15 athletes from Oaklands competed in the 2023 version of the pinnacle event for primary school athletics in Canterbury.

Held at Ngā Puna Wai on the international-ready track, our athletes gave their best as they took on the best of Canterbury, stretching down to Ashburton and west to the coast.

The Oaklands team for 2023 were:

Year 5:

Clyde Brew, Findlay Kingdon, Harri Brown, Lily Redding, Riley Gale

Year 6:

Jordyn Haturini-Mcdonald

Year 7:

Ella Horne, Declan Siave, Dylan Bebbington, Enzo Wang, Ethan Campbell, Ryan Lau

Year 8:

Didi Xue, Tai-manu Reriti

Straight from the athletes' mouths

Who better to talk about the big day than the awesome athletes who were there competing.

Findlay - discus

- I think it was fun. I met some new people and made some new friends. I was very nervous until I had done my first throw. I think I did pretty well.

Harri - 1000m

- I enjoyed the competition and where it was held because it was cool as it was a proper racetrack. I felt a little nervous going into the race. I felt OK after the race because I gave it my best.

Lilly  - 60m, 1000m

- My race was pretty hard but fun. It was challenging and pushed me to my limits.

I was feeling tired during my race, especially near the end. I feel good about how I went because there were about 40 in my race and I got 9th. I am very proud of myself. Many of my family came and watched me. That encouraged me a lot. I am looking forward to being there next year and seeing my cousin who was competing this year.

Riley G - 80m

- It was a fun day and really cool that I could do it and that Oaklands had a team. Before my race I was on the outside lane which made me nervous because they were timing it. But I qualified for the final and it was a very good feeling. For the final I was a little bit more nervous because it meant there would be even faster people in the race. I gave it my best and finished 4th. Since I was feeling confident at school because I was really fast, I felt a little nervous and didn’t run as fast in the final.

Clyde - 1000m

- I enjoyed going to Ngā Puna Wai and running the long distance race. I came 21st out of 37. Before the race I was feeling anxious but after the race I was feeling fine. During the race, when there was 500m to go, I still thought I had an extra lap to do so when I got the finish I wasn’t sprinting because I thought I had another lap to go.

Jordyn - 60m, long jump, high jump

- I was tired by the end of the day because as well as competing I was enjoying running around with Lily. I had a good day. My first event was the high jump. I was nervous going into the event but I fetl ok later. At the long jump I was cold, the wind was blowing. My first jump was my best but on my second jump I ran straight through the pit. Of my three events I felt best about my sprints. Overall it was nice but when I got home I ate some food and went straight to bed as I was very tired.

Tai-manu - 60m, long jump

- I felt really nervous but that all turned around while I was talking and making friends on my first activity (short sprint). It was exciting seeing who jumps the furtherist and competing with familiar faces.

Didi - shot put

- It felt quite challenging because there were a lot of people and it was a bit confusing but in the end things somehow worked out.

Dylan - 1200m

I enjoyed the competition and it was very competitive and the person who won was about 200m ahead of me. I came 18th out of 37, so made it into the top half. I think I did pretty well as I was in the middle of the pack and didn’t even expect to make it into Canterburys so that was an awesome result for me. I also enjoyed just hanging out with my friends at Ngā Puna Wai. 

Declan - 60m sprint

My favourite part of the event was talking to the other people in my heats. I really enjoyed finding out how they thought they were going to do in the race.

At the start of the day I was really nervous and considered not even going to the event but once I was there I really enjoyed it and was happy that I had decided to come.

Ethan - Discus

My event was fun but I was quite nervous before my event. But by the time of my throw it was fine. I threw 24 meters and the winner threw 38. I got 16th place.