Gold makes his Canterbury mum's day | Bay of Plenty Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Bay of Plenty

The earthquakes back home weren't enough to rock Christchurch South Intermediate Year 8 multisport competitor Rainer Pye.

Instead he used thoughts of home as motivation on the challenging NZCT AIMS Games multisport course at Tauranga's McLarens Falls Park.

As the only competitor from the South in this event and a first timer to the games, Pye was ranked as an outsider.

Pye was 25th out of the water from the kayak leg with a lot of work to do to catch local leaders in the colours of Tauranga and Otumoetai Intermediate. Chasing the top nine finishers from last year's race, Pye gave it his all in the farmland of McLarens Falls Park, to place himself third at the end of the downhill Mountain Bike.

With a medal in his sights he dug deep in the pursuit of Tauranga Intermediate's Cameron Wells and Otumoetai Intermediate's Isiah Duncanson on the demanding hill climb that confronts athletes at the start of the run leg. As the run hit the shores of Lake McLaren, Pye had secured a firm lead on the field and with thoughts of home in his mind the Christchurch youngster would not be challenged.

Moments after crossing the line Pye reached for a cellphone to call home with the news of his win, telling race organisers how much it meant to him to call home, with some good news after the devastation they have been facing.

"It was cool to call home and give Mum some good news. She hasn't had a lot of that in the past few days."

In the delight of calling home, the humble gold medallist failed to mention that the event also marked his 13th birthday.

In the other races of the day, a new course record was set in the Y7 boys' event by Fergus Kirk who ran a superb race. Leading out of the kayak, through the mountain bike section and on to the run, Fergus was too fast overall and finished in a new course record for Y7 boys of 37 minutes and 45 seconds.

Kirsty Burrows emerged last year for Otumoetai Intermediate as one to watch, as she demolished her field in the mountain bike section, to go on and win the Y7 girls event for 2009.

Returning in 2010, Kirsty was well down in the kayak leg but once again had arguably the best girls' mountain bike of the day and a very fast run to take out the Y8 girls' race for 2010 and setting a new course record of 38 minutes and 45 seconds in the process.

Ilminster Intermediate of Gisborne were the come-from-behind champions for the day, winning the schools championship relay. Fourth out of the water in the kayak and holding on to fifth heading into the run, Ilminster had a blistering run to lead home Taupo Intermediate in silver and Tauranga Intermediate for bronze.

Rugby Sevens celebrated finals day at the Tauranga Domain with an action packed day of scintillating play.

Royal Oak Intermediate from Auckland made their gold medal intentions clear in the semifinals, when they dispatched Otumoetai 45-nil. By contrast Tauranga Intermediate made the gold medal contest, when they won a good battle with Otumoetai posting a 14-5 win.

While the local team never gave up the fight, the final was mostly one-way traffic with Royal Oak running in seven tries in their 29-nil victory.

The bronze medal game was a real thriller that went into extra time. With Whangarei and Otumoetai locked at 12-all at the conclusion of regular time, two spells of extra time were needed before Whangarei scored a converted try to claim the bronze medal 17-12.

Christchurch School Cobham Intermediate ruled the roost in the tennis singles and doubles, that wrapped up on day four. Number one seed Kai Lee won the boys' singles against Sergev Belov (Northcross) 6-3.6-0, with Chanistha Ampornachariya also from Cobham convincingly defeating Olivia Addis (Havelock North) 6-0,6-0 in the girls singles.

Cobham also won boys and girls' team events and then went on to back that up winning both the boys and girls' doubles.

The badminton girls' singles was contested yesterday, with a bumper draw that was well up on last year. Twenty-two girls were fighting for the title this year.

Caragh Alley from Pukeham School was the top seed for the event with Alicia Robertson from Havelock North seeded second to meet Caragh in the final.

The semifinals proved to be where the drama was to be found, with Caragh taking on the unseeded Shanayah Poharama from Ilmister Intermediate. While warming up for the match, an incident off court involving Caragh's mother and some steps led to St John Ambulance being called in to see to a damaged ankle.

Her mother refused to go to hospital until her daughter was finished and despite the distractions, Caragh pulled through the semifinal 21-18 21-15.

Ironically, her opponent Shanayah had to receive medical treatment also on a damaged ankle.

In the other semi, Alicia Robertson took on the unseeded Alyce Mayo-Goodson after Alyce had upset 3/4 seed Erena Calder-Hawkins of Berkely Normal Middle school, in the first match of the day in a three-set thriller.

Caragh took the title in three quality sets of badminton 18-21 21-13 21-13.

NZCT AIMS GAMES Results Day Four:

Rugby Sevens: Final: Royal Oak Intermediate 29 Tauranga Intermediate 0. Third Place: Whangarei 17 Otumoetai 12. Semifinals: Tauranga 14 Whangarei 5, Royal Oak 45 Otumoetai 0. Quarterfinals: Whangarei 14 Kawerau 12, Tauranga 29 Mount Maunganui 0, Royal Oak 17 Chisnalwood 7, Otumoetai 15 Whakatane 7.

Tennis: Boys Singles Final: Kai Lee (Cobham) defeated Sergey Belov (Northcross) 6-3, 6-0. Girls Singles Final: Chanistha Amorpornachiya (Cobham) defeated Olivia Addis (Havelock North) 6-0,6-0. Girls Doubles Final: Chanistha Ampornachariya & Alice Batt (Cobham) defeated Sarah Wardenberg & Faye Bernicoff (Murrays Bay) 6-2,7-5. Boys Doubles Final: Kai Lee & Taylor Nelson (Cobham) defeated Dominic Daly & Dion Reed (Otumoetai) 7-6, 6-2.

Hockey Semifinals: Boys: Kristin School v John Paul College, Tauranga Rudolf Steiner School v Havelock North Int. Girls: Otumoetai Int v Cobham Int, St Cuthberts School v Diocesan School.

Football Semi-Finals: Girls: Auckland Normal v Glen Eden, Berkley Normal v Tauranga. Boys: Fairfield v Northcross, Blockhouse Bay v Otumoetai.

Badminton: 1st Caragh Alley, Pukeham, 2nd Alicia Robertson Havelock North, 3rd Shanayah Poharama, Ilminster.

Full results are posted daily on: www.nzaimsgames.co.nz