The first was Joe Antunovich who competed in the discus event at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.   Antunovich was a talented all-round sportsman during his teenage years at Henderson High School. He played in the school’s first rugby XV, was an outstanding basketballer and an exceptional athlete excelling in the shot and discus events.  He twice won the New Zealand junior (under 19) discus championship, in 1966 and 1967, and in March 1967 he set a New Zealand junior discus record at 57.56m (1.5kg weight discus). The record stood for 9 years. As well he won the New Zealand junior shot title in 1967.

Antunovich was awarded an athletic scholarship at one of America’s most prestigious universities, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he competed for four years on the university’s athletic team in addition to studying architecture. After graduating with honours from USC, Antunovich stayed on in the United States and now lives in Chicago where he has his own architecture business employing a staff of fifteen.

Seven years passed before the club had its second New Zealand representative, Gary Henley-Smith.  Like Antunovich, Henley-Smith was a brilliant all-round sportsman playing in Auckland Grammar School's Rugby 1st XV at wing (or fullback) and in the school’s Cricket 1st XI as an opening batsman. He was also the Auckland and New Zealand secondary schools senior boys 100m and 200m champion and held the New Zealand junior men’s 100m and 200m records at 10.4s and 21.7s. His 10.4s 100m record, set in 1977, stood for 13 years.

Henley-Smith first represented New Zealand against Australia in 1977. Later that year he was a member of the Oceania team at the World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany. He also competed in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland in New Zealand’s 4 x 100m relay team.  Between 1977 and 1990 Henley Smith spent four years on an athletic scholarship at Washington State University on the United State’s west coast. He is now teaching at St Paul’s College in Hamilton.

Christina Dallow was the club’s third New Zealand representative. Daughter of Club life member Ross Dallow, who is now coach of Beatrice Faumuina, Christina competed in the heptathlon in a New Zealand v Australia international multi-events meeting in Christchurch in early 1982.

Later that year our club was honoured with three New Zealand representatives at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games – Kim Robertson, Pam Hendren and Janine Robson.  Robertson who had joined the club in 1981, won the difficult New Zealand 100m, 200m and 400m sprint treble in early 1982 then went on to finish fifth in the Commonwealth Games 200 metres final.

Hendren, a former New Zealand long jump champion and recordholder, finished 6th in the Brisbane Commonwealth Games long jump while Robson narrowly failed to qualify for the Games 400m hurdles final finishing a close fifth in her heat.  In March 1982, while still a junior woman, Robson won the New Zealand women’s 400m hurdles title in a national record 59.12s. At age 18 she was the youngest member of the 34-strong New Zealand track and field team at the Brisbane Games.

Cameron Taylor was our club’s first Olympian.  A world class 200m sprinter, Taylor competed in this event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games where he clocked a New Zealand record 20.83s for 5th in the second round, narrowly missing qualifying for the Games semi-finals. Another to attend an American university on an athletic scholarship - Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas - Taylor is now living and working back in Auckland.

Beatrice Faumuina is the club’s second Olympian.  Faumuina, the 1997 world discus champion, joined our club in 2005 after transferring from the Auckland City Club. She finished fourth in the discus at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games then represented New Zealand at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Two of our most successful international athletes have been Angela McKee, third in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games high jump, and Elizabeth Lamb who was the high jump gold medallist at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India.  Both Beatrice Faumuina and Elizabeth Lamb have been selected to represent New Zealand in this year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.

WAITEMATA-WAITAKERE CITY ATHLETIC CLUB’S NZ REPRESENTATIVES
(Events and performances where known)    

1970

1977

1982

1985

1987 

1988

1989

CAMERON TAYLOR        New Zealand v Australia 4 x 100m Relay, Canberra
                1st - 40.30s (New Zealand Record)
    
GLEN LE GROS        World Cross-Country Championships, Norway
                104th Junior Men
    
VAUGHAN McCULLOUGH    Australian U20 XC Championships, Queensland
                4th
    
HELEN HAWLEY        Australian Championships, Brisbane
                5th - 800m - 2m 9.36s
    
VANESSA JACK        Australian Championships, Brisbane
                1st - Women’s 20 100m Hurdles - 14.45s                                                                            
                6th - Women’s 100m Hurdles - 14.34s

1990  

GARY HENLEY-SMITH        Commonwealth Games, Auckland
                4th - Heats 4 x 100m Relay  NZ team - 40.53s
                Commonwealth Challenge, Sydney
                5th - 100m -11.20s
    
 KIM PETERSEN        Commonwealth Games, Auckland
                6th - Heats 400m Hurdles - 59.56s
                Commonwealth Challenge, Sydney
                6th - 400m Hurdles - 59.61s
    
CASSANDRA KELLY        Commonwealth Games, Auckland
                6th - Heats 10m Hurdles - 14.21s
                9th - Heptathlon 5244 points (incl. 100m Hurdles 13.99s)
                Commonwealth Challenge, Sydney
                7th - 100m Hurdles - 14.82s
                11th - High Jump - 1.65 metres
    
CAMERON TAYLOR        World Junior Championships, Provdiv, Bulgaria
                3rd - Heats 200m - 21.32s  
                4th - Semi-final - 21.23s
    
HELEN HAWLEY        Oceania Championships, Suva, Fiji
                1st - 800m - 2m 9.35s
                1st - 1500m - 4m 33.17s
    
CARMEL CORBETT        Oceania Championships, Suva, Fiji
                1st - High Jump - 1.77m
    
DEREK RENZ            Oceania Championships, Suva, Fiji
                1st - 800m - 1m 57.16s
                1st - 1500m - 3m 58.58s
    
ELIZABETH BINNS        Oceania Championships, Suva, Fiji
                3rd - ShotPut - 12.33m
    
NIGEL BROWN            Oceania Championships, Suva, Fiji
                6th - 5000m - 16m 8.20s

1991

CAMERON TAYLOR        World Athletics Championships, Tokyo, Japan
                8th - 2nd round 200m - 21.40s
    
SCOTT NELSON        World Race Walking Cup, San Jose, U.S.A.
                80th - 20km Road Walk -1h 33m 10s

1992

CAMERON TAYLOR        Olympic Games,Barcelona, Spain
                2nd - Heats 200m - 20.91s
                5th - 2nd Round - 20.83s (New Zealand Record)      
    
VANESSA JACK        Australian Championships, Adelaide
                6th - 100m Hurdles - 14.24s

1993

1994

1998

1999

2000

2001

2007

2008  

2009

2010 

2011

Compiled by
Roy Williams