Twelve Northlanders, ranging in age from 45 to 79, are on their marks and ready to contest the New Zealand Masters' Championships this weekend.
Barbara Austin, 66, is expected to dominate the hammer and weight throws in her age group at Napier, after breaking the New Zealand records in the recentNorthland Masters' Championships.
Delwyn Smith and Mark Lett, the youngsters of the team, will test themselves against speedy 45 to 49-year-olds over 100m, 200m, 400m. Smith is also expected to contest the 800m and Lett the long jump.
At the other end of the age continuum, the 75-79 age group, Robin Ball, a former NZ decathlon champion and six times NZ javelin champion, will demonstrate his skills ; while 79 year-old Colleen Brunker is determined to perform well in the field events before moving up to the W80-84 age group. Clasina van der Veeken, also nearly 80, is expected to compete in a wide range of track and field events, hoping to claim a bag of gold medals.
Nancy Bowmar, competing in the W60-64 year division, recently surpassed the Northland high jump record for her age group and will also perform well in a wide range of track and field events, provided she can overcome recent injury.
Ian Calder, 53, showed his fitness over middle distances in the Athletic Northland Championships and will be a force to be reckoned with in the tough competition among the M50-54 year-olds, over 800m, 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m.
Others likely to challenge for medals are Northland masters' president Val Babe (W70- 74), Jenny Hastie (W55-59), Jenny Eastmond (W60-64) and Dave Eastmond (M70-74).
