Medals will be the "icing on the cake" for the small but powerful Wairarapa contingent competing at the Australian Junior Championships at Sydney's Olympic Park from Friday to Sunday.
Track athletes Laura McKenna, Stevie Paine, Molly Creagh, Tom Quinn and Joel Farley, and field event exponents Tim Girling-McLean, Alex Fafeita and
Jerry Peseta will be confronting formidable opposition and will have done themselves proud if they qualify for the finals.
Masterton-based track coach Mark Harris believes much will depend on how the Wairarapa group handle the pressure of the occasion and he is hopeful a brief psychology session at training this week will have helped in that respect. The message there was to focus on what they had to do rather than who they were up against.
"They have to wipe everything from their minds other than what is needed for them to perform to the very best of their ability," Harris said. "They have certain techniques and game plans to follow and that's what they have to concentrate on. Do that, and they will be okay."
Harris agreed, however, that for finals to be made, the Wairarapa youngsters would probably need to produce personal best efforts, or close to it.
"Most of them can go to any age group competition in this country and know they will finish one, two or three, but here, they will be up against a whole lot of competitors who are at least as talented as they are and that means they simply can't afford to have an off day."
Four of the Wairarapa athletes, McKenna, Paine, Girling-McLean and Fafeita, will be representing the first-ever Oceania under-18 team to contest the Australian juniors.
McKenna will be competing over 100m and 200m and also has the distinction of being selected in a New Zealand senior women's 4 x 100m relay squad which will race against an Australian team aiming to qualify for the world championships.
Paine will run over her favourite distance of 800m, while Girling-McLean will be in the shot put, and Fafeita in the shot put, discus and hammer throw.
Of the remaining four Wairarapa participants, Creagh will race over 400m, and Quinn and Farley, the 800m, while Peseta will line up in the shot put and discus.
