Valladares - Auckland William Kempt - Wellington Article orginally posted by AFL NZ
2/5/2017
Photos of the week for 2 MayBelow are some selected Photos of the Week, highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events and achievements from the past week in NZ secondary school sport Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at [email protected] Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted. 1. The New Zealand team at the opening ceremony of last week’s World Schools Orienteering Championships in Palermo, Italy. Photo credit and see more at: https://www.facebook.com/ISFWSCorienteering/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE 2. Last week, Hamilton Boys’ High School retained the National Schools Wrestling Championship trophy. Photo credit and read more at: http://www.hbhs.school.nz/News/HBHS-are-the-top-Wrestling-School-in-New-Zealand 3. The Westlake Boys’ High School’s hockey team was on tour in Europe during the school holidays. On ANZAC Day they attended the Dawn Service at Buttes new British Cemetary, Zonnebeke. It was then a short bus ride to Ypres for the wreath laying service at Menin Gate. The final service was a sole New Zealand affair at the New Zealand memorial in Messines. Calum Grassick gave a powerful reading, with Daniel Young and Netesh Suhka laying a wreath on behalf of the school and the tour group. Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/WBHSEUROHOCKEY/ 4. Action from last week’s Secondary School Girls ANZAC hockey Invitational Tournament between Rangi Ruru College and Bethlehem College at St Cuthbert's College, Photo credit: Simon Watts via Dave Lintott Photography at http://davelintott.photoshelter.com/gallery-list 5. Hastings Girls’ High School’s Rhiarne Taiapa won Oceania age group squash title earlier this month when she beat Auckland B1 grader Amara Afghan 3-0 in their under-17 grade final at the Auckland-hosted champs. The 2016 national under-17 champion, Taiapa, was the top seed for the champs and was unbeaten in her three matches before the final. Photo credit Duncan Brown and read more at: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11846476
1/5/2017
Success for Saint Kentigern at KartSport New Zealand National Sprint ChampionshipsOver Easter weekend Saint Kentigern College students Callum Hedge, Joshua Parkinson and Charlie Coleman made the trip down to Invercargill to compete in the KartSport New Zealand National Sprint Championships. Callum and Joshua competed in two classes, Junior Yamaha and Junior Rotax, Charlie Coleman competed in Vortex Mini Rok. Sebastian Manson, who attends the boy's school, also joined the older boys at the nationals, racing in Cadet Rok. Callum was already current 2NZ in Junior Rotax and current North Island champion going into the weekend, as he lined up on the grid against a competitive junior field with drivers between the ages of 12-15 from all over New Zealand. Callum was looking to go one better than last year at the National Sprint Championships. Not only did he achieve this in the Junior Rotax Class - becoming the 2017 National Champion - but he also backed it up with a win in the Junior Yamaha class gaining back to back national titles. Callum was very dominant all weekend in both classes especially the Junior Max field where he qualified on pole. He had two heat wins, pre-final and final wins. Callum will now focus on the Rotax Max Challenge which will be held at Kartsport Rotorua in about a month’s time where the youngsters are battling it out for the seat to the world final later in the year. Joshua said of his weekend away: “I competed this year in two classes. Junior 100cc Yamaha and Rotax Max Junior. Saturday was Yamaha where I placed 6th overall. I had good pace but an incident at the start caught me out allowing the inside row to get away and I just couldn't bridge the gap. Sunday, we felt confident of a better result but sadly this didn't happen. A fourh in heat one was followed by a DNF in heat two. This meant starting off P13 for the pre-final, where I managed to make up a lot of spots and finished fourth and set the fastest lap. I was confident I could at least make a podium spot in the final. Unfortunately, the kart had a mechanical failure and the engine died at the start. It was very disappointing after all the work put in by Dad and the team. Congratulations to Callum though on taking the win in both classes”. Year 8 student Charlie Coleman said: “Going to Nationals was such a long way. But it was definitely worth it. It was a great way of getting to know the kart, a new track and I could meet more people. It was a bigger pack and a higher skill set for all the drivers, making it a lot more competitive. I was also impressed with how my Dad organised 12 other Mt Wellington club members to get their karts down to Invercargill in a big container. Finally, it was great to be with my Dad and for my family to see my successes and racing skills on the streaming video (especially for my Grandad in the UK, who obviously couldn't attend the event” Young Sebastian Manson who attends the boy's school came away with 8th position in Invercargill in his respected class. Sebastian was a part of the team that won the Auckland Schools Championship alongside Sam Wright, Mitchell Frazer and Charlie Coleman in 2016. The boys will be looking to retain this championship in about a month’s time with the National Schools not too long after. Callum Hedge, Josh Parkinson and Sam Wright will now focus on the Rotax Max Challenge where they are all still in the hunt for the 1 seat that is up for grabs to represent New Zealand at the World Final in November. Sam Wright will head across the ditch this weekend to continue competing in the Australian Rotax Pro Tour where he is currently sitting 10th in the points. Mitchell Frazer will also join them at the Rotax max Challenge New Zealand in Rotorua in May. |
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