At this year’s North Island Colgate Games in Inglewood, Taranaki, five young athletes proudly represented Owairaka Athletics, and came home with new friends, new experiences, PBs, a medal and some great memories. Here’s Peggy’s event report.
On a Thursday afternoon we arrived in New Plymouth. The next morning, we headed down to the Inglewood Stadium, where Colgate Games was based this year. After meeting up with the rest of the Owai team, it was time for the march. As the bagpipes played we marched along holding our flag high, along with other clubs and athletes from all over the North Island. That was the opening ceremony. Let the games begin!
Our team
Let me introduce our team. We had 5 competing athletes and their parents. Solomon 13, Nina 12, Peggy 11, Marist 10 and Platon 9.
Solomon
Solomon was our veteran Colgate Games athlete, after competing last year, and showed the rest of us how things worked. On the second day of Colgate Games, Solomon had his first race - the 800m. It was a great run and he placed 11th. On Sunday he had his 1500m race. He did really well and placed 12th.
Nina
Nina’s first race of the games was the hurdles. She did well in her heat and made it into the finals, where she placed 4th overall. Great job especially for her first time hurdling! Nina also had long jump on the first day with some great jumps in windy conditions. Day 2 saw her run 1500m in the heat of the day, and on day 3 she had a crack at the 200m - what an all-rounder!
Peggy
Peggy had a busy day one with 200m heats, semis and finals all in the same day. She placed 6th in the final, from a total field of 38. Day 3 was another busy day, with 400m heats, where she ran a PB to qualify 2nd, long jump, and then the 400m finals where she ran another PB to take the silver medal - a nice souvenir from the weekend!
Marist
Marist had a lot of firsts this Colgate Games - first big athletics comp, first ever 800m, first ever 1500m. Awesome job giving these tough events a go - especially in the heat of midsummer. He also competed in the discus and long jump - another great all round effort.
Platon
It was Platon’s first big event too. He went for the sprints - competing in 60m, 100m, 200m and long jump, and came home with ribbons from every event (a cool thing for the younger athletes is that everyone who competes gets a ribbon). He also really made the most of his time in Taranaki, walking in the national park and surfing in between races.
Why should YOU come to Colgate Games next year?
You get to meet athletes from all over the North Island, making heaps of friends along the way. You can experience what it’s like competing in a big event, and try heaps of new things. Plus there are yummy food trucks and fun things to do! We even went to a river for a team picnic and swim. Although it was a little cold.
Look out for more details on the 2022 edition later in the year - let's make it an even bigger Owairaka team next year!
Thanks to Athletics New Zealand and to our team for the photos