Wilson heads team to athletic success

Ace sprinter Michael Wilson provided the highlight of a series of outstanding performances by Wairarapa athletes last weekend.
Competing in a track and field meet at Newtown Park in Wellington, Wilson blitzed his opposition in the senior men's 200m in a time of 21.7secs, well inside his previous best effort of 21.83secs
Wilson's superiority was evidenced by the runner-up clocking 22.14secs while third was another Wairarapa runner in William Simpson whose time of 23.07secs was also a personal best.
The senior men's 100m also saw Wilson in winning form with a time of 10.99secs, the third occasion in four appearances this season he has clocked under the 11secs mark. Simpson also competed in that event and returned a time of 12.09secs.
April Campbell, 14, won her age group of the 80m hurdles in a pleasing 13.09secs and was second in the 100m sprint in 13.42secs.
Chris Girling-McLean competed against older opposition in the senior men's 400m and did well to finish second in 52.2secs, the same race in which Cameron Sinclair was fifth in 54.5secs.
Noted middle distance runners Stevie Paine and Molly Creagh lined up over sprint distances with Paine finishing third in the 100m in 13.58secs and second in the 200m in 27.18secs and Creagh fourth over 200m in 28.8secs.
Another highly promising youngster in Holly Travers,10, showed her class at a track and field meet in Palmerston North, winning a 600m event for girls aged between 8 and 11yrs in an impressive 2mins 13.34secs. She also won her 200m race in 33.86secs.
Tom Quinn clocked a personal best time of 1min 39.83secs in his 600m event as well as achieving pbs in the shot put (10.12m) and discus (23.93m). Alex Fafeita was second in both his shot put (13.01) and discus (41.33m)
The huge profile built by Wairarapa athletes on the national stage in recent times is illustrated by their representation in the New Zealand track and field team to contest the Pacific School Games in Canberra, Australia from November 30 to December 5. In that squad will be Stevie Paine, Vicky Paine, Ellen Schaef, Chris Girling-McLean, Zac Sinclair, Courtney Fafeita and April Campbell.
All but one of those competitors are coached by Masterton's Mark Harris, the exception being thrower Courtney Fafeita, who has John Quinn of Carterton as her tutor.
Harris admits that with the Pacific School Games coming so early in the summer and no all-weather track in Wairarapa to aid preparation getting his athletes to anywhere near their peak form had been fraught with difficulties.
But he is still "very confident" of the locals giving a strong account of themselves against international opposition.
"They are a very talented bunch and they will make their presence felt, they will do us proud," he said.
Also close to hand are the New Zealand secondary schools track and field championships which will be held in Hamilton on December 13 and 14. Wairarapa will have a powerful representation there as well.
Meanwhile, Harris is in recovery mode after managing a six-strong team of disabled athletes for Achilles New Zealand at the New York marathon. He ended up walking the full 26 miles and 385 yards in company with a male entrant with respiratory problems and while the latter had done little, or no, training and was talking about withdrawing at the five mile mark Harris managed to cajole him to the finish in 7hrs 32mins.
It was the fifth (and last) successive year Harris had managed the Achilles New Zealand team at New York and they maintained their record of having all their athletes make it safely to the finish line.
"That's their gold medal, just getting to the finish is what it is all about for them," Harris said. "Their delight at reaching their goal is amazing to see, you can't buy that sort of thing."