Masters win 10 Oceania medals

Cook Islands masters athletes will make their way home this week with 10 medals won at the Oceania Masters Athletics in New Zealand last week.

The nine-member Cooks team was one of the smallest at the week-long champs with the main teams coming from New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia.

Nevertheless the Cook Islands athletes were still competitive against the larger teams winning five silver medals and five bronze.

Silver medals were won by Terai Hill in the javelin while veteran racer David Lobb picked up three silver medals in the long jump, triple jump and pentathlon events.

Bernadette Raffe picked up the last silver medal in the 5000m walking event.

Paul Allsworth won two bronze medals from the 60m and 100m sprint events while Jennie George picked up a bronze of her own in the steeplechase race.

Mama Mongoose Ake Hosea-Winterflood jumped her way to a bronze in the long jump event.

But it has been reported that the event the Cook Islands athletes were most prominent in was the evening social function where Hill and Hosea dominated the dance floor entertaining fellow athletes with Cook Islands dancing that deserved a gold medal.

The next masters champs will be held in Bendigo, Australia. The Cook Islands will host the following championships in October 2015.