Summer Running Report – Mt Robert Memorial Event

and Aaron Martin (40 off 33 balls) formed the bulk of Motueka’s score. Three more wickets were lost in the 120s with just a few overs left and the Wekas ended up with 142 for 7. Nathan Geddes picked up 3 for 26 off 4 overs.

Wanderers began their batting more cautiously than normal as Motueka generally bowled well. The ground had a short boundary on one side and was a difficult surface to field on with unpredictable bounce.

Bowling into the wind was also challenging. Despite this, they restricted Wanderers to 53 for 3 by the 11th over. Liam Hobbs (3 for 13 off 4 overs) bowled superbly but Nathan Dell-Bosca scored 42 off 43 balls to keep them in the game and they were 93 for 4 in the 15th over, however the required run rate by now was rising thanks to their slow start. Motueka took a couple more wickets as the pressure increased and Wanderers finished only a few runs short on 138 for 6. group!”

Both ladies then backed up their athletic efforts by being part of the Tasman masters women’s touch team the following weekend in Rotorua for Touch Rugby Nationals. Having two of NZ’s fastest over 35 women they did score a few tries each in the competition, teaming up with a fantastic group of talented female players.

This year, the annual Mt Robert Race was held as a memorial event for Eric Verstappen, who had been solely responsible for keeping the event alive for over 30 years.

Eric, the President of Athletics Nelson for well over 10yrs, was a stalwart member of the club and a fellow runner and walker.

To honour him on Sunday, 16 February, a field of 45 runners and walkers headed out from the DOC Centre at St Arnaud to take up the challenge of running the demanding 18km circuit to the

Mt Robert car park, up the steep and rugged Pinchgut track to the summit of Mt Robert, down Paddy’s track to the lakeside track and back to the DOC centre.

It was great to see athletes from teenage to septuagenarian years, out there together enjoying the rugged beauty of the bush and lake. Despite low cloud and strong winds up on the mountaintop, running conditions were quite favourable and some excellent times were recorded.

Chris Sharland ran strongly, after having completed the

Buller Marathon last weekend, to take out first place in a personal best time of 1.38.05hrs. Klaartje Van Schie, preparing for the 85km Old Ghost Race this weekend, was the first woman home in a very commendable time of 1.51.29hrs.

One of the race organisers, Hans Andersen, paid tribute to Eric at the event’s prize giving, and encouraged all athletes to come back next year to continue the resurgence in participation in this fell-running event.

Kahurangi ride roller coaster in first competition match

Kahurangi took their fans on an emotional rollercoaster in their first competition match of the season on Saturday. After some promising periods early in the match Kahurangi found themselves 14 points behind last year’s competition winners, Marist, with only seven minutes remaining in the Division One match. Kahurangi supporters were looking decidedly downcast until their young side suddenly stepped up its intensity to provide the perfect platform for former Mako player Michael Wells to score two tries in quick succession, both of which were converted to lock the game up at 32-all. With the game seeming all but lost only minutes before, the Kahurangi faithful were in a buoyant mood having watched their side show plenty of grit to come from behind in order to avoid the loss.

Although Marist scored the first try of the game after only three minutes, Kahurangi had fought their way back into the match with the first try of the season to Qori Gucake via a wonderful inside pass from halfback Aaron Coe. After a successful conversion of the try and then a long

Motueka Bridge

Championship 2

Open Results

North/South

1st Bet Glengarry & June Tippett

61.35%

2nd Justine Thompson & Martin Thompson

60.38%

3rd Katrina Mataric & Malcolm Macleod

54.42%

East/West

1st Vicki Adnams & Mary Hamilton

66.54%

2nd Rebecca Osborne & Jana Bott

65.00%

3rd Mary Fraher & Linda Thurow

60.00% range 55-plus metre penalty by first five eighths Brad Coulson, Kahurangi led the match 13 - 5.

On the stroke of half time Marist seized on a goal line error by Kahurangi to pull the score back to 13 - 10. Up until that moment however, Kahurangi had defended well, particularly in the mid-field where Vito Lammers and Jakob Dabinett were closing down Marist’s attacks with some determined tackling. Loose-head prop Joshua Te Hira was also making his presence felt, shutting down things well in the closer channels. Te Hira started the match on the loose-head side before switching to tight-head for Luca Inch who was on debut for Kahurangi.

The second half opened brightly for Kahurangi with a cleverly worked try from a one-two lineout move between hooker Qori Gucake and halfback Aaron Coe. With the score at 18 - 10 the young Kahurangi side then seemed to lose momentum for a long period. A number of Kahurangi’s clearing kicks went directly to Marist fullback Lote Saulekaleka who was then running the ball back with purpose. The Marist forward pack were also begin- ning to dominate the set piece and while the Kahurangi pack had shunted Marist backwards earlier in the match in one memorable scrum, Kahurangi were now being penalised repeatedly for collapsing the scrum.

While Kahurangi’s defence close to the ruck had been outstanding in the first half, and some notable hits being audible all the way over in College Street, Marist Number 8 Taina FoxMatamua now found himself in wide open space each time he hit the line in that area. Fox-Matamua scored three tries in a rapid succession, two of