All the above athletes had attended the Wanganui Collegiate pre- season camp in Hastings last week. It bodes well that during the middle week of a three week holiday that 28 athletes attended camp, with 10 being joined by two others at the annual Rotorua Ekiden Relay straight afterwards.
At the camp all attended number of coaching, training and planning sessions over the three days. They received outstanding coaching from Terry Lomax the Campaign Manager of the Athletics New Zealand High Performance programme. Lomax conducted sessions for hurdlers, high jumpers and sprinters. His outstanding coaching was appreciated by all.
Athletes also received an outstanding session from Hawked Bay physiotherapist Tony Snell who gave invaluable information on self- testing.
At the Ekiden Relay late defections meant that for the first time Collegiate did not field a boys' team and injury meant that a slightly weakened girl's team was defeated by the strongly performed Tauranga Girls College team.
The remaining boys and the three girls not selected for the girl's team combined as a strong mixed team that won that section of a relay which attracted in excess of 2000 athletes.
The mixed team finished only metres behind the winning boys school (Rotorua Boys High School). The team of Charlie Waddy, Jack Gay, Ethan Gillespie, Brittney Matthews, Sarah Matthews and Sophie McCarthy performed above expectations. Both McCarthy and Matthews have only recently turned 13 and have exciting futures in the sport.
Next Monday is the opening night for children, The basic coaching course at the weekend conducted by Mark Harris from Masterton gave invaluable information and skills to those that attended. These skills gained should help provide real impetus to the new programmes on Mondays headed by Jodie Brunger from Sport Whanganui,
The following night, Tuesday, is our first major club night of the season, hopefully with our updated photo -finish equipment fully operational. The night doubles as the Wanganui Collegiate Schools Open Championships to be held over two weeks. The events contested on Tuesday are 100m, 400m, 1500m, Long Jump and Shot.
There are medals for winners including non -Collegiate athletes. The same events appear on the club programme for non-championships with the addition of a 300 metres for younger athletes. The full programme for Tuesday appears on the Athletic Wanganui website as it will each week. Monday also sees the AGM to be held at Sport Whanganui at 7.30pm.
We hope the well laid plans come to fruition and that we lay a foundation for a successful season.