This week we report on the talented Sam Foster from Hub 4, and we, the journalists, introduce ourselves.

Our first article is about the talented Sam Foster, a boy of many talents. Read on to learn about Sam's recent achievements.

Information courtesy of Sam's proud parents

Sam has been running since he was 4 years old. This all started with our neighbour who runs a Monday night running group at the Halswell Quarry. Sam would run up around the crater. We were always amazed how he could do it without stopping as it was such a steep climb.

In the school holidays Sam has always attended Hounds and Hares at HagleyPpark and the ice cream run up at Victoria park. The emphasis for Sam has always been "have fun”.

For the last few years Sam participated in the 5k series at Hagley Park, and sometimes the park runs held on a Saturday morning. Sam not only enjoys running for himself, but also loves to run with the quarry group, with other kids all being silly and having fun. Generally Sam as a kid has just run, with whatever the sport or task, full speed ahead.

As a result of his attitude to life, never missing a chance to run and a love for running ,we are seeing Sam excel. His times are very good for his age. Sam does not belong to a running club, and we did not know about the Canterbury cross country initially, it all came about the week before when the Port Hills club were short some runners to put in a team so they asked Sam to help out. Sam's time indicated he could be among the quicker in Canterbury for his age, Thanks to Rob Brown, who told us about the Canterbury champs, and that he could enter as a community runner.

This meant he would be competing with fully trained club runners and unknown as a potential threat. Sam was placed in under 10, as an 8 year old, racing over 2km but also had to run with under 12 boys and girls, so the pace was always going to be on. Sam and some of the younger ones started at the back of the field, no sign of Sam, but after the first 1st km he started to emerge up with some prominent Canterbury runners for his age.

He hit the final straight on the heels of one of Canterbury's fastest, with 2 others closing in fast behind him. One of those was the current south island champ. Sam managed 3rd place, 8 minutes 53 sec for 2km. Sam has another year in this grade so is in with a real shot of doing well next year.

Harry Brown also did exceptionally well for a six year old running in under 10 in a time of 9 minutes 49 secs. Harry, for his age, is running world class times so watch out for him in the future. Well done boys; proud of you both.

On top of running Sam came back from Club Sailing with a bunch of trophies and certificates, one of those was the Most Promising Sailor for the club. Sam is competing in Sunburst South Island Sailing Champs in November and Nationals in January.

Journalist’s Group Bio

Charlotte W

Hi, My name is Charlotte and I am the head of the journalist group in hub 6, so basically I help everyone when they are confused or need assistance. The reason Mr Forman and I wanted to start a journalists’ group is that there are a lot of people that enjoy writing and it would be a massive leadership opportunity for others as well as myself. Some of my hobbies include netball, basketball, reading, Writing and also Singing, I love Little kids and interacting with them so I am a wet day monitor and I also LOVE watching Harry Potter and reading the books just as much.

Willow

Hi, I'm Willow Clark, I joined the Journalist Group because I wanted to be a part of an important job so I could possibly get a leadership position in Yr ⅞ because my parents want to get me involved in things. I also wanted to join to have a big say in what furniture we have in our new space and what storage space we have. My favourite colours are Red and Green (Christmas colours and School Uniform colours). My hobbies include Shooting Hoops at playtime and writing stories. I also play Hockey for Winter Sport and do Lunch Monitoring. I hope you learned things about me and that some time you will get the Journalist to post one of your articles or stories.

Carys

Hi I’m Carys western , I am a part of the journalist group. I wanted to be part of the journalist group because writing is one of the things that makes learning fun. Leadership is a very important thing to me because leadership is like leading in something you are really strong at . I also wanted to join because I love sharing my writing with others. Some of my interests include Indoor rock climbing and camping. Some of my hobbies are basketball and gymnastics. My favorite color is neon green and I have a kitten named Mollie. The group is supportive , kind and up for ideas and suggestions. Keep writing and have a good day.

Jessica

Hello, I’m Jessica McIntosh, a part of the hub 6 journalist group. I decided to join this group because I love writing. My stories are usually persuasive or contemporary fiction. Becoming a journalist was a great opportunity for me to expand my skills. The group is currently thinking about new ideas and ways we can inform parents. I am interested in cats, art and sport. In particular football and basketball. The group is supportive, kind and great at considering the ideas of everybody. I really suggest you join because you may enjoy it.

Leandre

Hi, my name is Leandre Van Rooyen.

I wanted to join the Journalist's Group because I like to write and interview people.

I was born in South Africa and moved here 3 years ago.

I like softball, hockey and basketball. I like to draw and I have a younger sister named Maryke.

If you want to come and see us, you can find the year 6 Journalists’ Group in year 6.

Amelia 

Hi! I’m Amelia Bunn. I joined the Journalist Group because I really enjoy writing and working with others. The stories I write are funny and fit into the fantasy genre with things such as talking animals. My hobbies are reading, soccer, basketball and running. Also for winter sports I play netball.