16 March Excellent end to club season March 16, 2020 By Pam Fraser Sport North Canterbury junior athletes were making their way on to the podium again this weekend, at the final meeting of the Canterbury athletics club season. The Canterbury Children’s Athletics championships were held at Nga Puna Wai, and several of our local athletes were in hot form. Recently crowned National U18 high jump champion, Jess Hendren, backed up that title with the Canterbury junior 14 girls title. She also finished 4th in the long jump, and 5th in the 80m hurdles, and shot put. The youngest winner for the North Canterbury team, was 8 year old Farai Musesengwa, who won the 8 boys long jump, and also finished second in the 200m, third in the 100m and discus, and 5th in the 60m. Musesengwa was also crowned the top overall 8 year old boy. Mya Phillips won the 13 girls Discus, was second in the shotput, third in the high jump, and 5th in the long jump. She also teamed up with Pippa Baker, Xanthe Jane, and Emelia Rayner, to win the 13 girls 4x100m relay. Phillips was the 4th overall 13 year old girl. Jane found herself on the podium in two individual events too, finishing third in the 13 girls 800m and 1500m, along with 5th in the 200m, 400m, and high jump. Siniva Ma’u picked up a third in the 14 girls discus, and Will Bint finished third in the 12 boys long jump, and 5th in the discus. Athletes will now wait for the Inter-provincial team selections to be made, in the hopes of representing Canterbury. Related Articles 135 years in the making COVID-19 has put the Kaiapoi Club’s 135-year anniversary plans on hold for now. The good news is that this club – like much of Christchurch – is not new to challenge and adversity, and its team were ahead of the curve, when the government announced New Zealand’s lockdown this week. It’s president, Maurice (Bones) Nutira said they had closed the Club by Monday, March 23, and they had put in place measures to support staff financially ... Caution Urged As Fire Season Changes Fire and Emergency New Zealand are urging residents to avoid non-essential fires when Waimakariri moves into an open fire season on Sunday 3 May. Principal Rural Fire Officer, Bruce Janes, says even if a fire is permitted and under control, the smoke often generates a 111 call from the public, meaning firefighters need to leave their bubble to deal with an avoidable fire. “Now is the time to be more vigilant than ever to avoid an ... Kaiapoi Softball Club March 7th and 8th, was the penultimate week of the Canterbury Premier Softball competition. A full round of competition was played across both days of the weekend, really testing the depth of the squads. In the Premier Women’s competition, the Kaiapoi Queens came away with three wins, and a loss. They defeated the Halswell Hornets 10-3, Papanui 6-5, and Sydenham Kereru 9-2, but lost to the PCU Angels 1-3. This put them second on the league table, ... Golf players return in Waimakariri Golf clubs in Waimakariri are welcoming players back now that the country is on Level 3 of the Covid-19 lockdown. Pegasus Golf Club is the only one still closed and its members are turning up in large numbers at Kaiapoi which offers online and phone bookings for both members and green fee players. “Members get preference but the green fee players are filling up the gaps in our booking sheets to make us busier than normal.” ... Sport is coming As we shifted to Alert Level 2, sport moved tantilisingly closer. Most of the major codes, and other sports are following the Government and Sport NZ recommendations, which involve a phased approach to returning to sport. Phase One – Get Ready. This means clubs are planning and preparing to get back underway, including hygiene practices, and contact tracing. As clubs and sporting bodies get these systems in place, trainings will be able to get underway ... Commitment to change lifts audit grades A willingness to proactively improve farming practices has seen 89 per cent of Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL) shareholders achieve an A or B Farm Environment Plan (FEP) audit during the 2018/19 season; an increase of 21 percent from the 2016/17 season. C audit grades have decreased from 28 per cent in the 2016/17 season to 9 per cent in the 2018/19, while just one farm received a D audit grade. Farm Environment Plans help farmers to ...