Warriner to run Northland Future Champions Academy

Chasing a challenge is part of Whangarei triathlete Samantha Warriner's make up.
Not only she in the midst of a heavy training block - preparing for several qualifying races for the Ironman World Championships - but Warriner and her husband Stephen Bradley are preparing to launch a new project.
On July 27-28, the couple will run the Northland Future Champions Academy, aimed at Year 7-10 students with bright futures in their chosen sport.
"It's something Sam and I have talked about for a while - a lot of Northland athletes go down to Auckland for this sort of thing, when we have all the assets we need here in Northland," Bradley said.
"Sam has the ability to bring everyone together and the long-term goal is to run the academy every school holidays so we can do some talent ID and build relationships with the athletes," he said.
The goal of the academy is to identify, support and maximise the development of Northland's future elite athletes.
During the two-day event, based at Kensington's Northland Polytech, a maximum of 50 students will hear from an array of guest speakers, including Warriner.
Olympic swimming gold medallist Danyon Loader will talk about mental toughness and time management, while Northland men's hockey coach Mike Delaney will discuss resiliency. Fitness guru Jon Renes will cover injury prevention, as well as running core strength sessions at FitnessPlus Gym, and marathon runner Ady McKenzie will educate athletes on sport nutrition.
Warriner will be creating individual performance plans and discussing development pathways with each of the athletes.
There is already a lot of interest in the Sport and Recreation New Zealand-sponsored academy from Northland's young athletes, who will be admitted into the course on an application basis.
Warriner will be visiting intermediate and secondary schools to start canvassing for applicants. Applications are also available from Sport Northland.
It will be hectic few months for Warriner, who is building up to race in the Eagleman 70.3 in the United States - one of her qualifying races for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii on October 10.
After winning the elite women's division of Ironman New Zealand in March, Warriner is ranked 32nd and needs to make the top 30 to gain entry into the prestigious Kona event.
While most of the other contenders have raced their five qualifying events, Warriner still has a couple of events remaining so should easily earn the necessary points she needs to move into the top 30.
Following the Eagleman event, Warriner will contest the United Kingdom 70.3 in three weeks, ahead of competing in Ironman Frankfurt on July 20. She will then return home to run the academy.