Athletics: Youngsters eying capital gains

Napier's Coby Price (left) and Charlie Roil of Hastings will compete at the Colgate Games before travelling to Sydney for the Trans Tasman Challenge. Photo / Duncan Brown

Previous experience and international selection suggests Hawke's Bay athletes Charlie Roil and Coby Price should be among the medal winners at the Colgate Games in Wellington this week.

Napier Athletic Club's Price, 11, will be competing at his fifth North Island Colgate Games which start on Friday and continue until Sunday. Hastings Athletic Club's Roil, 10, will be fronting at his second. After the Games the pair will join Napier's Aniela Apperley and Roil's clubmate Pierce Hannan as the Hawke's Bay representatives in the North Island team to complete against New South Wales in the Sydney-hosted Trans Tasman Challenge from January 13-21.

A great grandson of the late Harold Wilson, who was a nationally ranked crosscountry runner in the 1930s, Price is eyeing a repeat of last year's gold medal-winning effort at the Colgates in his favoured 100m sprint event in which he will aim to better his personal best time of 13.85s. He will also tackle the 200 and 400m sprints, relays and long jump.

"I will be happy if I can get placings in the 400 and long jump as well," Price said.

A Taradale Intermediate School student, Price started athletics as a 3-year-old. He was thrilled to be selected for the Trans Tasman team after missing out last year.

Roil, 10, will also be busy in the capital. He has entered the 100, 200 and 400m sprints, discus and shot put and is likely to feature in relays.

"The first goal is to make finals. If I can do that then I can aim for medals," Roil said.

The Lindisfarne College year seven student ranked the 200m sprint and discus as his favourite events. He regularly hits the 20m mark with the discus and stops the clock at 30s for the 200m.

"Athletics keeps me fit for rugby," he explained.

A more than handy fullback, centre or winger, Roil played for the unbeaten Hastings East C grade rugby team last year and the unbeaten D grade team in 2013. He is grateful for coaching he receives from Sharee Jones (field events) and Helen Rickard (sprints).

Last year Hastings athlete Georgia Hulls won the Nick Willis Scholarship for the outstanding athlete at the North Island Colgate Games in Whangarei. Hulls, 15, is aiming to qualify for the World Youth Games and if successful will put the scholarship money towards her travel.

In Whangarei Hulls won golds in her 14 years' 100m, 200m and 400m sprints and the 4 x 100m relay. Hulls had plenty of advice for her clubmates travelling to Wellington before their final training session last night.

"You've got to enjoy it. If you're not enjoying all the disciplines and the sport that you're doing, you're probably not going to get very far," she said. "I really like the atmosphere at the Colgate Games. It's really well organised and I've made a lot of friends I still talk to."

More than 4600 athletes will compete in the 37th annual edition of the Colgates, which are now known as New Zealand's National Junior Athletics Championships. The Hawke's Bay contingent will include 35 athletes from the Hastings club, 17 from the Napier club, 14 from the Central Hawke's Bay club, eight from Wairoa and six from Dannevirke.

Two athletes from Hastings, Guy and Ninabelle Harrison, have entered the South Island Colgate Games in Dunedin from January 16-18.