Athletics

A nationally ranked distance running coach, Graeme Christey is passionate about supporting and training young athletes to compete in track and field, road race and cross-country events. He has been coaching for more than 20 years, both at College and for the Papanui Toc H Athletics Club. Graeme has coached many athletes to secondary school, Canterbury and national titles, as well as preparing New Zealand representatives for international meets. Several of his students have been offered athletics scholarships to American universities.

Graeme was the SPARC Canterbury–Westland Volunteer Coach of the Year in 2009 and received the Athletics Canterbury Community Service for Coaching award in 2018.

MiC Outdoor Education and Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award

A former competitive athlete with a lifetime’s passion for the outdoors, Graeme is a leader in College’s Outdoor Education. Since 2000, he has attended most College-run camps for Years 9–10. The Year 10 programme is designed for every boy to achieve the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Adventurous Journey, incorporated in the Immerse & Inspire Programme. He finds the positive impact of the outdoors – where students improve their fitness and strength, gain self-confidence, and challenge and surprise themselves – to be inspirational. For Graeme, a personal highlight was taking a group to the jungle in Borneo in December 2019. He is delighted to see both the re-emergence of the Venture Group at College, and more staff becoming involved in the Outdoor Education programme.

Tom Turner has been coaching since 1980. He started with the Papanui Redwood Club and is now with Papanui Toc H. Tom coaches pole vault and high jump, but can also coach sprints.

He believes gymnastic training is one of the cornerstones of athletic ability and runs a winter gym, based on gymnastic principles, for College students every year.

Tom’s coaching philosophy is that athletes must enjoy what they are doing, have a positive outlook, and have fun both in training and competition.

Old Boy Yo-An Lin has coached the College athletics throwing team since 2009 and also coaches at the Papanui Toc H Club. He has competed in various national athletics championships. Yo-An encourages his athletes to be confident in their events and always strive to do their best.

Representing New Zealand at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990 was a highlight of Bev Peterson’s athletics career. Her records still stand today. Passionate about athletics, Bev now coaches promising young runners, with College benefiting from her skills and experience.