Alistair McMurran

Taieri's Ricky Welsford is Otago's best medal hope at today's national club championships at Taieri College.

The Southern Stampede has its sights set on a Queenstown final in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League, but to secure home ice rights it must finish on top of the round-robin competition.

Former New Zealand junior champion Kristen Gould has been selected as lead in the Otago pair that will play the North Island team tomorrow.

Dunedin student Marshall Hall overcame the odds to win the discus gold medal at the Oceania Games on the Gold Coast on Thursday.

The national selectors dropped a bombshell when they did not pick top curler Sean Becker for this month's New Zealand Winter Games.

Kickboxer Janna Vaughan wants to be world champion, but to achieve this she must shed 3kg before November.

Otago sprinter Andrea Miller kept herself sharp for this month's world athletics championships in Berlin by competing in two meetings in the northern hemisphere last week.

Alhambra-Union entered the record books when it beat Pirates 50-15 at the University Oval to win its third consecutive Otago-Southland women's premier club title on Saturday.

The odds do not look promising, but talented forward Stephen Vlok is confident the Dunedin Thunder can get one win in the derby doubleheader this weekend.

Pirates wants to break the habit of always being the bridesmaid, when it plays Alhambra-Union in the Otago and Southland women's final at the University Oval today.

Youngsters Daniel Sinclair and Kristen Gould have added new enthusiasm to the Otago team that is determined to win back the Welch Trophy in September.

It is better to be underdone than overcooked. That was the way Jamie Sinclair approached the Tahoe International 100-mile (161km) race, and it paid dividends.

Desperate and courageous defence helped Dunedin win its 10th premier rugby banner at Carisbrook on Saturday.

Dunedin has held off a second-half surge by Southern to claim the Speight's Championship Shield and be crowned kings of Dunedin club rugby in a gripping final at Carisbrook today.

Alhambra-Union has two targets tomorrow - to win its third consecutive women's banner and to score 1000 points for the season.

South Otago topped the points table after round-robin play in the inaugural Highlanders First XV competition but three heavyweight schools will be chasing their own glory over the next month.

The touring St Albans English schoolboy rugby squad played sparkling rugby to score two big wins over Dunedin-based schools at Montecillo yesterday.