Congratulations to Columba Year 10 star athlete, Lila, who competed in the (2022) NZSS Track & Field champs in the North Island, breaking Columba's 800m record that has held strong for over 46 years!

Late last year, super star Columba athlete, Lila, competed as one of the youngest athletes in the Junior Girls category at the 49th New Zealand Secondary School Track & Field Championships (Dec, 2022). Lila entered the 1500m and 800m races, and while she missed qualifying for the 1500m finals with a very commendable time of 5:12.64, Lila pushed on and made it through to the finals for the 800m race with a time of 2:31.59. As last-placed qualifier, Lila seized the opportunity that lay ahead of her, and "got her race head right".

In the semi-final, Lila led from the beginning for the first 400m, content in the knowledge that there would be girls who would push past her on the second lap. Impressively, however, Lila made them work for it. She completed the first 400m lap in a time of 67secs (close to her 400m PB of 65 secs), coming home in an impressive time of 2:29.96!

While this result wasn't enough to put Lila on the podium at the NZSS Track & Field Championships, it was well good enough to break the Columba College U15 800m record that has stood since 1976! 

Lila is also the current record holder at Columba for the U14 1500m with a time of 5:11. 

A massive congratulations goes to Lila from the Sports Department at Columba College, and from the wider Columba Community. We are extremely proud of her and are thrilled that all her training, dedication, and hard work over the past year has paid off.

An exciting future on the running track awaits you, Lila! Keep up the great work.