In search of a history
New Zealand film producer and public speaker Anna Wilding is now writing regularly for the TennisGrandStand site, and in her first column, as the US Open approaches, she writes about her great uncle, tennis legend Captain Anthony Wilding and the "hallowed grounds" of Forest Hills, New York. "My 'Uncle Tony' actually played his last match in America at Forest Hills, before being killed in the war in 1915 at the tender age of 32. In that time, he also won bronze at the Olympics," Wilding explains. "In The New York Times in 1915, W. De B. Whyte wrote the following: 'In tennis [Anthony Wilding] was always the soul of honour; as courteous and gallant a player as ever set foot in an American court. He was the last man ever to excuse himself for poor form or indifferent play.'"
(19 August 2008)

Colorado's horse surgeon 
New Zealand-born veterinarian and world authority on equine joints, Dr Wayne McIlwraith is the director of Colorado State University's Equine Orthopaedic Research Center, each year performing as many as 500 surgeries on racing thoroughbreds. In his role at the EORC - the most prominent and largest of the handful of such facilities in the United States - McIlwraith conducts and oversees research in the quest to make horseracing safer. This is done primarily in two ways: firstly, coming up with and refining testing procedures that can detect bone problems in racehorses that can make them prone to breakdowns and secondly, researching racing surfaces, whether dirt or synthetic. "In a perfect world, and I don't think this is unreasonable, I feel that if an owner buys a yearling, he is just as responsible for that horse's well-being as if they had a kid," McIlwraith says. McIlwraith qualified as a veterinarian from Massey University in 1970 and then completed his surgical residency and PhD at Purdue University, in Indiana. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from Massey University in 2003, the first veterinary graduate to receive such an honour. 
(14 June 2008)

Snell's still running 
Olympic champion and New Zealand's greatest athlete of the 20th century Peter Snell looks back over the last 70 years and discusses, age, Auckland and Arthur Lydiard. Now based in Dallas and a distinguished sports scientist, Snell has researched a scientific basis for the revolutionary training methods devised half a century ago by Lydiard. "I wasn't from his suburb in Auckland, I ended up being there. And I was attracted by the results he was getting," said Snell. He became the outstanding individual in the Lydiard stable. Today, his aim is to demonstrate personally that daily exercise can delay if not halt the ageing process and relieve the symptoms of osteoarthritis. "I am also motivated by my own sort of mortality." 
(6 March 2008)

Going the distance 
NZ distance runner Kim Smith came second in the Continental Fifth Avenue Mile, held in New York on 30 September. The 24-year-old was a four-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion while at Providence College in Rhode Island, New York, where she still lives. After health problems kept her from competing in this year's Commonwealth Games, she has high hopes for the 2007 athletics World Champs and 2008 Olympics. 
(2 October 2006)

Marks takes a bow
Tall Blacks star, Sean Marks, has announced his retirement from NZ basketball, after helping the San Antonio Spurs to victory in the NBA final. “I've given it a lot of thought and it was a tough decision to come by,” he says. “I've had a great run with the Tall Blacks and I've cherished every moment with the guys … they have been some of the best moments of my basketball career.” After attending the University of California Berkeley, Marks became the first NZer to be drafted for the NBA. He has played for the New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs.
(29 June 2005)
  

 
Dunkin' Dream
Kiwi Kirk Penney describes 2000 as "just dream after dream" after playing in the NCAA final four and the Olympics in one year.
(25 September 2000)
           

 
Pete Sampras follows historic Kiwi footsteps at Wimbledon
Kiwi contribution to a tennis legacy: "No man in this century has dominated the world's only important grasscourt tournament quite like Sampras. Not Hugh Doherty. Not the dashing New Zealander Tony Wilding. Not Fred Perry. Not Rod Laver. Boris Becker or even Bjorn Borg." 
(26 June 2000)   
           

With time in hand Tait wins Rolex Three-Day Event
Blyth Tait of New Zealand, had a clear final round and no time faults to win on an untried horse, Welton Envoy.
(30 April 2000) 
           

"Go you good thing, go" - Kiwi Kingz supporters hailed as best in NSL
How good are the Auckland Kingz fans?  Up there with the best, it seems. While the Kingz may have enjoyed a topsy-turvy season, their fans have consistently been hailed as the best in the NSL - and that includes the hardcore of Northern Spirit and Perth Glory supporters.
(27 April 2000)           

Kiwis' towering achievement in Kuala Lumpur
New Zealanders showed their domination at the Kuala Lumpur International Towerathon 2000 in both the men's and women's categories.  Jonathan Wyatt broke his own record to win the event, climbing the 2,058 steps of the tower in 10.39s. Kiwi Melissa Moon won the women's category in 13.24s.
(14 May 2000)
        

I'm gonna be a contender
David Tua has the respect of World Heavyweight boxing champ Lennox Lewis, "I think Tua deserves a shot". A possible title fight is lined up for later this year.
(1 May 2000)
           

Today in History:
Hillary's Everest ascent remembered LA Times remembers Hillary and Tenzing's historic achievement in being the first to reach the top of the world's tallest mountain.  
(29 May 2000) 
     

Trumps in Mexico 
Whangarei triathlete Sam Warriner, 37, took gold at the Huatulco BG World Cup in Mexico and with the win becomes the 2008 BG Triathlon World Cup series champion. Warriner was victorious in a time of 2 hours 14 minutes and 2 seconds. "This is what I wanted," said Warriner, who came within five points of second overall last year. "This is a fairytale ending to the year. I've worked so hard for this." In the men's event, Palmerston North-based Kris Gemmell made it a New Zealand sweep of the gold medals in a time of 2 hours 3 minutes and 23 seconds, giving the 31-year-old his fourth career world cup victory. Warriner previously collected her sixth ITU BG World Cup title with victory in Tongyeong, South Korea in April. 
(27 October 2008)

Triumph for the Ferns 
The Silver Ferns have won the deciding netball test against England 61-22 in the best of three series final in Palmerston North. Both teams came out firing on Saturday night but it was the Silver Ferns who hit a five-goal streak early on to take the lead. Irene van Dyk, playing her 90th test for New Zealand, showed her class with the elusive 100 per cent game for 41 goals. Ferns coach Ruth Aitken praised her team's success: "It's been a very up and down week ... Obviously, they have done really well and I am very proud of them - I think we were really committed." The team next takes on Australia in the Holden Test Series in Melbourne on October 26, then again in Brisbane on November 2. 
(18 October 2008)

On board solo 
Rob Thomson, 28, a Canterbury University arts graduate from Christchurch, has completed the longest unassisted skateboard journey ever made, travelling for 462 days over 12,000km from Leysin, Switzerland across Europe, North America and China to Shanghai. Thomson said other long distance skateboarding feats had involved support teams and he had wanted to do his unaided, carrying his own gear and being self-sufficient. "I took a couple of years of my life to put myself outside of my comfort zone," he told New Zealand's National Radio. After a rest in Shanghai, Thompson will return to New Zealand and bike from Auckland home to Christchurch. He hopes to have the odyssey recognised by Guinness World Records. 
(3 October 2008)

Dixon's Big Apple re-run 
On 23 October 1983, Nelson-born middle distance runner Rod Dixon raced past UK-emigrant Geoff Smith and won the New York City Marathon raising his hands to the sky in victory. The winning snapshot is not unlike that of Muhammad Ali's celebrated moment of victory against Sonny Liston at Lewiston in 1965; in New York in 1983 it came after more than two hours of pounding the streets of the city's five boroughs at close to world-record pace. "I've got a copy of the picture here," Dixon, 58, said from his office in Los Angeles with the 25th anniversary fast approaching of the New Zealander's epic tussle with Smith, the one-time Liverpool fireman, who lies prone in exhaustion to the rear of Dixon in the famous image. As it is, a quarter of a century on, Dixon is getting ready to return to New York as a hero. On 2 November he will run in the ING New York Marathon alongside one of his daughters, Emma, 29. "It will be an amazing experience for me to run the marathon with Emma," he said. "I still love to run. I don't have to win or be the fastest. I just like to go out and connect with the emotional, physical and spiritual part of running." Since 2006, Dixon has helped coach the LA Roadrunners — a Los Angeles Marathon training club open to the public. 
(12 October 2008)

Taking on the Chutes
The fourth annual Volkl NZ Freeski Open held at Treble Cone in late August, marking the season opener of the international ski calendar, saw Dunedin's Alastair Eason and Wanaka's Janina Kuzma take the top spots in the The Big Mountain competition at Mototapu Chutes. Eason's gutsy line choice conjured a roar of applause from the crowd as he put down the run of the day, with perfect landings off 15 meter-high cliffs and fluid, smooth skiing. "I'm really happy to have finally nailed it," said Eason. "I've placed second once, and third twice over the past few years so I'm stoked!" Kuzma topped the field in the women's category with a score of 80 out of 100. Her spectacular cliff drops were backed up by faultless skiing and smooth, clean lines. "So super happy to win again," Kuzma said. "In the morning the snow was super firm, but the sun was shining and the weather was fantastic." 
(4 September 2008)

From within the soul
Lower Hutt runner Nick Willis surged forward in the final moments of the men's 1500m for third place, in a race Willis' University of Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said the 25-year-old "always had the talent to do." "Wow. What a night for New Zealand. What a night for Michigan," said Warhurst. Willis said all the training was worth it. "There's 91,000 people screaming for you. You just get it. It comes back from al the training you've done, the speed work on the track, the 22-mile runs. That's where you get it from." Willis said his mind and soul were split between two continents as he took a long victory lap around the Bird's Nest. John Walker, who won gold in the 1500m at Montreal in 1976, told NZPA it was an "outstanding performance" in a competition where two of the top ranked runners in the world had failed to even make the semis. In cycling news at the Beijing Olympics, New Zealand's men's pursuit team also won bronze. 
(20 August 2008)

Gold in the Bird's Nest 
Auckland athlete Valerie Vili, 23, has won a gold medal in shot put at the Beijing Olympics, the first for New Zealand in track and field since John Walker's gold in the 1500m at Montreal in 1976. The reigning world outdoor and indoor champion clinched victory with a best throw of 20.56m. Vili produced the three best throws of the competition, following up her opening statement-maker with 20.40m, 20.26, 20.01 and 20.52 in as sustained a spell of athletic brilliance as you'll ever see. "I wanted to put the pressure on from the start and I could do that with the first round throw," said Vili. "I was really happy to get a personal best. It was an amazing feeling. It was a very long, exciting and nerve-racking competition because you can never put your guard down with the Belarussians up against you." 
(16 August 2008)

Macchiato marathon 
The 182-strong New Zealand Olympic team will have flat whites and long blacks on tap in Beijing thanks to award-winning barista Julianne Frith, 21, from Auckland, who was selected by a panel of former Olympians and Beijing chef de mission Dave Currie. Currie said it was difficult to get a good cup of coffee at the 2004 Athens' Games. "So one of the sponsors ran a competition and this young woman had to have a test and face a selection panel and she came up trumps," he said. Frith is expected to make up to 500 cups of coffee a day, though Currie said he did not expect any problems with caffeine being on the World Anti-Doping Agency's monitoring list after previously being a banned substance. 
(23 July 2008)

Joltin' with the Jays 
Aucklander Scott Campbell, 23, shook hands with Joe DiMaggio in 1995 as a New Zealand representative at the World Children's Baseball Fair in Japan and this week, 13 years later, Campbell played Dimaggio's Yankee Stadium, as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays in the Futures Game. An annual component of All-Star Week, the event showcases top minor-league prospects in a game that pits a United States club against a team of players from other nations. Campbell, now a second baseman, was nine when his mother saw a newspaper ad for a children's baseball program. "No other sport really jumped out at me, so I just decided to give it a go," he said. He was a natural. In 2006, Toronto made him the first New Zealander ever drafted.
(13 July 2008)

Wood choppin' win 
Auckland lumberjack Dion Lane, 31, has sawn and chopped his way to overall victory at the Midwestern Lumberjack Championships held in Rochester, United States, beating fellow New Zealander and brother-in-law Jason Wynyard. Lane competed in the event for the ninth year in a row and after seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths, he finally won the men's overall championship. "It's about time," the 350-pound giant said. Lane has been competing in timber sports for 14 years. New Zealander Sheree Taylor, a three-time Midwestern winner, was runner-up on the women's leader board. 
(23 June 2008)

Big Red mystery solved 
Renowned New Zealand-bred gelding Phar Lap, who won 37 of his 51 starts and the 1930 Melbourne Cup was killed by arsenic poisoning in 1932, scientists have confirmed after decades of speculation. A handwritten notebook of homeopathic recipes used by his trainer Harry Telford, auctioned in Melbourne in April, revealed arsenic and strychnine among the ingredients in the tonics and ointments he used on his horses. Forensic results released at Melbourne Museum showed Phar Lap had ingested a large dose of arsenic in the last 30 to 40 hours of his life in California. His skeleton is displayed at Te Papa, his mounted hide at the Melbourne Museum, and his heart at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. 
(19 June 2008)

Double victory 
New Zealanders Bevan Docherty and Samantha Warriner each made podium finishes in the triathlon world championships in Vancouver, Docherty taking second place in the men's elite and Warriner third in the women's. New Zealand-born Matt Reed, who now represents the US, was fifth. Docherty enjoyed his victory with a burger and fries. "With the sacrifices we make, we've got to treat ourselves once in a while," he said. The triathletes had to contend with unseasonably cool and damp weather; the water for the swim was about 11°C. Warriner couldn't believe her placing. "This is such a big boost to me to claim a medal in these circumstances ... I'm stoked," she said. 
(9 June 2008)