Sport

Sport continues to be a major victim of Covid restrictions.

Otago Rally Event Chairman Norman Oakley says after liaising with MotorSport New Zealand and Rally New Zealand, the April 8-10 event north, south and west of Dunedin is still alive.

The announcement came a day before the New Zealand Golf Open in Queenstown was cancelled. The loss of one of New Zealand’s preeminent international events was another economic body blow to the Queenstown Lakes district which has seen a series of high profile events succumb to Covid.

The Otago Rally is the first round of the National Championship, and incorporates the Classic and Allcomers fields. The field will include guest drivers Olympian Hamish Bond and NZ drifting star Dan Woolhouse.

The event, which has 270km of closed-road competition over 16 stages of fast, mainly public roads.

“If the country remains at Red, we will need to make a number of changes to what we had originally planned, but we are aided by the fact that, by its nature, rallying promotes social distancing, with the competitors spaced at oneminute intervals and the field spread out over many kilometres,” Oakley said.

The event provides a significant benefit to Dunedin’s accommodation and hospitality industry, in excess of 6,000 bed-nights on an ordinary year.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said he was disappointed at the cancellation of the New Zealand Open, but appreciated the fact organisers were committed to holding future events in Queenstown.

The news was another “huge blow” similar announcements from Warbirds over Wānaka, the Gibbston Valley Winery Summer Concert, Challenge Wānaka, Queenstown Home Show.

“Collectively these events would have brought enjoyment to many thousands of visitors and locals as well as injecting millions of muchneeded dollars into the district’s economy.

“Like me, I’m sure many folk thought we’d turned a corner at the end of the year and were looking forward to seeing visitor numbers gradually get back to decent levels, starting with domestic tourists before the Aussies and eventually the rest of the world returning. While these latest cancellations have knocked us back once again I remain optimistic that things will get better.”

He took heart from the district’s “outstanding” vaccination rate which he saw as a resolute commitment among our community “that we’re ready to welcome visitors and major events back just as soon as that’s possible”

The Wānaka Golf Club has opened its new season with two sets of trophy winners. John Elsom and Avril Templeton, pictured with sponsor Matt Laming (centre) won the Allan McCraw Trophy, a Four Ball Better Ball Stableford competition which attracted 107 players. The pair chalked up a whopping 52 stableford points. Malcolm Burgess and Bill Hunter combined to win the men’s Mr Golf trophy.

Wānaka rowers came home with a gold, silver and a bronze from last weekend’s South Island Rowing Championships on Lake Ruataniwha, Twizel.

The club’s masters - AJ Humphreys, Rachel O'Connell – won medals in both of their outings: bronze in men’s quad sculls, and gold in the mixed masters double sculls.

A fine performance from the Women’s Novice Coxed Four of Lucy Maibach (stroke) Annie Wells, Lucy Ritchie, Isabella Nobel-Kirkbride and Thomas Mitchell earned them a silver medal.

A team of 21 rowers - 13 novices, three intermediates and three masters – competed over a hot and dry weekend. The temperature on the Saturday was a steady 32 degrees.

The occasional gusty period resulted in an abbreviated programme for both days – but the team was happy with their races at this mid-season point.

There were clear segregated zones, and strict entry restrictions were enforced to comply with the traffic light status. A changed layout had all crews launching from directly in front of their team bases in closely monitored zones and organisers won praise for their running of the event.

There were encouraging performances across all events.

Jem Curtis continued his great season, only narrowly falling outside the medals in the Men’s Intermediate Single Sculls, while Anton Jones competing in the boys’ u17 Single Sculls showed improving form to place midfield in his heat against some strong opposition.

Thomas Mitchell had a busy schedule with both cox and seat responsibilities and showed stamina in both the Men’s Novice Double Sculls, with the rapidly improving Phillip Massey, and teaming up with Anton in the boys’ u16 Double Sculls.

There were also solid efforts from the novice girls competing in both fours and quads. Chloe Murray, Abbey Pederson, Ashley Peat and Annika Massey are making steady progress in their boat as the season unfolds, while Jess Gould (Intermediate), Skye Watson, Lucy Radford and Ruby Laming managed the hot conditions well and benefited from another chance to compete against some big well drilled fields.

Annie and Lucy teamed up for a tough A final in the Women’s Novice Double Sculls and finished a credible 5th. They will be working hard between now and the South Island Secondary Schools Regatta in March to improve their times.

The highlight on the Wānaka schedule was the Women’s Novice Coxed Eight with the team managing a much-improved outing in the big boat from the last regatta. There were smiles all round following what was an exciting and very entertaining race.

Queenstown will host six international women’s cricket fixtures and a warm-up at John Davies Oval this month.

The White Ferns take on India in a short-form series featuring one T20 and five one-day internationals.

“Playing six matches at John Davies Oval gives us the opportunity to showcase Queenstown and our capacity to host international fixtures,” Queenstown Lakes mayor Jim Boult said.

“It’s also great for our emerging cricket community to see the talented White Ferns battle one of the best sides in the world.”

“We’re grateful to New Zealand Cricket for their attention to detail in preparing a meticulous safety plan that allows for the series to continue and for choosing Queenstown as the host venue.”

John Davies Oval was originally meant to host two games but will now host six games as New Zealand Cricket has decided to implement their contingency plan to mitigate the risk of an Omicron outbreak compromising upcoming fixtures.

The matches will be broadcast on Spark Sport and the T20 will be live on TV1.

The first match, a warm-up, is on Sunday. Competitive clashes follow on February 9, 11, 14, 6, 22 and 24.

Professional Trustworthy Friendly Reliable