It’s a busy final month of Term 2 in the sporting world at Rangi Ruru.

Upcoming events to watch out for:

NZSS Cross Country Championships: Saturday, 17 and Sunday, 18 June, Ascot Park.
Programme of Events

Saturday, 15 June

• 8am – Course open for inspection.
• 10:30am – Junior Girls (3km)
• 11:50am – Year 9 Girls (3km)
• 1:10pm – Senior Girls / Para Girls (4km / 2km)

Sunday, 16 June – Regional Team Relay Championships Race

• 9:25 am - 4 x 2km Mixed Relay - Year 9, Junior and Senior grades. Each athlete completing two laps of the 1km course.
• 10:05 am - 4 x 2km Girls Relay - Year 9, Junior and Senior grades. Each athlete completing two laps of the 1km course.

Prize-giving for all grades will be held approximately 10 minutes after each race.

Craighead Junior Sports Exchange: Thursday, 27 June, Timaru – programme available next week.

Stay updated with Sports Draws, Fixtures & Results – connect to our Rangi Ruru Sports Website here. 

Archibalds Sports Quiz Fundraiser: Saturday, 24 August, 6:30pm, Atawhai

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, Term 3 sees the return of the Sports Quiz fundraiser – this year brought to you by Archibalds. The purpose of this event is to help support ongoing costs for involvement in sport and attending tournaments.

This year the quiz will be led by our Sports Council who are currently creating the questions…it promises to be fun!

We are currently seeking the following support from our community:

• Sub-committee Helpers taking on a range of tasks to support the quiz
• Category Sponsors - $500 to sponsor a quiz category. Money can be attributed to a particular code or team
• Items for Raffle Hampers – Proceeds going directly to the team that provided the raffle hamper. Examples might include: gourmet groceries, pamper packs, lifestyle luxury. The options are endless!

Silent Auctions – Proceeds will go directly to the team that organised the item. Such items might include:

• Holiday home stay
• A VIP experience
• Activity or coaching vouchers
• Jewellery
• Art

We will begin collecting items for the raffles, hampers & silent auctions during the second week of Term 3. Please drop these to the sports office, upstairs in Atawhai, leaving your name and team/code you wish the item to be connected with.

Tickets will go on sale early in Term 3 - $20 a ticket or $200 for a table of 8 (including a platter). There will be more information on ticketing in the coming fortnight.

Any questions please reach out to Kirsty Rueppell, Development & Sponsorship Executive, who is supporting the organisation of the quiz this year. Kirsty can be contacted here.

Celebrating Our Wahine

Maddie Ericson (Year 8) – Maddie recently attended a swim meet in Timaru and won five medals – gold in the 100m IM, silver in 50 butterfly, bronzes in 200m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle. Maddie also achieved a qualifying time in 50m breaststroke for the National Short Course Champs. Congratulations Maddie!

Emily Burt (Year 9) - In mid-May Emily competed in the Mark Rance Memorial Competition and achieved 3rd placing in the Senior (Open age group) Women’s Epee, losing her semifinal match to the eventual winner.

After this event, Emily learnt that she had been selected to represent New Zealand in July at the Australian Championships, Sydney, in the Youth (U15) and Cadet (U17) Individual competitions. Emily is also only one of two fencers to qualify automatically for the New Zealand cadet team in the team competition at the same event.

At the end of May, Emily competed in the North Island Open Championships - the last fencing competition to impress the selectors for the 2024 U17 and U20 Commonwealth Fencing Championships. And impress Emily did, as this week she was named in the U17 Women’s Epee individual and team competitions. Despite being the youngest member of the New Zealand team, Emily is also on the reserve list for the U20 Women’s Epee. The Commonwealth Fencing Championships is being held in Christchurch in the upcoming term break with fencers from at least 15 nations expected to attend.

Emily, we wish you all the best as you prepare for these international events.

Lucy-Jane Hart (Year 10) & Tessa Langman (Year 12) – Lucy-Jane has recently been selected to represent Canterbury in the Women's Inferno Ice Hockey team playing in the New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League, again this year; while Tessa has been selected to be part of the Development Squad.

Rose Bowden (Year 13) - Rose, a member of our S.O.A.R programme, recently returned from China, where she represented the New Zealand Pony Club in the Pony Club Asia and South Pacific Youth Show Jumping Cup.

The New Zealand Pony Club team placed 2nd overall while individually Rose placed 5th overall in the international 80-90cm class - a particularly outstanding achievement as Rose was riding a different horse to her own.

Alice Ferguson (Year 13) – Alice was recently awarded the CRA Canterbury Jubilee Cup for outstanding rowing performance & leadership in school rowing. Its an impressive trophy and a reflection of the outstanding season Alice had. Congratulations.

Annabel Walker (Year 13) - Annabel recently returned from Australia and Singapore as a member of the New Zealand Rhythmic Gymnastics team.

Competing in the Australian Championships, Annabel placed 7th in Level 10, and her New Zealand team placed 3rd. At the Singapore Open, competing in the Over 16 Years category, Annabel won the hoop, ball and ribbons competition, and placed second in clubs.

Mandy Anderson
Director of Sport