Young athletes to get advice from the best

Eighteen young Napier athletes set to compete in Australia this year are also set to be inspired by one the world's leading female ultra-athletes when they are officially introduced at a special fundraising evening in Napier tomorrow night.

The youngsters, from swimming, BMX, sailing and football will join about 1500 other 12- to 15-year-olds from all over the world at the International Children's Games (ICG) event, which will be staged at Port Macquarie in Australia between December 6 and 11 this year.

Representing swimming, coached by Gary Knight, will be Bella Bassett-Foss, Maddison Tabuteau, Cameron Madams and Hadlee Dyer.

The BMX events will see the Carl Berryman coached team of Amy Martin, Stevie-Lee Reuben, John Berryman and Maia Troup in action.

Brooke Wedgwood and Brianna Otto, coached by Philipp Otto, will compete in the sailing while Jorge Akers, Ethan Martin, Jackson Durrington, Vinnie MacKirdy, Kayden Adema, Lui Toomey, Harry Mason and Jarred Coutts will be in action on the football fields.

They will be officially introduced at a function at the MTG Theatre from 6pm and the guest speaker will be ultra-marathon runner Lisa Tamati.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said the youngsters would be honoured to be officially introduced before such an elite sportsperson while in the company of their family and friends.

"These athletes still have their entire sporting careers in front of them," Mr Dalton said.

"I'm sure Lisa will provide them with a lot of extra motivation to get out there and reach their full potential."

The Napier City Council is facilitating the tour to the games along with Sports Hawke's Bay, and Mr Dalton said the city could be proud it was being represented at the games, which have been staged since 1968, by the 18 aspiring athletes.

Ms Tamati will speak about achieving individual dreams regardless of the ups and down life can deliver along the way.

Tickets for the evening are $12 and are available from the Napier Municipal Theatre, the MTG Hawke's Bay or Pettigrew-Green Arena.