Athletics season finished

And another athletics season is over.

This season we were interrupted in our training by a month-long trip to China over Christmas and the New Year.  It was definitely worth it, but it made it harder to get top performances when we only trained two or three times the entire time we were over there.

Mulan:

This season Mulan got new personal bests in triple jump (10.44m), long jump (4.67m), heptathlon (3026 points), 200m (29.40s), 800m (2:50.68s), 600g javelin (19.92m) and 4kg shot put (8.00m).  She got the Takapuna club record in the triple jump and heptathlon.

Mulan's big aspirational aim for this season was to achieve the qualifying standard in the triple jump to allow her to compete at the National Champs.  For the Under 20 women this was 10.20m, and she needed to get this at a recognised competition by the 16th of February.

At the beginning of the season she jumped 10.00m twice, so we knew that if she trained well and had good conditions it was possible.

One challenge was that Auckland Athletics doesn't put on many triple jump competitions.  In the new year and before the 16th of February there was only one competition, on the 10th of January.  And this was the day after we arrived home from our China holiday.

Not ideal, but Mulan had a go.  Understandably, jetlagged and with little training, Mulan didn't get the standard, falling short with a 9.65m jump.

Mulan's next option was to ask for special dispensation, explaining her situation and pointing out that there are very few girls meeting that standard, so the competition would be quite empty.  Unfortunately the answer came back no, because they don't give dispensations to juniors (under 20s).

We chatted about this with the Takapuna Athletics Club president.  He immediately said let's have our own official triple jump competition at the club.  He arranged for four nationally qualified athletics officials to come to the club and put on a recognised competition on the 11th of February.  (Thanks everyone, you were amazing!!)

Meanwhile, Mulan kept training daily.

On the day of the competition we were worried that the wind would be too strong (it has to be 2.0m/s or less).  But it died down enough, and the conditions were perfect.  Seven of us competed, to make it a real competition and to give Mulan a rest between her jumps.

The results of the Takapuna Triple Jump Exhibition are here.  Delightfully, on her third jump Mulan got a wind legal 10.22m.  She'd done what she needed to do, the competition was recognised, and she qualified for the Nationals.  More daily training followed after that.

And then at the Nationals Mulan did even better, coming 4th with a jump of 10.44m.  (Oddly, one of the girls competing didn't appear to have met the qualifying standard, with no recognised jumps over 10m.  We have no idea why there was this apparent inconsistency in selection.)

Auckland Senior Champs (21-22 February, 14 March), Under 20 Women

1st triple jump (9.96m)

1st javelin (19.16m)

2nd long jump (4.67m)

Results

Javelin results

New Zealand Champs (5-8 March), Under 20 Women

4th triple jump (10.44m)

Live results here

New Zealand & Auckland Combined Events Champs (21-22 March), Under 20 Women

2nd Auckland, 4th New Zealand heptathlon (3026 points)

Results

Miya:

This season athletics has not been such a big priority for Miya, as her focus has been on school and music, preparing for her school orchestra trip to China in April.  We can't do everything, and we have to make choices.  Consequently Miya hasn't trained so frequently and so hasn't improved from last season.

Nonetheless, Miya has still done very well, coming 5th= in high jump at the Nationals. She also picked up a gold medal at the Secondary Schools Nationals as part of her school's 4x100m relay team (school magazine article here).  She bettered her Takapuna club record in the pentathlon, and also broke her school high jump record, clearing 1.60m at the Westlake Girls Athletics Day (school magazine article here).  She also got a new personal best in the long jump (4.56m).

We also got to see Miya on TV!  Her Nationals high jump competition was shown on TVNZ here.

New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs (5-7 December), Junior Girls (Under 16)

7th high jump (1.58m)

13th triple jump (9.67m)

15th 80m hurdles (13.97sec)

19th 300m hurdles (53.73sec)

1st 4x100m relay (Westlake Girls team)

Results

Auckland Senior Champs (21-22 February), Under 18 Women

1st triple jump (9.75m)

3rd high jump (1.50m)

Results

New Zealand Champs (5-8 March), Under 18 Women

5th= high jump (1.54m)

Live results here

Auckland Secondary Schools Champs (19 March), Intermediate Girls (Under 17)

3rd high jump (1.55m)

3rd triple jump (9.96m)

Results

Me:

This season I newly moved up an age group to the 50-54 years category.  This meant that my hurdle heights lowered and my throwing weights lightened.  Much easier!

For the past several years I had been giving myself a personal fitness goal of still keeping up with Mulan and Miya when I turned 50.  For the most part I think I succeeded in that.  I'm still faster than the girls at the sprints, though the girls have better fitness and endurance.  Miya has been beating me in high jump for a few years now, and this season Mulan beat me in triple jump by 2cm, but in long jump I'm still ahead of them both (for now).

For the new age category I got club records in triple jump (10.42m), long jump (5.10m), high jump (1.45m), javelin (27.14m), 400m hurdles (1:24.81sec) and pentathlon (2277 points).  My pentathlon points was a new personal best.  I got the Auckland Masters age group record in the pentathlon, and for the fifth year running got the Auckland Masters men's pentathlon trophy.

Auckland Senior Champs (21-22 February, 14 March), Masters Men 50-54

1st triple jump (9.74m)

1st long jump (4.95m)

1st high jump (1.45m)

1st javelin (27.14m)

1st 400m hurdles (1:24.81sec)

2nd 60m (8.22sec)

2nd 100m (13.19sec)

2nd 200m (27.57sec)

Results

Javelin and 400m hurdles results

Auckland Combined Events Champs (21 March), Masters Men 50-54

1st pentathlon (2277 points)

Results

School's out for summer

School's now finished for the year for Mulan and Miya.

Mulan finished her final uni exam a month ago, completing her first year studying Biomed at Auckland University.

The results came back, and for the eight courses she sat this year she got five A+, two A, and one A-.

After their first year, if they wish students can apply to transfer from Biomed to Medical Imaging, Surgery, Optometry or Pharmacy.  There are limited places available for each of these four programmes, and only the top students get in.

Mulan's preferred choice is Pharmacy, and she is waiting to hear back if she was selected.

---

Meanwhile, last week Miya finished Year 10 at Westlake Girls High School.

At the end-of-year Junior Prizegiving on Thursday, Miya received an Academic Excellence award, as well as Distinction in Music, Maths, Social Studies and Textiles.

For her subjects next year Miya chose Music, History and Textiles, along with Maths, English and Science.

At the prizegiving Miya was also kept busy performing.  She played her French horn in the Junior Orchestra, sang in the Junior Choir and played her clarinet in a small-group ensemble.

In previous weeks Miya also attended the school Sports Prizegiving, where she was recognised for her achievements in athletics, and also the school Junior Music Prizegiving, where she was recognised for her involvement in several orchestras/bands/ensembles/choirs.

Mulan's first solo travel

Last weekend, Mulan solo traveled for the first time ever.

On Friday afternoon she flew down to Wellington, stayed in a backpackers, then flew back up to Auckland on Sunday night.

This was because the concert band that she plays in (West City Youth Concert Band) was performing at the New Zealand Concert Bands Association National Festival, which this year was held in Wellington.

In Wellington, Mulan caught the bus from the airport to the backpackers, and then back again.  Once at the backpackers she was able to walk everywhere, as it was close to the performance hall and CBD.

At the backpackers, Mulan roomed in a 4-bed dorm, and she used the shared kitchen to cook her meals.  Frequent family travels over the years meant she was pretty familiar with buying what she needed from the supermarket to cook.  So, independent living went smoothly.

She said that on Saturday and Sunday morning she did lots of sightseeing walks around Wellington, clocking up a couple of dozen kilometres on her phone app.

Then on Sunday afternoon her band performed at the festival.

They played four pieces, which happily were recorded and posted on YouTube for us family back home to enjoy:

We can see Mulan at the front centre, playing the flute.

Delightfully, the band was awarded Gold by the festival adjudicators.  Well done everyone!

It sounds like she had lots of fun, and this may be the first of many more travel adventures.

Exercise

After a month of rest, athletics winter training is starting next week.  Here's our plan for exercise over winter:

Miya:

Monday: Contemporary dance

Tuesday: Weights (athletics squad)

Wednesday: Running (athletics squad); Ballet

Thursday: 

Friday: Rock climbing

Saturday: 

Sunday: Running (athletics squad)

Mulan:

Monday: 

Tuesday: Weights (athletics squad); Ballet

Wednesday: Running (athletics squad); Ballet

Thursday: Weights

Friday: 

Saturday: 

Sunday: Running (athletics squad)

Me:

Monday: Biking & rock climbing

Tuesday: Weights (athletics squad)

Wednesday: Running (athletics squad)

Thursday: Biking & rock climbing

Friday: Rock climbing

Saturday: 

Sunday: Running (athletics squad)

Dance and climbing

In between athletics, music and academics, we have a little bit of time left for dance and rock climbing.

Mulan:

Way back in 2022, Mulan passed both her RAD Advanced 1 Ballet and NZAMD Level 6 Contemporary exams.   Then, throughout 2023 and 2024 she worked on Advanced 2 ballet.  (Her dance school didn't offer contemporary at higher levels, so she had to stop that.)

Finally, last August Mulan sat her Advanced 2 exam.

Unfortunately, Mulan did not pass.

We didn't know this so much at the time, but it turns out that Advanced 2 is pretty difficult to pass.  It's a bit different from the other previous exams that Mulan had sat.  Leading up to the exam, Mulan was attending up to about six hours of classes each week, but doing almost nothing outside of class.  We now know that that's not enough.  I get the impression that Advanced 2 is more for people who treat dance as their number one activity and are likely going to go on to do dance at tertiary level.  That wasn't Mulan.  But it was a great learning experience for her to try it out at that level.

This year (2025) Mulan is continuing to dance, doing a couple of hours each week of open classes at Mainly Dance.

Miya:

Last year (2024) Miya did both RAD Intermediate Ballet and NZAMD Level 4 Contemporary.  She sat the ballet exam in August and the contemporary exam in September, passing both of them.

This year Miya decided not to continue with ballet.  She is doing Level 5 Contemporary and, just for fun, attending an open neo-classical ballet class.

This year Miya also restarted rock climbing, after a couple of years away from it (she stopped at the beginning of 2023 because it was clashing with ballet and athletics).

In term 1 Miya joined She Climbs at Northern Rocks.  This is a fun social climbing group for secondary school aged girls.  The once-a-week meetup fits in perfectly for what Miya wants to do, and she's continuing this term.

Me:

A few days ago I also restarted rock climbing at Northern Rocks, after a couple of years away from it.

My body has been feeling increasingly sore from sprinting and jumping, so I decided that I need to change my exercise routine.  The plan is that most days I'll bike to the climbing wall (about 15 min) then climb for about 30 minutes or so.

Academics

In between athletics and music, Mulan and Miya also do a bit of academic stuff.

Miya:

Last year (2024), Miya finished homeschooling and started secondary school, entering Year 9 at Westlake Girls High School.

It all went well, and at the end of the year she got distinction in Maths, Music, Science and Social Studies, as well as Year 9 Academic Excellence.  She collected her certificates on stage at the end-of-year prizegiving.

This year for Year 10 she chose Music, Dance and Fabric Technology (ie sewing) as her three optional subjects.  She was selected into the Maths Extension class, and is also doing English, Science, Social Studies, PE and Health.

Term 1 has just finished, and Miya is having a relaxing school holiday.

Mulan:

Last year was Mulan's final year at secondary school.  Alongside sitting NCEA 3 in Music, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, she also decided to have a go at Scholarship in Music, Biology and Chemistry.

Scholarship is pretty difficult.  Only the top students in New Zealand attempt it, and only about 3% of those who attempt it get it.  Our advice to Mulan was to just treat it as a fun learning experience, and a good introduction to how university learning will likely be.

Delightfully, she got Scholarship Music, and her marks were close in Biology and Chemistry.  Westlake Girls acknowledged the Scholarship winners early this year at a prizegiving.

But the priority for Mulan was to do well enough in her NCEA 3 courses to get into her preferred university course.

By midway through the year Mulan had decided that she wanted to go to Auckland University and do a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science (and continue living at home).

Entry into Biomed requires at least 280 points in NCEA 3 courses, which is higher than most other university courses (eg, a normal BSc requires 165 points).  Roughly, this meant that she needed to get at least 40 excellence credits and 40 merit credits at NCEA 3.

Happily, Mulan got what she needed, and was accepted into Auckland Uni Biomed.

At the moment Mulan doesn't yet know what she wants to specialise in.  She enjoys biology and chemistry, and there are lots of different directions it could take her.

This year Mulan has been kept busy with her studies.  There's a lot of content to learn, and when she's not at uni she's often in her room studying.  It's now mid-semester break and no classes, but unlike Miya most days she's still working.

Music

Alongside athletics, Mulan and Miya are equally involved in music.  Here's what they've been doing:

Mulan:

Last year (2024) Mulan was very involved with music at her school (Westlake Girls High School).  The Westlake schools (both girls and boys) have an excellent music programme, and are especially active in the large group orchestras, bands and choirs.

Mulan played cello in the Westlake Symphony Orchestra and Westlake Chamber Orchestra, and also sang in the Cigno Voce choir.  Mid year, they performed at the KBB Festival and Big Sing events.  Her string quartet performed at the Chamber Music Contest.

Through Westlake, Mulan had weekly lessons in both cello and singing.  She joined two weekend school music camps, for choir and orchestra.

She also played flute in the West City Youth Concert Band, and performed at the New Zealand Concert Bands Association Nationals in Hamilton.

But her main instrument continues to be the recorder, which she had private lessons in throughout the year.

Mulan took music as a Year 13 subject, and sat NCEA 3 Music, achieving excellence.

She also sat Music Scholarship, which involved her performing on the recorder and writing a 3000-word essay analysing the piece she played.  Scholarship is tough to get, and in 2024 of the 2088 New Zealand students who sat it in music, only 60 got scholarship plus 6 got outstanding (stats here).

Delightfully, Mulan got Music Scholarship (and $500 for her efforts)!

This year (2025) Mulan has stepped back a bit with her music, to focus on her university studies.

However, she continues to play flute in the West City Youth Concert Band.  The National Festival this year will be in July in Wellington.  This will be Mulan's first big independent trip, flying down and staying in a backpackers for the weekend.

This year Mulan has also started a part-time student job, teaching recorder at Birkdale North Music Centre.  On Saturday mornings, Mulan teaches five classes of beginner recorder to primary-aged children.

Miya:

Last year Miya started at Westlake Girls High School, and immediately got involved in lots of music groups.

She was in the Year 9 Music Academy subject class.  She newly picked up the French horn, and had weekly lessons in that and also clarinet.

She auditioned for and was selected into the senior Westlake Concert Band, playing clarinet.  She also played in the junior Symphonic Band.  She performed at the KBB Festival, and attended two weekend school music camps.

Miya also played clarinet in the West City Youth Concert Band, and performed at the Nationals.

This year, Miya is doing even more music at Westlake.

She is in four groups -- Westlake Symphony Orchestra, Westlake Concert Band, Westlake Symphonic Band, and Nota Bella choir.  She's having lessons in clarinet, French horn and singing.  Again, she's taking music as one of her subject options.  And again, she went away on a weekend music camp.

In the coming months Miya will perform at the Big Sing, KBB Festival, and the Chamber Music Contest.

With being so busy doing Westlake music, Miya decided to stop playing in the West City Band.

But the big exciting news for Miya is that Westlake is planning a music group trip to China in April of next year.  About 100 students across the four senior orchestra/bands will go to Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai, performing and sightseeing.

Athletics season finished

Another athletics season has just finished, and it's nice for us to look back on what we've all achieved.

We train at the Takapuna Athletics Club, which in the last few years has been growing really well with excellent coaches and facilities.  The training squad is super supportive, and everyone is doing so well.

This season we had a lot of travel round the country for competitions.  Masters North Islands Champs in Whangarei, NZ Schools Champs in Timaru, North Island Colgate Games in Hastings, and National Champs in Dunedin.

Miya:

This season Miya got new PBs in high jump (1.62m), triple jump (10.10m), long jump (4.52m), and 80m hurdles (13.33s).  She broke Takapuna Club records in high jump and pentathlon.  She's a national champion in the pentathlon, and got silver and bronze national medals in high jump and triple jump.

Miya's results are now good enough that she has an Athletics New Zealand profile here.

Miya also has a World Athletics profile here.  The funny thing is that they have also included some of Mulan's results (and taken an odd selection of Miya's results)!

New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs (6-8 December), Junior Girls (Under 16)

4th high jump (1.55m)

10th triple jump (9.80m)

12th 80m hurdles (13.80s)

12th 300m hurdles (52.35s in heat, 52.78s in semi)

Results

North Island Colgate Games (10-12 January), Grade 14

4th high jump (1.54m)

7th 80m hurdles (13.93s heat, 13.77s final)

11th long jump (4.32m)

Live results

Auckland Senior Champs (18 January, 1-2 February), Under 16 Women

4th 300m hurdles (53.52s)

Results

Auckland Junior Champs (21, 23 February), Grade 14

2nd high jump (1.60m)

4th 80m hurdles (14.08s)

5th long jump (4.43m)

High jump results

Hurdles results

Long jump results

New Zealand Champs (6-9 March), Under 16 Women

2nd high jump (1.58m)

3rd triple jump (9.99m)

10th 80m hurdles (15.68s)

Live results

Auckland Junior Pentathlon Champs (15 March), Grade 14

6th pentathlon - 800m, discus, 200m, shot put, long jump (2415 points)

Results

Auckland Secondary Schools Champs (18, 20 March), Intermediate Girls (Under 17)

2nd triple jump (10.01m)

3rd high jump (1.55m)

8th 80m hurdles (13.61s)

8th 300m hurdles (52.28s)

13th long jump (4.47m)

Triple jump & high jump results

80m hurdles results

300m hurdles results

Long jump results

New Zealand & Auckland Combined Events Champs (22-23 March), Under 16 Women

1st pentathlon - 80m hurdles, high jump, shot put, javelin, 600m (2331 points)

Results

North Island Secondary Schools Champs (5-6 April), Intermediate Girls (Under 17)

5th high jump (1.62m) - PB

10th triple jump (9.72m)

12th 80m hurdles (13.33s) - PB

Live results

Mulan:

Back in October Mulan did a fun 10km run participating in the North Shore Marathon.

Mulan got a new PB in the triple jump (10.48m, but we think it was measured wrong and was probably 10.28m).  At the beginning of the year she went up to Under 20 grade, meaning higher hurdles and heavier throwing implements.  At the new hurdle height she ran the 100m hurdles in 18.10s.  She got Takapuna Club records in the heptathlon and hurdles.  She got her first national champs medal -- bronze in the heptathlon.

Mulan also has an Athletics New Zealand profile here.

New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs (6-8 December), Senior Girls (Under 20)

10th triple jump (9.65m)

12th 100m hurdles (18.50s)

16th long jump (4.39m)

Results

Auckland Senior Champs (18 January, 1-2 February), Under 20 Women

1st triple jump (9.98m)

1st javelin (12.79m)

2nd long jump (4.48m)

Results

Javelin results

New Zealand & Auckland Combined Events Champs (22-23 March), Under 20 Women

1st Auckland, 3rd New Zealand heptathlon (2857 points)

Results

Me:

This season I was at the old end of my age grade, and next season I'll enter the 50-54 age category.  For the first time I tried out some masters competitions -- first the North Island Champs and then the New Zealand Champs.  I'm a national champion in the triple jump, and got national champs silver in the long jump (at this age it's often more about who is able to survive without too many injuries!).

North Island Masters Champs (29 November - 1 December), Masters Men 45-49

1st triple jump (10.79m)

1st long jump (5.09m)

1st high jump (1.34m)

2nd 60m (8.50s)

2nd 100m (13.36s)

Results

Auckland Senior Champs (18 January, 1-2 February), Masters Men 45-49

1st triple jump (10.22m)

1st long jump (5.12m)

1st 400m hurdles (1:21.75s)

2nd high jump (1.35m)

2nd discus (20.20m)

2nd javelin (24.10m)

Results

Javelin & hurdles results

Auckland Combined Events Champs (22-23 March), Masters Men 45-49

1st pentathlon - long jump, javelin, 200m, discus, 1500m (2188 points)

Results

New Zealand Masters Champs (28-30 March), Masters Men 45-49

1st triple jump (10.59m)

2nd long jump (5.31m)

Results

Updated "About us" page

I've just updated the "About us" page on the blog.

Life changes, and it was time for an update.

Easter

It's Easter.

Our calendar is looking weirdly empty for the next five days, and Mulan and Miya are looking forward to relaxing with almost nothing planned.

For lunch today they're having Chinese time; they're out with Mama and friends having a restaurant meal.

Meanwhile, over the past few days I've been enjoying contemplating the meaning of Easter as originally intended in the Gospels of the Bible.

This video is part one of a multipart mini-series by James Tabor.  It's decently detailed, with each 20-50min video covering one day in the story of Jesus' final week.  Highly recommended for those interested in the texts themselves.

But here's my practical takeaway message from the first couple of days:

Those who know me know that I'm an ethical vegetarian.  Animals have the capacity to suffer -- they feel pain and have their own interests.  We shouldn't unnecessarily cause them pain and suffering.  We (mostly) don't need to eat them.

I'm delighted that Jesus in the Gospels was strongly and forcefully trying to put a stop to the unnecessary torture and slaughter of millions of animals.  On day two, when Jesus disrupts the temple, he quotes the Hebrew Bible as scriptural authority to stop the killing of the animals.

I really hope that more Christians would follow Jesus on this one.

Athletics season finished

Our athletics season is over.  The big comps are done, and we had our final clubnight last night.  It's good to have a rest; it's been a busy several weeks.

(We're not joining the schools North Island Champs in about 10 days, as it clashes with a school senior music camp that both Mulan and Miya are attending.)

Miya:

Miya's had an awesome season, with huge improvements and some great competition results.  It was a huge experience for her to qualify and compete at the Nationals.

This season Miya got new PBs in high jump (1.54m), triple jump (10.04m), long jump (4.50m), 80m hurdles (13.41sec) and 300m hurdles (51.67sec).

Takapuna Club nominated Miya for the Auckland Junior Track and Field Sportsperson of the Year.

Miya broke Club records in high jump, triple jump and sprint hurdles (some still to be updated).

Her competition results include:

North Island Colgate Games (5-7 January), Grade 13:

• 6th 80m hurdles (4th in North Island)
• 8th high jump
• 10th discus (8th in North Island)
• 10th shot put (9th in North Island)
• 4th Takapuna Club team 4x100m relay (3rd in North Island)

Results

South Island Colgate Games (12-14 January), Grade 13:

• 2nd high jump
• 2nd 80m hurdles
• 12th discus

Results

Auckland Senior Track & Field Champs (3-4 February), Under 16 Women:

(The hurdles races were held on another day, but we didn't compete as we were busy.)

• 2nd triple jump (PB)
• 3rd= high jump
• 9th long jump

Results

Auckland Junior Champs (23-24 February), Grade 13:

• 1st high jump
• 3rd 80m hurdles
• 9th= long jump

Results

Auckland Junior Pentathlon Champs (9 March), Grade 13:

• 4th pentathlon

Results

New Zealand Track & Field Champs (14-17 March), Under 16 Women:

(Miya's performances during the season meant she qualified for five events, but she decided to just do three, and didn't sign up for 300m hurdles or long jump.  A lot of the girls she competed against were a year older than her, so she's got a really good chance to do well next season, when she'll still be an Under 16.)

• 4th= high jump
• 10th 80m hurdles (PB)
• 13th triple jump

Results

Auckland Combined Events Champs (23-24 March), Under 16 Women:

• 2nd heptathlon

Results

Schools Auckland Champs (26 March), Junior Girls:

(To compete in this competition, athletes first needed to qualify by placing in the schools Zones competition.  Miya qualified in five events, but decided to scratch from the long jump and just focus on four events.)

• 1st triple jump
• 2nd 70m hurdles
• 2nd 300m hurdles (PB)
• 3rd high jump (PB)

Track results, field results

Mulan:

Mulan's had another great year of athletics.

She got new PBs in triple jump (9.89m), 100m hurdles (18.20sec) and 300m hurdles (52.71sec).

She broke Club records in both the sprint and long hurdles.

Mulan received a trophy for the best female field event athlete at the Auckland Launch competition.

And she got third Senior at the Westlake Girls Athletics Day.

Her competition results include:

Auckland Senior Track & Field Champs (3-4 February), Under 18 Women:

• 2nd triple jump (PB)
• 3rd long jump
• 5th shot put

Auckland Combined Events Champs (23-24 March), Under 18 Women:

• 2nd heptathlon

Schools Auckland Champs (26 March), Senior Girls:

(Mulan qualified in five events, but didn't want to scratch from any.  Unfortunately the programme wasn't ideal for her, and she triple jumped ten minutes after running the 300m hurdles.  Understandably her jumps weren't as good as usual, otherwise she probably would have got 3rd.)

• 3rd 100m hurdles (PB)
• 4th 300m hurdles (PB)
• 4th triple jump
• 7th long jump
• 10th shot put

Me:

I'm still continuing with athletics, and at the moment I'm feeling in pretty good shape due to trying to keep up with the girls at training and comps.

I got a new "old person" best (personal best since returning to athletics nine years ago) in the triple jump (10.97m).  I also tried out the 400m hurdles for the first time in my life!

I got Club records in 800m, 1500m, 400m hurdles and triple jump.

I also broke my Auckland Masters pentathlon record (here).

Auckland Senior Track & Field Champs (3-4 February), Masters Men 45-49:

• 1st triple jump
• 1st long jump
• 2nd high jump
• 4th 60m
• 4th 100m

Auckland Combined Events Champs (23-24 March), Masters Men 45-49:

• 1st pentathlon

Athletics Auckland Champs

We had a busy and satisfying weekend at the Auckland Track and Field Championships.  The results are here.

Miya has newly gone up to the Under 16 grade, and she competed in three events.

Long jump was Saturday, and it was tough competing on a day with blustery winds and sharp downpours.  But happily she got a couple of great jumps in, including a 4.47m, which earned her 9th place.

Then on Sunday it was triple jump and high jump.  The weather was perfect, and Miya was on fire in the triple jump, with three of her four jumps well over her previous best.  Her best jump, of 10.04m (wind 1.2), earned her a silver medal.  It's also easily over the entry standard that allows her to compete at the Nationals in March.

In the high jump, Miya pleasingly didn't miss a height at 1.35m, 1.40m and 1.45m.  She was close on her attempts at 1.50m, but didn't quite get it this time.  This earned her a bronze medal (equal with two others).

Miya has now qualified for the Nationals (and Auckland team) in both high jump and triple jump.  She's got another three weekends of competitions to qualify for long jump and hurdles (fingers crossed for legal winds, as her performances will likely be good enough).

Mulan's still in the Under 18 grade, and she also competed in three events.

Shot put is mostly just a fun and relaxing event for Mulan.  Her 9.09m was not bad, but on other days she's occasionally got it out into the high 9s and she's hoping one day to get it over 10.

Her long jump, also in tough weather conditions, was a satisfying season best of 4.50m, and this earned her a bronze medal.

And finally, Mulan triple jumped soon after Miya's huge new PB.  Sibling competitiveness meant Mulan was also looking to get over 10m, but she had to settle for an excellent new PB of 9.89m (wind 0.4), which earned her silver.

I'm still in the Master's 45-49 age group, and I competed in five events.

On Saturday I ran the 60m in 8.25sec and the 100m in 13.17sec.  I also jumped 5.16m in the long jump.  Then on Sunday I jumped 1.40m in the high jump and 10.46m (wind 1.1) in the triple jump.  This earned me two gold medals and one silver medal (and two 4th places).

A big thing for me now is endurance, and I needed to pace myself so I had enough energy left for the later events.  In all three jumps events I didn't use up all my attempts -- just two long, two high, and four triple.  It was probably about right, though who knows whether in the long and high one more attempt might have given better results.

School

Today is Miya's first day at school (ever).

It was a slightly unusual start, as this morning, at 7:30am, we dropped her off at Westlake Boys High School.  No, she's not going to a boys' school, it's just that she's in the senior Westlake Concert Band, and that's her practice time/place.  After practice, at 8:30am, she walks to the girls' school.

We've now officially stopped homeschooling, and the plan is for Miya to spend the next five years of her schooling at Westlake Girls High School.

She's already been there a few times, for orientation day and music auditions/practices, but this is the official first day.

From what I understand, however, today there'll be little to no learning happening -- it's mostly just administrative stuff with earnest speeches and team-building.  So, an easy and gentle first day (as long as she can stay awake!).

Based on the school financial statement sent to us, it seems that mostly Miya got the subjects she asked for.  The only exception is that she asked to learn Maori, and instead she's got French.  (Given the way New Zealand culture is these days, we thought Maori would be extremely useful to learn, so it's a pity that Miya will miss out.)

Miya's other subjects are English, maths, science, social studies, PE, health, music, Spanish, digital tech, fabric tech, food tech, and hard material tech.

As I wrote before, Miya is in the music extension class, as well as the senior concert band and junior symphonic band.  She'll have instrument lessons through the school in clarinet and French horn.  She'll go to two weekend music camps this term, and later in the year will play at concerts and festivals.

Unfortunately, the two music camps exactly clash with two school athletics competitions (the school athletics day and school North Island Champs), so Miya will miss those.  But there's still the school zone champs and Auckland champs this term, along with the nationals in December.

And I'm sure Miya will find lots of other activities to get involved with.

---

Meanwhile, Mulan is returning to Westlake for her final year at school.  Her school year started yesterday.

Her academic results last year were very satisfying, and we are super proud of her.

At the school academic prizegiving last year Mulan was awarded Distinction in Biology, and in her NCEA results she got Excellence Endorsement in two subjects (music and chemistry), and Merit Endorsement in the other four (maths, biology, physics, English).

This year she's studying music, maths calculus, physics, biology and chemistry.

At the end of last year she applied to be a prefect, and her job this year is to help mentor the new Year 9 students.  The downside is that today she had to wear her school prefect's tie, blazer and stockings!  (She was feeling uncomfortably hot!)

She's continuing with a lot of school music -- symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, and cello lessons.  She's also newly joined the Cigno Voce choir and will have singing lessons.  She also has two school music camps.

And she'll again join the school athletics competitions.

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With no longer homeschooling I (theoretically) have one less job to do.  For the short/mid term, after homemaking and being admin assistant for our family business, I'll likely find a bit of time to paint/renovate our house.  Plans for the mid/long term will sort themselves out in time.

Athletics

As I said in my last post, we've just got back from the South Island.

We were there, in part, because Miya was competing in an athletics competition.  So, let's talk athletics first.

We're now getting into the second half of the athletics season, when most of the big competitions happen.  But we've already had a few bigger comps.

On the 26th of November, Miya was part of the Takapuna Club team competing at the CNW (Central North West Auckland) interclub children's relay competition.  Miya's Grade 13 team got 1st in the 4x400m relay, 2nd in the 4x100m relay, and 2nd in the field relay (where Miya did the shot put).

On the 15th of December, both Mulan and Miya competed at the Launch athletics competition.  This is a fun and different competition for teens, where the athletes are randomly put into four teams, and then compete for team points during the Friday evening competition.  Each team is lead/mentored by two senior New Zealand rep/champ athletes.  For the field events (even high jump), competitors have three attempts only, of which the best two are added together for their final result. The track events have unusual distances.

Delightfully, Mulan won the trophy for the best female field event competitor.

While Miya had a huge new PB of 4.50m in the long jump.

Then in the New Year Miya competed at the Colgate Games.  This is the big children's competition, which is divided into the North Island (this year held here in Auckland) and the South Island (this year held in Dunedin) events.

For the North Island comp, held over three days between the 5th and 7th of January, Miya did the 80m hurdles, high jump, discus, shot put, and 4x100m relay.

Miya came 6th in the hurdles, though once we exclude the foreigners (those not from the North Island), she came 4th.

After a busy Friday she wasn't quite at her best in the high jump on Saturday morning, and her below-average 1.40m placed her 8th.

She did the throws just as fun extra events -- 20.38m in the discus and 7.27m in the shot put earned her two 10th placings.

Finally, and delightfully, her Grade 13 Takapuna Club team earned themselves a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay.  They came 4th in the final, but since the first place-getter was the Victorian (Australia) team, they were the 3rd North Island team so got on the dais.

Then a week later Miya competed at the South Island Colgate Games in Dunedin.

Again, the discus was just a fun extra event, and her 18.10m earned her 12th.

Then, delightfully, she came 2nd in the 80m hurdles.

(This time Miya was the foreigner, getting the white-ribboned medal.  There was a medal mixup, and Miya was initially presented with gold -- she changed it afterwards.)

Then finally it was the high jump.  Having learnt from the North Island comp, Miya was careful to manage her energy levels before the event, so was in good physical shape.

And she got a new PB of 1.51m!

This earned her another silver medal:

(Six athletes got medals, as the first three were all foreigners from the North Island.  Another medal mixup meant that initially Miya was presented with the red-ribboned South Island medal, rather than the white-ribboned foreigner medal -- they swapped it afterwards.)

Coming up, we've got two more months of big competitions:

• the Auckland Senior Champs this coming weekend (3-4th February), with long hurdles on the 17th,
• the Auckland Children's Champs on the weekend of the 23-25th of February,
• the Auckland Children's Pentathlon Champs on the 9th of March,
• the New Zealand Senior Champs on the weekend of the 14-17th of March,
• the Auckland Senior Multievents Champs on the weekend of the 23-24th of March,
• and finally the Auckland Schools Champs on the 26th of March.

China / Solo-dad-ing

This is old news (olds?).

For five weeks, from early-December to early-January, Mama (Xiaoying) was in China, visiting Laolao (her mum).  It was all good, and she enjoyed the winter snow in Beijing.

Meanwhile, I was solo-dad-ing with Mulan and Miya here at home.  It was also all good -- we work well as a team together and life went on as normal (except for missing Mama).

Mama arrived back in New Zealand just two days before we headed off to the South Island for a two-week family holiday.  We returned home a few days ago.  I'll write about it soon.

Holiday job

For some years now both Mulan and Miya have helped out with the family business.

We're Chinese4All, and throughout the day we have students of all ages coming to our home to have Chinese lessons in the classroom we have set up here.

With some of the younger students (preschool and primary age) Mulan and Miya help out as assistant teachers, getting involved in the lesson activities and role-modeling the language points.

A couple of years ago they also both had paper delivery runs, until the delivery contractors changed and they were no longer needed.

But now Mulan has a real job.

This summer she has a part-time job at Kyoto, a sushi restaurant at our local shopping centre.  She bikes there, and at the moment it's two days a week, from 7:30am until 3:30pm.  For the morning shift her main job is making the sushi in preparation for the incoming customers.

I'm hoping it's a transferrable skill, and she'll occasionally make us sushi dinners.

Music

Here's another end-of-year summary.  This time for music.

Miya:

Miya's main instrument continues to be the clarinet.  For the second year she's played in the West City Youth Concert Band, and they had their final playout of the year last Saturday, playing at the Te Atatu Christmas Parade.

She's also been having private lessons and working towards her clarinet Grade 7 Trinity exam, which she sat on Thursday.  (UPDATE: Miya passed!!)

We're coming to the end of homeschooling, and Miya has enrolled to start at Westlake Girls High School at the beginning of next year, in Year 9.  Westlake emphasises music, and a few weeks ago they had their auditions for their 2024 orchestras and bands.  Miya had two auditions -- one at Westlake Boys High School for their senior combined schools Concert Band, and one at the Girls school for the girls' orchestras.

Happily, her auditions went well and they accepted her into the Westlake Concert Band.  Junior students who are in one of the senior groups are also required to be in a junior girls group, and Miya has been accepted into the Symphonic Band.  She's also signed up for the Year 9 Music Academy, which is the extension subject course.

Next year Miya will have private lessons for her clarinet through the school, and has also decided to try out the French horn, with lessons in that, too.  (If/when Miya does NCEA Music, it's good to have a second instrument.)

Miya's thinking she probably won't continue with the West City band next year, as she's going to be pretty busy with everything else.

Mulan:

This year Mulan also played in the West City Youth Concert Band, playing her third instrument, flute.

She played her second instrument, cello, in two Westlake school orchestras -- the Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra.  She also had private cello lessons through the school.

And she continues to have private lessons in her first instrument, recorder.

Mulan sat NCEA 2 Music this year, and achieved excellence in all her music internal assessments.  She's now finished her exams, and we're awaiting the results.

Next year Mulan will do NCEA 3 Music, and again, after auditioning, has been accepted into the Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra.  She's also decided to join the Cigno Voce choir, and will have singing lessons.

We're also not sure if she'll continue with the West City band, as she'll also be pretty busy.

Dance

We're coming to the end of the year, and the girls' activities are starting to wind down.  So, it's time to overview what they did.

First up, dance.

Both Mulan and Miya continue to do dance.  They both have unlimited dance plans at Mainly Dance Studios, attending classes a few times a week.

This year Miya sat the RAD Intermediate Foundation ballet exam, and achieved High Merit (71/100).  She also sat the NZAMD Level 3 contemporary exam, and achieved High Honours.  At the Mainly Dance prizegiving she was awarded Most Dedicated contemporary dancer.

Next year she'll continue with both ballet and contemporary, and has been wondering about trying jazz.

Mulan continues to do ballet, and is at Advanced 2 level.  She didn't do any dance exams this year, but is aiming to do the RAD Advanced 2 exam next year (Advanced 2 usually takes two years to prep for).

Last year Mulan did contemporary, but had to stop this year as Mainly Dance doesn't offer it at higher levels.  Last year she sat the NZAMD Level 6 exam, and achieved Honours with Distinction.  She was also nominated to join the 2022 NZAMD National Scholarship Awards (in Lower Hutt).  It would have been awesome to attend, but Mainly Dance made a few administrative mistakes with the exam, and Mulan didn't get her results until well past the deadline.

Mainly Dance had their end of year concert a few weeks ago, and Mulan and Miya were both in a few dances.  Here's Mulan (second from left) doing the classic Swan Lake little swans dance:

Athletics new season

Our athletics season started on Saturday afternoon, with a pentathlon for both Mulan and Miya.  (I decided not to compete, as I had a busy day planned for Sunday and I couldn't afford to be out of action.)

Both girls had solid, satisfying performances in all events, considering it's been several months since they last competed.  (And considering that they both also had dance classes in the morning!)  The results are here.

Here's Miya clearing 1.44m in the high jump:

South Island

We've just got back from a weeklong trip to the South Island.

Or, more accurately, it was just us oldies.  Mulan and Miya stayed in Auckland with Nainai, continuing to do all their usual activities.

Mama and I travelled because Mama's uncle and aunt are visiting us from China, and we thought it would be nice if they saw the South Island as well as Auckland.  Mama was the tour guide while I was the driver.

It was my first time in the South Island since 1995, and my first time to actually do any sightseeing there.  Between 1989 and 1995 I visited the South Island a few times for athletics competitions, though back then I saw little more than the airport, hotel and stadium.  On the one tourist excursion I did, from Dunedin to Queenstown in 1989, 13-year-old me spent most of the time on the bus reading rather than admiring the scenery.  (It was in 1995, in Dunedin, that I achieved my best sporting result, getting a silver medal at the Nationals in the under 20 triple jump.)

Here's what we did:

Tuesday 19th: Auckland-Christchurch-Geraldine

We caught the early flight from Auckland to Christchurch, arriving just before 8am.  At the airport we picked up our hire car, only to discover that our suitcases didn't fit in the boot.

Moral of the story, don't trust advertising.  On the booking website they claimed that the boot fitted two suitcases.  Well, maybe it would've fitted two carry-on suitcases, but it certainly didn't fit our two smallish check-in suitcases.  For the rest of the trip Uncle and Aunt had to have a suitcase squished between them in the back seat.

We drove to Christchurch central, parked, and had a wander around for a couple of hours.

It was quite relaxing and pretty, though I'd always thought the Avon River was bigger!

We then drove to the gondola.

While very expensive, it was a pleasant ride up the mountain, with some good views.  Springtime meant that there were several lambs gamboling about underneath.

Christchurch is an amazingly flat place!

Then it was time to drive to our accommodation in Geraldine.

Wednesday 20th: Geraldine-Lake Tekapo-Mt Cook-Twizel

We left our accommodation a few minutes after 9am, blissfully unaware as we drove to The Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo.

I say blissfully unaware, because it wasn't until several hours later that we heard that at 9:14am there'd been a 6.0 magnitude earthquake 45km north of Geraldine (see eg here and here).  It seems that lots of people had felt it, but driving in the car we didn't notice a thing.  It's a bit disappointing, as I'd like to have known what it felt like, but maybe we just thought the jolting was my bumpy driving in the wind.

We joined the other tourists at the church.  It was exterior viewing only, as the sign said it only opens Sundays for services.  But we saw a few rabbits hopping around in the bushes and on the grass.

Next, we drove to Lake Pukaki, where the essential activity for the Chinese folk was to buy salmon at the Mt Cook Alpine Salmon Shop.  The plan was to eat it while enjoying the lake and mountain views.  Wanting the best deal, they bought the larger lump of fish flesh, not realising that it wasn't cut up for immediate eating.  So we had to store it on ice until we got to our accommodation for the night.  In my opinion the salmon was nice enough, but not worth the hassle!

We then drove along the length of Lake Pukaki towards Mt Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand, with some pretty gusty winds keeping us occupied,

before stopping at White Horse Hill for some scenic walks.

Unfortunately the bridge was closed on the walk we'd planned to do,

but the scenery on our side of the river was still pretty spectacular.

Then it was time to backtrack, driving back the way we'd come alongside the lake.  We'd planned to stay the night at the Omarama Top 10 Holiday Park, until we discovered that the road between Twizel and Omarama was closed.  The man at the orange cones said the power lines were down, and the road wouldn't reopen until about 9pm.

So some quick Googling and phone calls from the car and we cancelled Omarama, booking instead at Lake Ruataniwha Holiday Park in Twizel.  It's turns out this was a very nice lakeside campground.

Wikipedia tells me that Lake Ruataniwha is a manmade lake, created in 1977-81 as part of a hydroelectric project.  But I still don't know if there are two monsters (taniwha) swimming around in there.

Thursday 21st: Twizel-Queenstown

We left Twizel in the morning, again blissfully unaware.

This time we were blissfully unaware of two scrub fires that were burning out of control around Lake Tekapo and Twizel (see eg here).  And it was only after we arrived that evening in Queenstown that we began to wonder if the police might be wanting to talk to certain persons of interest driving a blue Toyota corolla -- "one old whitey driver, with three old Chinese passengers one of whom is younger."  These persons of interest seem to have a spooky, unnatural ability to create natural disasters as they travel, blissfully unaware -- first an earthquake, then fires.  What next, in Queenstown will there be flooding?

Passing along the now-opened road where the power lines were down, we saw a repair crew hard at work putting up power poles.  As I drove I counted at least eight wooden power poles that were snapped in half like matchsticks and still needing replacement.

Our first stop after Twizel was the spectacular looking Omarama Clay Cliffs.  These are definitely worth a visit, and easily worth the $5 per car dropped into the honesty box at the gate.

It was a comfortable walk up to and into the cliffs, and it was impressive in person, but my photos came out a bit flat.

Driving over the Lindis Pass was also impressive.

Up until this point the weather had been comfortably warm and dry, but soon after the top of the Pass the rain started falling.

Passing through Cardrona, we wondered about picking up a few cheap bras and starting an underwear shop.

The rain continued to fall as we got to the Queenstown Top 10 Holiday Park.  I took these photos the next morning.

Friday 22nd: Queenstown-Te Anau

We slept blissfully unaware.

The next morning we woke to discover that the persons of interest in the blue Toyota corolla had struck again.  There was snow on Lindis Pass, and Queenstown had been flooded.  A state of emergency had been declared, and about 100 people were evacuated from their homes.  Roads were closed and people were advised not to drive into central Queenstown unless absolutely necessary (see eg here and here).

We drove into central Queenstown.  We sort of had to, as it was the only road going where we wanted to go.

First of all we took the road towards Glenorchy, travelling as far as Bennett's Bluff Lookout, before turning around and heading back again.  There were a few watery bits on the road along the way, though as the day went on they started to dry out.  For the rest of the trip the rain mostly stayed away, though from Queenstown on there was always a slight chill to the air.

Nearing Queenstown again we were slowed down with a queue of traffic all trying to get through central Queenstown.  Again, we had to go this way, as it was the only road to get us to our destination of Te Anau.

We'd planned to ride the Queenstown Gondola, but the flooding had closed it.

Through the worst of the traffic, we found a carpark near the centre and wandered around Queenstown for a couple of hours.

At Queenstown Gardens we found an interesting game -- frisbee golf.

Upon sending this photo to Mulan and Miya, Miya immediately recognised and correctly identified it.  Mulan didn't, pointing out that Miya spends too much time on Instagram!

Then it was on to Te Anau, where we stayed at Possum Lodge in Manapouri for two nights.

Staying at these cabins was like stepping back in time 50 years (except for the heat pump and flat screen TV on the wall).

Saturday 23rd: Te Anau-Milford Sound

In my opinion, this was the highlight of the trip.  We had a daytrip to Milford Sound, including a boat ride on the fiord and out to the Tasman Sea.

We left at 7am, to give ourselves enough time to make it to the boat before it departed at 10:30am.  We all took so many photos that it hard to know which ones to keep and which ones to cull.

Driving through the one-way Homer Tunnel was an interesting experience.

It was around this time that our car told us that the temperature outside was 1 degree Celsius.

We took the Southern Discoveries Nature Cruise.

On the boat ride we saw a few dolphins (apparently seen on about 50% of the trips):

(We were informed that the water was greenish because of the recent rains, which wash through the plant life on the hills and run into the Sound -- which is actually a fiord, not a sound.)

Back on land, several times throughout the day we saw keas.  On our return journey, while waiting our turn to go through the one-way Homer Tunnel, one kea stopped by to say hello to me.

And there were plenty of moments of keas doing kea things.

(that's Mama and Aunt)

(On the way back.  And no, the orange thing perching by the water isn't a kea.)

Back at Possum Lodge, we went for a local walk in the evening.  It seems the water in Lake Manapouri was higher than usual.

Sunday 24th: Te Anau-Dunedin

On our way to Dunedin, we took a scenic detour to Nugget Point Lighthouse.

And then on to our accommodation for our final night in Dunedin.

That evening the three Chinese folk drove to the peninsula to watch penguins waddle up the beach.  I rested at our accommodation (we might be back in January to see them with Mulan and Miya!).

Monday 25th: Dunedin-Auckland

On our final day we squeezed in three activities in Dunedin before our flight for Auckland left at 4:30pm.

First, we visited Tunnel Beach.  There's a tunnel through the rock down to a beach.  There's also some pretty good views.

Next, we had to visit Baldwin St, the steepest street in the world.

All four oldies managed to walk up to the top.

Finally, we drove into Dunedin centre, parked, and wandered about for an hour or so.

Then it was to Dunedin airport, where we dropped off our hire car (getting rid of the blue Toyota corolla evidence for the persons of interest).  While waiting at the gate to board our flight it was interesting to watch the cows file past in the nearby field.

Back in Auckland, Uncle and Aunt are staying with us in our home, but will be flying back to China on Tuesday.