The Colgate Games represents the peak of the athletics season for children aged 7-14 and this year there will be 49 juniors representing the Lake City Athletic Club.
New Zealand's largest junior athletics championship has been running since 1978 and is split into a North Island and a South Island event. The North Island Colgate Games will be held at Porritt Stadium in Hamilton from January 4-6. The South Island Colgate Games will be held at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin from January 11-13.
A massive 2300 young athletes are set to compete across the North and South Island events, with almost 10,000 individual event entries.
There are 1400 competitors expected in the North Island Colgate Games and 900 in the South Island Colgate Games.
Lake City's junior athletics numbers are the highest they have been in years, with 300 children signed up for club nights. The club's children's athletics convener Kelly Albrecht said the Colgate Games was a great opportunity for those going to experience competing at a high level.
"Forty-nine is definitely the most we've had for awhile and there's so much talent in this group. A lot of them are new to athletics, so it's been a bit hidden, so we've brought the talent out and they're realising how good they actually are.
"It will be cool to see how they compete at a national level. It's been going for years - I competed myself as a kid. My family would go all around the whole country for it, you get to experience a bit of everywhere."
Dante Temara runs hard. Photo / Supplied
She said regardless of results, competing at the Colgate Games was a valuable experience for the children.
"The whole experience is such a good thing, it builds confidence and helps them grow and learn. It shows them the talent that is out there and they can set goals based on that - strive to do better.
"It's very professionally run. You drop the kids off at the marshalling area and they get marched out into the stadium. To me it's like an Olympic level for kids, there's no false starts, you get disqualified immediately. It's very official, it's not a casual event that's for sure."
Albrecht wanted the children to soak up the whole Colgate Games atmosphere.
"It's not just a running race, I want them to see the older kids from our clubs and other clubs, how they warm up, how they gear themselves up and prepare themselves for their races.
"This is quite structured and being able to see that and experience it will only make them hungrier. This is a wicked group of kids. About 30 of the 49 going have never competed at this sort of level before and are new to athletics.
"They're such a competitive bunch, but they're also really good at understanding it's not all about winning. Situations like when we got disqualified at the relay champs, they took it on the chin and came out on top in the next race. I was really impressed with that because that's such a hard thing to learn, how to lose a race well."
While the children will be competing as individuals in their events, she expected there to be a good team atmosphere among the Lake City children.
"We've been training since October and the parents come down and watch. It's quite neat, you see all the parents getting to know each other and chatting while the kids train. It's becoming a nice unique little group.
"There will be a lot of cheering for and supporting for each other's kids and families on the days. It's a good club feel."
After the Colgate Games, the Lake City athletes will look towards the Waikato Athletics Championships in March.
"That's the next after this, competing at the Bay level, and a lot of them will be in medal contention for that. Then we don't start again until October where we'll start looking forward to the next Colgate Games."
The Lake City crew will be looking sharp at the Colgate Games in brand new jackets sponsored by local IT company ZoomCloud.
