Bob Thomas makes his New Zealand record leap of 8.05m in the long jump. Photo / File
Sport Northland inducted the 28th and 29th members of the Northland Legends of Sport class at the 2017 Conbrio Northland Sports Awards.
This year's inductees were Shelley Kitchen and Bob Thomas.
Kitchen dominated on the squash courts, claiming a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, while Thomas still holds the New Zealand long jump record with a massive leap of 8.05m.
Here are their induction introductions, read by MC Scotty Stevenson during the awards ceremony:
Shelley Kitchen
Over the years Northland has produced far more than its fair share of talented sportswomen in a wide range of sports. Already our list of Northland female legends includes Neti Traill table tennis, Lyn Gunson netball, Audrey Russell lawn bowls and Sandy Hitchcock hockey.
Therefore it seems apt to acknowledge another New Zealand great who hailed from Kaitaia before heading off to create an incredible squash career.
Shelley Kitchen, born in Kaitaia in 1979 first, started hitting a squash ball around the Kaitaia Squash Courts as a 5-year-old while accompanying her mother, Rayna, and sister, Trina, to the club.
Shelley's potential was evident from an early age and it wasn't long before she developed to become a true ambassador for New Zealand Squash and carry on a fine tradition emulating the achievements of previous New Zealand greats – Dame Susan Devoy and Leilani Joyce.
She went on to compete for nearly two decades both in New Zealand and on the international circuit and in fact represented New Zealand for 15 years. Shelley won 12 New Zealand titles and 16 world international titles.
Shelley was known as one of the hardest-hitting female squash players in the world and reached a career high of No 1 on the World Under 23 ranking and later reached No 6 on the open world ranking list. At this time she was also New Zealand's No 1.
She represented New Zealand at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and was, in fact, selected to represent New Zealand at three Commonwealth Games but only competed in two.
However, one of her key achievements was in 2004 when she partnered Glen Wilson and finished runner-up in the mixed doubles at the World Doubles Squash Championships.
But it was 2006 that was a special year for Shelley when she not only won the women's doubles title at the World Squash Championships but also went on to beat World No 1 Nicol David, of Malaysia, in the third-place match to capture the women's singles bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
She also won a silver medal in the women's doubles, with her New Zealand partner, Tamsyn Leevey.
But during her time at the top of her game, Shelley never forgot where her career began and returned to the north whenever possible.
This often included the opportunity to attend and collect her high achievement awards at both the Far North Sports Awards and Northland Sports Awards which she gained through that period.
Shelley had her first child in February 2010 and, after getting sick in an attempt to come back for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, she announced her retirement in December 2010 and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2011 New Year Honours, for services to sport.
Her family's support has no doubt played a big part behind her success and until recently Shelley continued to be involved with high-performance sport, mentoring and assisting squash players to reach their potential.
Bob Thomas
You may have already seen the photos here tonight of the many Northland sportspeople, who have been inducted as a Northland Legend of Sport due to their great performances and memorable feats. There are Olympic gold medalists, world championship winners, national title holders and All Blacks rugby stars – in fact too many to mention.
However, there is one to be added tonight that one would have to say is a little different as this one relates to a record that was created by a Kawakawa long jumper on the 20 January,1968.
So to save you doing your maths next month that record will be 50 years old. But the amazing thing is the fact that this record still stands and is the second longest-standing New Zealand athletics record – second only to the great Peter Snell who has the longest-standing record set on 3rd February, 1962, for the 800 metres.
However, if we break that down further we can say that Northland's Bob Thomas, a long-jumper from Kawakawa, holds the longest-standing field event record in New Zealand history with a leap of 8.05 metres.
Bob lived all his life in Kawakawa and was working at the Moerewa Freezing Works during this time. He was a quiet unassuming, likeable 28-year-old.
20th January, 1968, twilight meeting at Okara Park, Whangarei : He knew he was jumping really well and there had been quite a build-up through the local newspapers.
For a few days before and up until the event, he said, "he was virtually running on adrenaline".
He fouled his first two tries but knew he was flying and produced the big one of 8.05 off his fourth jump.
They called him "the Flying Kiwi from Kawakawa who went to the top". He did have a basic diet of porridge and meat and vegetables and he always had porridge on race-days.
It remains a mystery as to why Thomas did not go to the Mexico Olympics in 1968 and subsequent international events but he failed to get the nod from the New Zealand selectors.
However his record still stands to this day.