Trio excel at Cooks Classic 800m event

Three talented Wairarapa athletes featured prominently in the men's 800m event at the Cooks Classic track and field meet at Palmerston North on Tuesday.
Clocking a slick 2m 2.63s in finishing runner-up in section one was Joel Farley, 16, with national secondary schools junior champ Tom Quinn, 15, third in 2m 4.16s and Kurtis Paine,14, fourth in 2m 6.4s.
There were several other notable Wairarapa performances as well, none more so than that of Laura McKenna, who returned an impressive 12.94s in placing third in the women's 100m.
The men's 400m saw William Simpson third in 52.23s, Edward Hewitt fifth in 55.61s, Bevan Brown sixth in 55.74s and Dhruv Raman seventh in 56.72s, while in the women's 400m Mikayla Pearson was sixth in section one in 1m 03.01s and Stevie Paine fifth in section two in 58.61s.
In field events, Courtney Fafeita was fourth in the women's discus with a throw of 40.01m and Katie Smith sixth with 23.94m, while in the men's shot put, Alex Fafeita was eighth with 14.76m. He and Joshua Greig also contested the men's discus, Fafeita placing fifth with 47.19m and Greig eighth with 39.24m.
Meanwhile, Ruamahanga Rambler Ali Lang had every reason to feel satisfied with her effort in the Hutt trail marathon, her first attempt over the 42.2km distance. She returned an excellent time of 6h 03m to show she is well on track for the Taupo Challenge 100km walk.
The Ramblers held their usual weekly event on Tuesday and results were:
2km: Michael Hammond 8.03, Tony Craig 11.12, Jessica Duthie 11.28, Damien Wood 12.00, Jessica Craig 12.10, Hamish Wood 13.10, Josh Price 14.16, Samantha Duthie 14.17, Wendy Taylor 15.42, Shioban Wilton 17.08, Michael Scott 19.10, Norm Wilton 22.23, Della Clifton 23.26.
5km: Paul Furkert 20.29, Michael Duthie 22.01, Greg Lang 22.09, Hugh Taylor 22.44, Nicholas Bailey 22.57, Matthew Furkert 25.05, Craig Bird 25.08, Tessa Southey 26.25, Katie Craig 26.44, Susan Southey 26.58, Ray Wallis 28.26, Sally Stonier 30.45.
5km walk: Steve Edge 37.06, Tyla Brazendale 41.34, Wendy Wills 41.48, John Ihaka 41.48, Joanna Brazendale 42.12, Kirsty Tunnicliffe 49.32, Irene Price 49.32.
Next Tuesday will see the second of the 5 v 5km series races, starting from the Parkvale Hall.