RUGBY
Rathkeale College’s first-five Will Cole has been selected for the New Zealand Under-18 Maori Nga Whatukura Boys team to play two games later this month.
Cole, of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa descent, was one of the standout performers for Rathkeale over the Central North Island First XV competition and has played a pivotal role for the Wairarapa-Bush Under-18s in wins over Horowhenau-Kapiti [65–0], and Wellington Maori [35–16].
New Zealand Māori U18 will play Northland U19 on Sunday, September 23, and New Zealand Barbarians U18 on Thursday, September 28, with both games in Hamilton.
Cole was also one of three Wai-Bush players selected for the Hurricanes U18 training camp in October. He is joined by Rathkeale loose forward John Falloon and Wairarapa College centre Charlie Carroll. Following the camp, the players will travel to play the Crusaders U18s.
ATHLETICS
Wairarapa athletes turned in some outstanding results at the Athletics NZ Road Championships in Palmerston North on Sunday.
To the fore were Athletics and Cycling Masterton [ACM] veterans Graeme Butcher and Tony Price, who also represented the Wellington Centre.
Butcher was third in the men’s 60–64 age group, completing the two laps of the hilly 5km course around Massey University in 39 minutes 57 seconds, and was part of the champion Wellington team.
Price crossed the line third in the 65-plus age group in 43min 26sec and collected a bronze medal in the teams’ event.
The results capped outstanding seasons for the two veterans, who both won their respective Wellington Cross Country Championships and were runners-up in their North Island Cross Country age groups. They also had podium finishes in the cross-country nationals, as well as wins in some of the main events in Wellington interclub.
Of the other ACM members, Whana Gordon was sixth in the men’s 50–54 age group, and Brooke Duffy finished ninth in the girls’ U14 age group.
Wairarapa Track and Field athletes also produced some solid results in Palmerston North.
Andrea Harris was sixth in the women’s 50–54 age group and was part of the winning Wellington team, William Larkin was seventh in the men’s U20s, and Violet Fisher was 15th in the girls’ U16s. – CHRIS COGDALE
