A forced change of venue for Special Olympics Whangarei turned out to be a blessing in disguise in the organisation's highly successful annual Track and Field Athletic Day on Saturday. The cricket season is normally out of the way by the time SOW hold their athletics event but this year KensingtonPark was booked out, meaning the organisation had to look for a new venue. "Whangarei Boys' High school were really accommodating and it's such a lovely venue there and the trees make it even more attractive, so we might look to hold it there again," SOW's secretary David Laird said. The games attracted around 50 intellectually disabled competitors from as far afield as Manukau City. Six teams of athletes participated in track and field activities, including relays, with Manukau, Howick-Pakuranga, Auckland, Waitakere, North Harbour and Whangarei all represented. The organisation's patron, Whangarei Mayor Pamela Peters, opened the games, one of three invitation events organised by SOW every year. They also have a basketball ribbon day and swimming meeting in July/August. A number of local athletes performed well on Saturday, with Steve Just, perhaps the standout, winning the long jump, coming second in the 100m and spearheading Whangarei's 100m relay win. James McGowan, Darcy Collins and Tim Watson were all successful in the standing long jump, while Vivienne Dallimore and Linda Mora had good results in the walking events. Craig O'Keefe was second and McGowan third in the B Division of the 100m race and Ian Mora was third in his second division shot put event. Pixie Baker competed well in all of her events and was later chosen as the Whangarei athlete of the day.
