Taranaki Masters Games: Successful weekend of sporting fun in Taranaki

The Sparkies netball team enjoyed the event.

Over 1000 people competed in the 2021 Taranaki Masters Games over the weekend.

The Stratford netball courts were awash with colour on Saturday as supporters dressed up in costumes to support their team.

Melanie Robinson from the Sparkies netball team says this was the team's third time entering the competition. The theme of the event was Around the World.

"We dressed up as The Incredibles. We thought as they travel around the world saving people it would fit the theme quite nicely."'

Melanie says she enjoys the supportive environment of the Taranaki Masters Games.

"It's fun, it's social and there is good camaraderie among the players. The event is very well organised and we'll be back next year."

The netball event had the most participants, with 159 players entering the event.

Event organiser Jacqui Wood says about 21 per cent of competitors in the Taranaki Masters Games came from outside the region.

"It was great that visitors were able to enjoy the beautiful region which we are lucky enough to experience every day."

The furthest players came from Motueka in the South Island to compete in the inline hockey event.

"We also had competitors from Auckland, Hastings, Wellington and in-between. Swimming has the youngest and oldest competing competitors with Brooke Millar, 21, as the youngest and 89-year-old Michael Tunnicliffe from Feilding was the oldest."

The winner of the early bird $1000 draw was Gwenda Takarangi from Waitara who entered the indoor bowls.

Chaffing the Dream dressed up as sailors for the event.

Jacqui says the organising team had planned around Covid-19 alert level restrictions

"We worked on three scenarios. The games would have been cancelled if we were in alert levels 3 or 4. Alert level 2 required sport organisers to ensure that their event was compliant with the government health guidelines. All sports were required to have a contingency plan in place depending on which level we were at."

Jacqui says the team is thankful for the support from the Taranaki Electricity Trust (TET).

"We are often asked how we manage to provide such awesome event bags. This is due to the generous support of the TET for this event. This is also how we manage to keep our registration fees so low; without the TET the Taranaki Masters Games simply would not be affordable for many.

"We're also thankful to everyone who participated, particularly to those who travelled to attend, to the sport organisers and clubs who hosted, and to those who popped into headquarters with their lovely feedback about how much they enjoyed their event."