Cambridge athletes have won 18 medals at the annual Zespri AIMS Games in Tauranga.
Hautapu School’s 2024 AIMS Games team (back, from left) Alexa Winslade, Elena Quinn, Callista Davis-Beer, Sinead De’Ath, Sophie Vanin, Greta Bailey, Quinn McGovern and Olivia Spence and (front, from left) Celia Hawthorne, Kayla McGovern, Tennyson Brook, Maia Coakley and Tyla Bevan.
Australasia’s largest junior sporting event was held from September 7-13 this year, attracting 12,500 competitors from 397 schools.
St Peter’s Cambridge sent 84 students to compete in 12 individual sports and six team sports.
Bringing home medals were Archie Barron (gold, canoe slalom), Paige Van der Heyden (gold, gymnastic beam), Anna Phillipps (silver, year 8 girls’ cross country) and Cooper Moana (bronze, trampolining). Carl Rydin made the podium twice for tennis, collecting silver in division two singles and pairing up with Noa Teunissen to take bronze in the mixed doubles.
Cambridge Middle School had its most successful year ever at the games, sending 129 athletes who won 12 medals.
Year 8 student Arthur Tilghman on the attack for Cambridge Middle School’s AIMS Games football team at Gordon Spratt Reserve in Papamoa on September 10.
Mila Moore got the team off to a flying start in the year 7 girls’ 3km cross country race at Waipuna Park on September 8, beating 145 runners to win in 11m42s.
“After I crossed the line I looked for my parents and I was like, this can’t be real, it can’t be real,” she said.
The 12-year-old said running was her “favourite thing to do” but she trained mostly by swimming 3-4 times a week.
“I actually don’t do much running, but I had been training with the Harriers club in Cambridge for the last four weeks leading up to AIMS.”
She followed up the win with a second gold medal in the year 7 girls’ cross country mountain biking event, despite some serious pre-race jitters.
Year 8 student Arthur Tilghman on the attack for Cambridge Middle School’s AIMS Games football team at Gordon Spratt Reserve in Papamoa on September 10.
“We went to the AIMS mountain bike course a week prior to the race just to check out the course,” she said.
“I actually hadn’t been on my mountain bike – or literally any bike – for five months. The course was wet and really slippy and there was debris everywhere…I was like, I can’t do that; it’s wet, there are roots, sticks, pinecones, I can’t get down there. I can’t even walk down there. But it just happened that the weekend of the AIMS Games the course was perfectly dry and it was perfect mountain biking weather.”
Mila, whose parents Anke and Bill Moore are former professional cyclists, said she had never considered herself a good mountain biker.
“I was surprised, I was like, wow!”
She was the only Cambridge competitor to win two AIMS gold medals this year.
“They’re hanging on my mirror,” she said, speaking to Cambridge News on Monday night. “I’m looking at them now and I’m like, oh wow. They’re pretty shiny and they’re kind of hurting my eyes, but it just gives you a sense of wow, I did that. I really did that.”
She said the games were “like a mini Olympics”.
“The vibe was just amazing. Everything was super well organised and it was so well laid out; everything was so straightforward. I think what I enjoyed the most was that for the boys’ futsal final most of the Cambridge people – anyone who had spare time – came down to the stadium to cheer the team on.”
Two other Cambridge Middle School competitors won gold medals this year.
Thirteen-year-old Jakob Robbers won the year 8 boys’ team kayaking relay with two students from other schools and took silver in the year 8 boys’ individual kayaking event.
He celebrated with pizza.
Sarah Hirini at Aims Games opening ceremony. Photo: Alysha Gill
“It’s quite life changing; it’s an amazing experience,” he said. “It’s given me more confidence than I had. Kayaking’s become the sport I’m committed to, it’s the one I’ll keep training for.”
He was grateful to his coaches Jake Koekemoer and Tim Waller and to Olympian Max Brown, who had supported and encouraged him.
“It does mean a lot to me,” he said. “It’s the top one per cent of kids in AIMS who win medals – my mum and I did some calculations.”
Also winning gold for Cambridge Middle School was rock climber Josie Taylor, who competed in top rope, boulder and speed climbing.
“I couldn’t really believe it,” said the year 8 student, who has been climbing about four years and trains four times a week in Hamilton.
“This is my first medal in climbing. It inspires me to keep training and working my way up.”
She said she loved the problem-solving aspect of rock climbing.
“I love the feeling when you top a climb that you’ve been working on for ages.”
Athletes play with students at Aims Games opening ceremony. Photo: Alysha Gill.
Piper Ward was another standout for Cambridge Middle School, clinching three individual gymnastics medals – silver in vault and bronze in rhythmic ribbon and aerobics. Her teammate Pippa Moore added to the tally with silver in tumbling.
Emily Cameron won silver in the year 8 girls’ cross country mountain biking event.
The boys’ futsal team brought home silver after losing a hard-fought final against Saint Kentigern Boys’ School, finishing second out of 40 teams.
The boys’ 7 aside hockey team finished third in their pool of 21, defeating Tauranga Intermediate School in a tense bronze medal match.
Their coach, Stephen Butcher, said the tournament had been “amazing”.
“Our group of talented young men were able to overcome adversity by picking themselves up after the semi-final loss to Tauranga, coming back the next day to win the bronze medal in an all or nothing game,” he said.
“I thought it was very courageous from the group, who really hung in after being 2-1 down and came back to win 4-2.
“We will have this moment forever locked in our hearts as a first AIMS hockey medal for CMS and myself.”
Students at the Aims Games opening ceremony. Photo: Alysha Gill
Cambridge Middle School sports coordinator Anita Hawkins said the 7 aside girls’ netball team, coached by Nic Pettit, had also done “incredibly well” to finish 8th out of 136 teams.
She said making the podium at AIMS was a “special achievement”.
“There are hours of training and learning and losing and making mistakes – lots of resilience – that goes into this,” she said.
“I feel incredibly proud because the students worked very, very hard to get to where they are…and these medals are at a national level.”
Hautapu School was also in on the action, sending a girls’ hockey team, two swimmers and two cross country runners to compete at the games.
The hockey girls placed 16th out of 24 teams.
In cross country, Tennyson Brook completed the year 7 boys’ course in 14.6 minutes and Elena Quinn finished the year 8 girls’ race in 14.21 minutes.
Office manager Geraldine Kavanagh said swimmers Quinn and Kayla McGovern “had a great experience and came away with a number of personal bests”.
Cambridge Middle School goal keeper Kahurangi Quinlan defends hard in an AIMS Games pool game against Bethlehem College in Mount Maunganui on September 9.
