Selwyn Times: February 20, 2019

30 Wednesday February 20 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
SELWYN TIMES
Prebbleton to honour rugby stalwarts
• By Jacob Page
FOUR OF Prebbleton rugby’s
most loyal stalwarts will be
honoured with life memberships
over Easter.
Alistar Busch, Steve Laughton,
Karl Challis and current
Prebbleton club president Jeromy
Knowler will all be recognised for
more than 130 years of combined
service at the
club’s centenary
celebrations over
Easter weekend.
Busch contributed
more than
20 years and
Alistar Busch
300-plus senior
games in the 70s
and 80s and said
the club “has been my life.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled. It’s
been the biggest part of my life
for all of my life.”
Busch’s father Allan was also
a life member of the club after
shifting the family to the area
after World War II.
Busch was part of the 1974
division one team which won the
Ellesmere competition.
While he now lives in
Ashburton, Busch played an
essential role in fundraising and
building the current clubrooms
by carting concrete blocks,
cement and iron and also had a
• By Jacob Page
THE LAUNCH of the athletics
facilities at Nga Puna Wai will
be a positive for the Selwyn
Athletics Club.
Senior athlete co-ordinator
Troy McGillicuddy said the new
facilities will help the club, which
has been going for five seasons,
keep succeeding and growing.
Sewlyn athletes will compete
at Nga Puna Wai in the Athletics
Canterbury Championships
over the weekend and at the
New Zealand Track and Field
Championships on March 8-9.
“Nga Puna Wai is a great
facility that will only get better
and it certainly helps with our
athletes no longer having to head
to Nelson or Timaru.”
hand in the drainage for the
No 1 field.
Knowler said it was a huge
honour for him as the young one
in the group to be recognised
with three stalwarts of the club.
“I’m probably the young one on
the block but it’s exciting because
I still have many years left to give
to the club,” he said.
Knowler began as a division
The club continues to grow
with more than 220 active
participants this year, ranging
from the junior to masters level.
“Now 48 of those are at a senior
level and we’ve really seen the
numbers boom over the last
three player in 1999 before
focusing on the JAB ranks as a
coach and club captain before
becoming vice president in 2012
and then president from 2014
onwards.
Laughton has been a selfconfessed
“dogs body around the
place” since 1981.
He’s done almost every job
imaginable from player, coach
three years as we have established
ourselves,” McGillicuddy said.
He said athlete retention from
junior to senior is key to the
club’s future.
“We find it can be hard to keep
athletes around that age of 14 and
and club captain to working
bee organiser and bread and
bun supplier for fundraising
barbecues.
“Back when I first became club
captain we had nine teams,” he
said. “Now you look and we have
27 teams.”
Laughton, who still marks the
fields for teams to train on, said
he loved the family atmosphere.
keep them coming back.”
“We have the Athletics
Canterbury Championships and
the New Zealand Track and Field
Championships here and both
should be cracker events.”
With talented 17-year-old
SPORTS
LOYALTY: Jeromy Knowler
(left), Steve Laughton and
Karl Challis, along with Alistar
Busch, will be awarded
Prebbleton Rugby Club
life memberships at the
centenary celebrations over
Easter. PHOTO: JACOB PAGE
Challis is the current senior
club captain and has been on the
club committee since 1989.
He started as a JAB player in
1977 and played 10 years in the
division one team from 1989-
1999 where he also captained the
team for five seasons.
Challis said he never thought
about such an honour when he
first started more than 40 years
ago.
“It’s my club and it’s been really
great to see it grow and have the
success that we are having at
present,” he said.
Last year, Challis coached the
Prebbleton under-18 team which
won the Ellesmere competition.
Selwyn athletes prepare for big events at Nga Puna Wai
TEAM: Selwyn Athletics Club members preparing for their upcoming competitions at a club
night last week.
PHOTO: SELWYN ATHLETICS CLUB
sprinter Maia Broughton – who
has won medals at a national level
– in their ranks, and 15-year-old
400m runner Jack Rodgers also
impressing, McGillicuddy said
young athletes can see a pathway
in the sport through the club.
“Athletics is a sport for life and
you create friendships that last a
long time,” he said.
“We have those top athletes but
we want to create an atmosphere
of participation and family.
“We’re working with Parafed
Canterbury to include athletes
with disabilities and try to make
the club as inclusive as possible.”
•Anyone who wants to
give athletics a go can get
in touch with the club at
selwyn.athletics@gmail.com
•More sport, pages 31-34
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