Triple treat for Fafeita

Alex Fafeita admits to being stunned at winning three gold medals at the Oceania region track and field championships in Cairns.

The 17-year-old Wairarapa College pupil had travelled to Queensland with the goal of making one podium finish in the under-20 age group but came away as the individual champion in discus, shot put and hammer throw.

"No way did I see that happening. I thought if I made the top three in the hammer I'd be doing well," Fafeita said yesterday.

"I guess it was one of those meets when just about everything fell into place, nobody was more surprised than myself."

Fafeita's success came after a build-up which, by his own admission, was less than ideal.

Usually training sessions over the winter months are mainly confined to the gym but, with the Cairns trip in mind, he had continued to train outdoors at Carrington Park in Carterton and battled to get his body and mind used to the change.

"It's not a lot of fun training in the cold and it's easy to start wondering why the heck you are doing it. There were times when I felt terrible. I just didn't want to be there."

Fortunately for Fafeita, however, the temperatures in Cairns were around the mid-20s and his win in the discus on day one with a throw of 45.71m - some 2m short of his best - gave him extra confidence for the shot put and hammer throw.

And that confidence shone through with personal bests being achieved in both events; 15.39m in the shot put (up from 14.73m) and 59.76m in the hammer throw (up from 58m).

A month's rest from training is next on the Fafeita agenda and then he will start preparing for another summer season where he aims to improve his distances in his specialist event, the hammer throw, to the point where qualification for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games becomes a distinct possibility.

Another Wairarapa athlete to shine at the Oceania championships was Andrea Williams who won the women's 40-44 years masters' 1500m title. Her time of 5m 20.29s was a season's best for Williams by 13 seconds.

Fafeita and Williams were part of a New Zealand squad which returned home from Cairns with a big medal haul - 35 gold, 15 silver and seven bronze.