Hayley Whiting was back among the medals, this time at the Pacific Mini Games. Photo supplied.Weightlifter Hayley Whiting has picked up another medal as she continues her journey towards the top of the game.

Whiting picked up a silver medal at the Pacific Mini Games earlier in the month, a result she said she was extremely pleased with.

“Looking at the level of the opposition it was the best I could do so I am really happy,” she said.

“The girl who won it was a lot better than me.

“With weightlifting every entrant has to give an entry weight for what they can lift and they are generally pretty honest so I knew that she was going to be better.”

Whiting lifted 78kg in the snatch, three below her competition best, while she was able to improve her best in clean and jerk to 98kg. The games were held in Vanuatu, with a local school serving as a makeshift village for the competitors.

“It was really interesting and beautiful as all the Pacific islands are,” she said.

“The village was a school and our accommodation was a classroom where they had taken all the desks and seats out and replaced them with bunk beds, so that was interesting.”

With Christmas and the New Year just around the corner, Whiting said competitions will die down for a while, but training will not, with her focus on preparing for plenty of competitions.

“With it being a Commonwealth Games year it is going to be very busy,” she said.

“Unfortunately I won’t be part of the New Zealand team for the Games but hopefully I can be selected for the Oceania Games.”

Whiting said selection for that competition will come down to how many competitors New Zealand elects to take.

“I would need to improve by a couple of kilos by then which I am confident I would be able to do,” she said.

“It might seem easy but actually making the gains up on the platform in competition can be quite challenging.

“Early on it can be easy to make kilo improvements at a time but later on it can be more difficult.”

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay© The Ashburton Guardian - 21 December 2017

Glenn Moore. Photo supplied.It is shaping up to be a busy month of awards ceremonies for Mid Canterbury’s Glenn Moore after he was nominated for the Buddle Findlay Coach of the Year at the upcoming Halberg Awards.

The award comes after Moore was also nominated for the coach of the year award at the New Zealand Rugby Awards.

It was a busy and successful year for the former Mid Canterbury player and coach, who won the World Cup with the Black Ferns in what was a dominant overall victory for the side at the tournament.

Moore also brought a winning touch to the Mid Canterbury Hammers, winning back-to-back Meads Cups in the 2013 and 2014, before jumping ship to coach in Super Rugby for the Blues.

Another Mid Canterbury connection in the nominations in netballer Kate Lloyd, who was part of the under-21 team that won the world championships in Botswana earlier this year.

The team was nominated for the team of the year award, alongside other teams including the All Whites, Black Sox, Black Ferns and Emirates Team New Zealand.

Sheep shearing, stand up paddleboarding and taekwon-do athletes are among the more than 70 nominations that have been received for six categories at what will be the 55th Halberg Awards, with 27 different sports represented in total.

The nominations go to the Halberg Awards Voting Academy for judging to be shortlisted into finalists.

Sixteen athletes from 12 sports have been put forward for the Sportsman of the Year award.

The hotly contested category includes Tom Walsh, Kane Williamson, Beauden Barrett, Brendon Hartley and Michael Venus.

The 2016 High Performance Sport New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year Lisa Carrington, is nominated again in the female category.

Carrington is joined by seven others including Ali Riley, Amy Satterthwaite, Portia Woodman, Roisin Giles and Sarah Goss.

Seven nominations have come in for the Halberg Disabled Sportsperson of the Year award including four time winner Sophie Pascoe.

Corey Peters, Holly Robinson, Jessica Hamill, Keegan Pitcher, Stephen Hills and William Stedman round out the list.

Nominees for the Disabled Sportsperson, Sportsman, Sportswoman and Team of the Year categories will all be eligible for the supreme Halberg Award – the country’s highest accolade for sporting excellence.

The award is presented to the athlete or team whose achievement is deemed by the judges as representing excellence in sport at the highest level.

The 55th Halberg Awards ceremony will be held on February 8.

Other awards presented during the ceremony include New Zealand’s Favourite Sporting Moment (public vote category), Sport New Zealand Leadership, Lifetime Achievement and inductees into the Sports Hall of Fame.

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 9 December 2017

Tainui Kuru. Photo suppliedWhen the touring musical Saturday Night Fever hit town this week, it was home-grown talent which took front and centre stage.

The lead role of Tony Manero was played by Tainui Kuru, an Ashburton local who has crafted a successful full time career from the performing arts.

The production has been touring New Zealand for around three weeks, delivering iconic tunes and classic 1970’s storyline at all the main centres in the North and South islands.

The show is often remembered for its disco, yet Kuru said it also deals with some “pretty heavy stuff”.

“It’s set in Brooklyn at the lower end of society … and in a similar political climate to now, so that’s kind of interesting,” he said.

In Ashburton it stopped for one show only on Wednesday night – giving Kuru a quick chance to reacquaint with his old stomping ground before hitting the road again.

The 2009 Ashburton College head boy and NASDA graduate now lives in Auckland and is always on the go when it comes to showbiz.

He’s racked up an impressive repertoire of roles in performances over the past eight years and is a self-confessed “triple threat”– a dancer, a singer and an actor.

But despite having his face feature on posters in green rooms around the country, Kuru said Saturday Night Fever is by far the busiest show he’s starred in yet.

“I’m on stage in every scene. In fact, I think I’m off stage for a maximum of five minutes … there’s some pretty crazy costume changes.”

It’s also mammoth in tour length, with 26 performances in total.

The show’s national tour launched in mid-November and will wrap up at the end of next week in Whangarei, after more than a month on the road.

“It is a long time to be performing,” Kuru said.

“But it’s slightly different each time.

“We just treat every show as brand new.”

And it’s an opportunity to see all his favourite spots around New Zealand.

“I always love going to Oamaru, because I like being in an old theatre and having that history.”

Most enjoyable of all?

Obviously Ashburton.

“It’s the most supportive crowd, with all my family and friends.”

Next on the cards for the successful Tainui is another tour in the new year – this time for a group called Operatunity, delivering a Rat Pack tribute to the greatest artists of the 20th century in a series of daytime concerts.

It’s all go, but the hard work and love of theatre runs in Kuru’s blood.

“I grew up in a family where labour was the norm – working for something was just part of the family,” he said.

“Theatre takes so much hunger and drive – but it’s worth it.”

By Katie Todd © The Ashburton Guardian - 8 December 2017