A squad of TGS athletes competed individually and as teams at the Porritt Classic Athletics Meeting, held in Hamilton on Saturday 11 Feb 2023.

Senior students Jodie Nash and Sascha Letica teamed up with year 9 Nadia Letica to compete as a 3-person team in the Dianne Rodger 1500m Secondary School Challenge Trophy.  This is first-year TGS has entered a team for this prestigious challenge.

Since 1998 this race has been the stronghold of the likes of Wanganui Collegiate, Tauranga Girls, Wellington Girls, and Wellington East Girls.  Each team’s top 3 runners' overall placings are added together with the lowest overall total score used to determine the winning team.  

Unlike other secondary school events which have Junior, Intermediate and Senior age categories, this event is open to Year 9 to Year 13 athletes. This makes the race field large and fast.  Sascha earned an excellent 3rd place overall, recording a new PB for 1500m in 4:41.38 in the process.  Jodie led out for the early stages of the race and showed great strength to hold on for a very credible 6th placing in 4:48.30.  Nadia, the youngest athlete in the field, and who was drafted into the team at late notice, finished 24th place. The team's combined total saw TGS win the Challenge Trophy by a single point over Wellington East!  

Dianne Rodger, former two-time Olympian (1500m, 1976 Montreal and 3000m, 1984 Los Angeles) and 5th placing at the 1982 World Cross Country Championships, was on hand to present our winning TGS 1500m 3-person team with the Challenge Trophy.  

Kate Hallie earned an excellent 3rd place in the Open Women's Shot Put event, using a senior women’s shot put weight of 4kg. She set a new senior shot PB of 13.23m.  

Connor Brady (Year 9) sprinted to an excellent 1st place in the U16 100m hurdles in 15.90s and 6th place in the U18 Mens 300m hurdles in 46.50s. In both races, Connor was the youngest athlete in the field.

Congratulations to all our athletes doing TGS proud. 

Sascha Letica on the podium

Dianne Rodger presents the 1500m Secondary School Challenge Trophy that carries her name.

Article added: Monday 13 February 2023