Newsletter #2 2010

HANDICAP RACE  17^th November –next week

How it works

All runners who have taken part over the past season will be given a starting time based on their times. To make it easy we will give you a card with your time in the Transponder box.

It will say eg

Dot King – 05:20

Jon Thompson – 12:12

Kerry Suter  -  16:19

The first person (walker) will start at  0:00

There will be a clock at the start line which will be started when the person on go (0:00) starts. You will start when the clock reads your time.

Eg Dot King would start when the clock says 05:20

In theory all runners would finish together if they did their estimated times.

Any one who hasn’t run before will be given an estimated handicap but the handicaps will favour those who have run before.

Wear your transponder

First man and women across the line wins the beer – wine.

Handicapped races are HEAPS of fun for everyone and we’d really love to see you there!

“His quiet efficiency, unflappable manner and huge knowledge of the sport are skills that will be missed in the Waikato but will be well used in his new role. We thank him for his 36 year contribution to athletics in Hamilton.”
Don Willoughby, Chairman, Hamilton City Hawks.

Acknowledgement of Brett’s efforts was extensive, as a number of individuals praised his work in various sporting areas. Hawks Chairman Don Willoughby talked about Brett’s huge involvement in athletics in Hamilton over the last 36 years. This is summarised below:

In 1973, the ‘slim teenager’ from Hamilton Boys High took part in high jump at the inaugural NZSS Track and Field Champs at Christchurch. He came under the care of club coach Paul Luckie who persuaded Brett to concentrate on decathlons and he later won a silver medal in the nationals at Dunedin in 1978. Such was Brett’s passion for athletics that he became a committee member for the Hamilton Athletic Club early on and over the next 15 years held every key post in the club except treasurer. Debbie and Chris Strange have told some great stories of the social activities that occurred during this period. Brett was made a life member of the club for his outstanding volunteer contribution to the sport.

During the ‘80s and ‘90s Brett became a key member of AWBOP management team and a regular manager of centre teams to nationals. During the early ‘80s he was a prime mover of the amalgamation of all Hamilton sections of the sport into the Hamilton City Hawks.

Above: Brett is presented with a medal and a plaque by Don Willoughby

The next logical step for Brett was managing national teams to international events overseas. He started with Oceania Champs at Nuku’aloafa 1998 and quickly graduated into IAAF World Champs teams, going to the first ever IAAF World Youth Champs at Bydgoszcz Poland 1999, and Debrecan Hungary in 2001 for the 2nd IAAF World Youth Champs where Val Adams won her first world title. In 2001 he managed the large NZ team to the Sydney Youth Olympics. In 2002 he was in exotic Kingston Jamaica for the World Junior Champs, where Val Adams took her second world gold and Nick Willis was 4th in the 1500. Brett has managed 11 teams to internationals since then, including the World Junior Championships at Grossetto Italy 2004, World University Games in Bangkok 2007 and more recently World Juniors at Beijing – an event he didn’t quite make after succumbing to a gallbladder emergency operation while at a pre-Beijing Queensland training camp.

In 1999 Brett was appointed as a SportsForce Athletic Development officer with Sport Waikato and over the next decade gained a reputation nationally for running hugely successful courses in coach education, official education and event management. Many of the work practices and initiatives that Brett has developed with Sport Waikato are now the template for other RSO’s nationally. During the last decade Brett has spent hundreds of hours as a volunteer in athletics, assisting the Hamilton City Hawks, WBOP Secondary Schools Association and the WBOP centre in many areas of the sport.

Announcing, results collation, news media work, event director, statistician, web management, sport analyst, and completing grant funding applications are just a few of the areas where Brett’s expertise, energy and passion for the sport have shone through. He has been especially adept at listening to and resolving disputes in the sport and at filling spots which occurred on committees and at events. His quiet efficiency, unflappable manner and huge knowledge of the sport are skills that will be missed in the Waikato but will be well used in his new role as Sport Manager for Athletics New Zealand. We thank him for his 36 year contribution to athletics in Hamilton.

Don Willoughby
Chairman
Hamilton City Hawks