Talk gifted sports people in Hawke's Bay and Richard Kinnear's name will pop up.
Kinnear, 38, has represented Hawke's Bay in rugby (14 first class games for the Magpies from 1999-2002), cricket for 8-10 years and golf up to Shand Cup level. During his younger days, when he got down to a -2 handicap at golf, he seemed to have a knack of shining at whatever code he turned his attention to with very little effort.
Squash is another sport Kinnear has had reasonable success in during what he described as "seven or eight years of serious play".
In 2004 he was the No1 in the Havelock North club's E grade men's team who finished second at the Palmerston North-hosted national teams final. This week Kinnear will attempt to go one place better when he plays No3 for the club's C grade men at their 10-team North Shore-hosted Superchamps Nationals.
This seventh-seeded team is one of four from the Havelock North club which will be playing at national finals. The C grade men will be seeded fifth at their eight-team Superchamps in Dunedin, the E grade men will be the second seeds at their 10-team Christchurch-hosted nationals and their hopes are high for the top-seeded F grade men at their eight-team Superchamps in Auckland.