Whanganui district sports quiz
Compiled by David Scoullar
1. Where in Whanganui do you find Robert Holden corner?
2. What is unique about playing golf at Rangatira, near Hunterville?
3. Who paddled his canoe upriver from Whanganui to Taumarunui in 1978 while training for NZ representative selection?
4. Which extended family dominated the 2020 Aotearoa Maori Tennis Championship in Whanganui, winning all five open titles?
5. It was the first time we had hosted the Aotearoa Maori Tennis Championship in how many years?
6. What sport do you associate with Hylton Park?
7. Which rugby club has the Macnab Domain as its home ground?
8. What was the protest that failed to stop a Whanganui River leg of the NZ jet boat marathon?
9. Marton runner Clarrie Gibbons, who won the NZ marathon title in 1939, was later prominent in what sport?
10. WWII fighter ace Alan Deere was an accomplished athlete in what three sports?
Quiz Answers
1. On the corner of Heads Rd and Guyton St. Robert Holden raced at the Cemetery Circuit for 19 consecutive years. After he was killed at the Isle of Man in 1996, his ashes were placed at the corner. A bronze plaque marks the spot.
2. The course is built on three levels, has stunning views of the Rangitikei River and a ride in the electric cable car, the only one of its kind in NZ.
3. Robert Baldwin. It took him six and a half days and he did make the team to the 1979 world canoeing champs in Canada.
4. The closely related Hourigan and Butters clans.
5. 93 years.
6. Mountain biking.
7. Counties.
8. A small fleet of canoes grouped across the river near the Aramoho bridge. They said the event could disrupt fish life, cause riverbank erosion and the marine authority had not consulted with Maori.
9. Rugby. He coached the Wellington side that won the Ranfurly Shield three times in the 1950s and 1960s and was president of the Wellington Rugby Union.
10. Rugby, cricket and boxing. He represented Whanganui at the New Zealand Boxing Championships.
Six correct — good; 8 — very good; 10 — genius!
