Te Puke Harriers finish winter season

Te Puke Harriers have finished their road running season.

We are now at the end of the 2023 Harriers season.

For the last two months we have been busy with our road running season. Te Puke Harriers has its road championships, handicap runs and also holds invitation events where we host other Bay of Plenty running clubs and in turn they host us.

Road running was always a favourite of mine, running fast for 10km or more. I have noticed the young runners are enjoying the same. That said, it is good to mix things up with cross country, and now we move into track season.

Our results have been very exciting and in particular the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Road Championships hosted by Cambridge Harriers at St Peter’s School.

There were a number of runners notably absent with winter colds, which was a pity as we have some high performance runners in our team.

Results: Under 12 girls, Sophie Reid 1st, Sarah Isaac 3rd, Ava Harston 4th. Under 12 boys, Daniel White 2nd, Ryan Parton 4th. Under 14 girls, Ella Blackburn 3rd, Sieana Rowe 4th (thought she had another km to go) Clara Brown 5th.

The club was so proud of our recent new member, Sieana Rowe. She joined us in early June and started the training programme and was improving every week.

Sieana is a Year 7 student at Mount Maunganui Intermediate with a focus on competing in the Aims Games cross country.

I personally knew she was going to go well by her progress at training, measures being time trials and her runs up the Pāpāmoa Hills with our Year 6 runner Sophie Reid.

Running against 154 other competitive runners, Sieana ran the race of her life and placed an incredible second. Her time of 11m34s was up there with the best in any given year.

We are delighted to have her in our club. She is such an inspiration to the younger girls. She is very dedicated and during the week if she cannot make training she runs her programme at home.

We have 20 runners involved and more girls than boys at the moment, right up to teenagers.

Te Puke Harriers has a really strong athletic base and amazing parent support. We have other clubs asking the question, how do we do it?

Some children are not so keen on team sports and we are aware these kids want to feel they belong and are included, and we as a club strive to provide that atmosphere.

As usual, afternoon teas are shared, and I do wonder if that’s the reason why the kids come for the run.

Te Puke Harriers is a very friendly club allowing for different abilities and ages to participate at any level that the member would like. You can even walk the courses. Come and have a go, and check us out, we would love to see more adults join.

Training is available six days per week and some do take advantage of the opportunity to be supported by a very experienced accredited Athletics NZ coach. This is after school and is provided free of charge, ideal for Te Puke and Pāpāmoa athletes.

■ Phone Selwyn for more information phone 0272518779, www.tepukeharriers.co.nz.