"After several years of hard work from the athletics community within the Northland area, resources have been added to the Trigg Sports Arena facility so they are now able to host major events," he said.
"We have already had a major masters event this season (the Oceania Track and Field Championships in Dunedin in January) which attracted 224 New Zealand entries.
"To have this event follow so closely could have caused some attention issues but I am pleased to see a few more entries than last year."
Van der Veeken wasn't the only Northlander in form on Saturday.
Gideon Hanekom won the 60m and javelin in the 35-39 division, both in impressive efforts.
Barbara Austin picked up the trifecta of throwing medals in the 70-74 division with bronze in the discus, silver in the shot put and a gold medal effort in the hammer throw.
Valerie Babe meanwhile grabbed three bronze medals (discus, shot put and hammer throw) in the 75-79 division.
Lynn Fraser was another who showed her throwing chops, gaining gold medals in the discus and shot put competitions in the 80-84 division.
Philipa Campbell and Kirsten Mason added a local rivalry in the female 35-39 division, taking each other on in the long jump.
In the end Mason took the silver in that event with Campbell settling for bronze.
Campbell also grabbed a silver medal in the discus.
Seven other Northland athletes secured gold medals to take the province's tally to 16 on Saturday.
Ugen Iyer (30-34 division winner in 100m) and Margaret Crooke (70-74 division winner in triple jump) gave strong performances in their events.
Meanwhile the 1500m was a hotbed for Northland medals as Loren Duffy (35-39), Christine Fraser-Kitchen (55-59), Judith Stewart (65-69), Ian Calder (60-64) and Sjors Corporaal(40-44) all grabbing golds in that distance.
*the remaining results from the three day meeting were not received at edition time.
