The two home teams kept their unbeaten record at Waipap in local darts last Wednesday after hosting Awanui and Mussel Rock, with Betty Masters notable for putting in a good performance for Awanui taking out two games.

The efforts of a dedicated group of skaters who had driven all the way from Kaitaia to take part in the Hoki Sk8 2014 competition last month helped convince organisers not to pull the plug on the event because of rain.

Ahipara turned on picture postcard autumn conditions for the Te Houtaewa Challenge Run Walk Cycle for Life.

Mangonui seniors

At the time of this edition going to print, a number of Northland's top sheepdogs and their handlers were getting their North Island Championship campaigns under way in Taumaranui.

Seven Kaitaia College students represented a Kaitaia gym when they competed at Teen Gauntlet Crossfit Competition in Auckland on April 12 with the following achieved.

So there he was, The Offsider, feeling winter start to creep across the Far North in near nonchalant fashion.

Pete Watson won the heaviest snapper prize of $500 with this 10.3kg fish at the Houhora Big Game & Sports Fishing Club's Easter Sportsfishing Contest, held Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20.

Kerikeri Bay Builders 2 Airforce 1 (ht 1-1): The Northland premier division champions began their 2014 Chatham Cup campaign with a win over Airforce at Waipapa in clear, nippy mid-autumn conditions on Easter Monday.

Two girls born and bred in the Far North are making waves in the Auckland boxing scene.

Bay of Islands Netball Centre (BOINC) teams vied for positioning on the final grading round in Kaikohe on Saturday, knowing this was their last chance to move up and/or keep themselves from being relegated.

There's no doubt the Tigers - one of the most successful Bay of Islands teams in the province over the past decade - are hurting.

The biggest turnout ever by students representing schools across the province in this year's Northland Scholastic Surfing Series left organisers in no doubt the sport was currently enjoying a massive surge in interest.

Northland athletes completely dominated the top places in the fourth annual Craigs Northern Crossing, which took place between Omapere and Kerikeri on Saturday.

The first leg of the 2014 Northland Secondary Schools Clay Target Shooting Competition went ahead at the Kaeo Clay Target Gun Club.

Mangonui senior club rugby kicked off on Saturday in fine autumn conditions, and in traditional fashion with all four games being played at Arnold Rae Park.

An up-and-coming golfer from Rotorua who has started making a name for himself on the professional circuit won the Harcourts Waitangi Pro-Am title on Friday.

An accomplished local swimming athlete is currently in training as he prepares to take on the 1km distance at the King of the Bays swim on Auckland's North Shore later this month.

Friday night fighting returned to downtown Kaitaia as the Howling Wolves' March Madness boxing and kickboxing tournament took place at 103 Gym Central last week.

The true identity of Ironman has been revealed and it's not some fictional character - as in the case of billionaire playboy, industrialist, and ingenious engineer Tony Stark - but Jill Bloggs!

Organisers of a successful junior tennis programme in Kaitaia said plans are in place to grow the event to cater to the unprecedented and overwhelming demand they experienced last summer.

There isn't much difference between taking a tumble on ice or concrete, so new national ice hockey rep Jessi Scott says.

More than 30 players from throughout the district took part in a fun tournament at Broadwood Area School's new covered outdoor facility.

Despite dislocating his shoulder before the fight's midway point, a Northland boxer went on to win his bout in an amateur tournament at the Super City Boxing Gym last Saturday.

A local man has taken the early lead in the Snapper Bonanza surfcasting competition after weighing in a whopping 9.995kg snapper.

Given some rarely composed sheep to work with, Northland's best sheepdogs went on the front foot in the Mangonui leg of the Northland sheepdog trials in Aurere.

The 90 Mile Beach Surfcasting Club's traditional lead-up to the Captain Morgan Snapper Bonanza, the Twilight Competition, proved more of test of endurance rather than fishing skills in the wake of the departing Tropical Cyclone Lusi.

Kalani Hansen may not have recorded the greatest results at any of the three events making up this year's Billabong Grom Series, but his freesurfing certainly caught the eye of several photographers.

64-year-old part time teacher qualified for the world championships in Brazil through another successful campaign at the national sprint championships on Lake Karapiro earlier this year.