Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Collegiate runners in bronzed Swedish success

By Alec McNab
Columnist·Whanganui Chronicle·
11 Dec, 2017 09:30 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The New Zealand team which won bronze in the Swedish relay. Emma Osborne, Genna Maples, and Tayla Brunger (all Wanganui Collegiate), and Faith Araba (Hawera).

The New Zealand team which won bronze in the Swedish relay. Emma Osborne, Genna Maples, and Tayla Brunger (all Wanganui Collegiate), and Faith Araba (Hawera).

Alec McNab continues his diary of events for the Whanganui competitors in the New Zealand team competing at the Australian Schools Championships in Adelaide.

Sunday, December 10

Whanganui athletes finally stepped onto the podium after the second-last event of the three day Australian All Schools Championships in Adelaide when the New Zealand team took bronze in the Under 16 girls Swedish Relay.

The Swedish sprint relay consists of 100m, 300m, and 200m and 400m legs.

The 100m was run by Faith Araba from Hawera, who handed over to the three Wanganui Collegiate members from the New Zealand Schools record breaking 4x400m team.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Tayla Brunger took the 300m leg, Genna Maples the 200m and Emma Osborne ran a sensational last 400m to come up into a medal place and was only metres behind silver and gold.

The race was not without its drama however, and there was a long, anxious wait for the result following a clash between Brunger and a New South Wales runner.

Brunger held her line going into the bend after 100m of her leg, only to knock the baton out of the hands of the NSW runner.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Brunger not only lost momentum but turned to see if her rival was OK and then got on with the business.

It certainly cost a few metres and possibly a further step or two on the podium.

Earlier in the day, Osborne had her first 800m race of the year, finishing fourth in the slower of two timed heats.

She did well to finish 11th overall for her non-specialist event in a pleasing 2m 18.01s.

Genna Maples recovered much of her spark, finishing sixth in the long jump and eighth in the 200m.

It is sometimes important to remember that Maples is still only 14-years-old and only a week earlier had a very demanding New Zealand Schools effort, coming home with three individual medals (two golds and a silver) plus two relay golds.

It was a demanding weekend in Hastings and it's hard for athletes, especially one so young, to pick up again a week later.

Maples was, as reported, frustratingly left just outside of the Under 16 100m final on Saturday.

Although not quite at her scintillating best, she made the 200m final at the expense of her close friend and training partner Brunger, who finished one place away from the final but had the satisfaction of running a personal best time in 25.50s.

Maples looked good in the long jump, but clashes of events and a mistake by officials meant she had to wait over 35 minutes between her first and second jump.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A run in the 200m final mid-competition did not help.

Maples finished sixth but safe in the knowledge that if she had nailed her run up she might have gained a medal.

This was one of the many lessons our team members learned and why the trip provided a valuable next step for this group of promising Whanganui athletes.

They are hugely grateful for the support from so many in the Whanganui community.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Sponsored Stories

Rugby: Kaierau face semifinal challenge with injury-hit line-up

03 Jul 05:00 PM
Sponsored Stories

Club rugby: Seniors and women set for semifinals

03 Jul 05:00 PM
Sport

Athletics: Early training years bring lessons in preparation

02 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Rugby: Kaierau face semifinal challenge with injury-hit line-up

Rugby: Kaierau face semifinal challenge with injury-hit line-up

03 Jul 05:00 PM

The semifinal against Border is set for July 5 at 3pm.

Club rugby: Seniors and women set for semifinals

Club rugby: Seniors and women set for semifinals

03 Jul 05:00 PM
Athletics: Early training years bring lessons in preparation

Athletics: Early training years bring lessons in preparation

02 Jul 06:00 PM
Rugby: Marist teams celebrate strong season

Rugby: Marist teams celebrate strong season

30 Jun 05:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP