Applications submitted to the Kauri Club, from Northland Regional Sports Organisations for grants for talented young Northland sportspeople, saw nine athletes from six sports codes receive funding. Applications are assessed by the Northland Sports Talent Development Panel made up of representatives from the Far North, Kaipara and Whangarei Districts and Sport Northland. This funding will mainly assist the athletes to cover some of the many expenses incurred in travelling to events outside the region.

These new grants will now make a total of $197,500 being allocated to talented Northland Sportspeople since the Kauri Club was formed in 2000 from funding received from the family of the late Garry Frew and the Brian Maunsell Memorial Trust fund.

Richard Drake, Northland Sports Talent Development Panel Chairman says “The panel was very impressed with the level of talent coming forward to make applications to the Kauri Club and we are very pleased to be able to assist these up and coming athletes with grants to help them with the costs associated with traveling for their sports”.

Also during this judging round, the new athletes for the Educare Northland Sports Talent Hub were selected. Eight athletes were chosen for the regional talent development programme to assist them with reaching their high performance sporting goals through providing local support services and education. Many of these athletes have been previous Kauri Club grant recipients who compete regularly outside of the region to achieve national honours and selection.

Northland also had one new Pathway to Podium athlete selected by their National Sporting Organisation to be part of the Northland Pathway to Podium programme. Nau Puriri was selected by Paralympics NZ in the Para-cycling discipline to help him excel towards being selected for the World Champs in 2018 and Tokyo Paralympics in 2020.

April 2016 Kauri Club Recipients:

Billie Scott (Whg) – Surfing

Max Brunker (Whg) – Surfing

Benjamin Orchard (Maungaturoto) – Field Archery

Zoe Espie (Whg) – Gymsports

Sophia Cosson (Whg) – Gymsports

Belinda May (Whg) – Golf

Tynika May Lafaele-Edwards (Whg) – Karate

Jeremy Elliot (Opua) – Swimming

Paul Linton (Bream Bay) – Swimming

2016 Educare Northland Sports Talent Hub Athletes:

Callum Hill (Whg) – Orienteering

Cameron Lindsay (Whg) – Hockey

Zachary Litchfield (Whg) – Hockey

Lisa Mather (Opua) – Netball

Jessica Pilmer (Whg) – Hockey

Kacey Potae (Paihia) – Netball

Nau Puriri (Whg) – Para-Cycling – Pathway to Podium

Annabell Simpson (Whg) – Swimming

Ciara Smith (Whg) - Swimming