Athletics: Northland masters dominate

TOP THROW: Dennis Langford was one of seven Northlanders to take part, and win medals, at the Oceania Masters Athletics Championships in Australia.

Northland's top 'older' athletes have proven you're never too old to compete internationally, returning from the Oceania Masters Athletics Championships with a swag of medals.

Of the seven Northlanders, who went as part of a 64-strong Kiwi team, Dennis Langford and Clasina van der Veeken led the way.

For Langford, it was reward for about six months of focused training building into the competition. Although, when he was in his 20s he would have never thought he'd be representing New Zealand in his 30s.

"I did far more than I thought," he explained of his nine medals in the 35-39-year-old category this month.

"I thought I might pick up a gold, but four of them is like 'wow'.

"One of the highlights was getting up on the podium with my little boy. [Also], in one of relays we nearly put in a whole Northland team.

"I did track and field at school and did the touring around England, and so I've always been sporty but when I heard of masters I thought I'd give it a crack. When I hit 35 I thought 'right, let's get into it', [and] I intend on being in it for a long time.

Langford added that it was an honour to compete alongside so many talented Northlanders, all of whom performed admirably in his view.

He said that masters' competing in the region has got stronger in recent years, but said the future could be stronger if more older athletes got involved.

"Everybody in the team medaled, and we've got gold medallists. We're starting to get a few more people [compete in Northland], we've had the biggest turn out this year.

However, Langford said to those competing no one really looks at your age group, it's more about beating each other.

Coming up for masters athletes are the Ocean Championships in Rarotonga next year, before the World Masters Games visits Perth in 2016 and Auckland in 2017.

Other Northlanders in the Kiwi team were Nancy Bowmar, Delwyn Smith, Ian Calder, Mark Lett, Wilson Bowmar.

Anyone interested in joining the Northland Masters club to should contact Langford on 027 518 2241.