Centralian Advocate, Friday, September 13, 2013 — 61

SPORT

Geddes all geared up

Successful Finke Desert Race driver Billy Geddes plans to add riding a bike to his 2014 challenge

Nick Kossatch

‘I’m looking forward

to doing something

different and it’s

about promoting the

sport and what we

want to do

’

FINKE 2014 will experiencesomething that has never beenattempted before courtesy ofBilly Geddes.

It will feature terra thermaand air but the main motive forGeddes is to complete Austra-lia’s toughest desert race.

Geddes will start his campaignessentially to promote the sportand just surviving the race,twice, is the aim.

The thrill of competition hasdriven Geddes to new heightsand he fell in love with Finkein 2010 when he helped out hismates who were competing atthe event.

Geddes has been racing in thepast three Finke events andfinishing in the top 10 in the carcategory in all the races since.

He will drive in his Geiser BrosTrophy Truck to Finke andthen fly back to Alice Springsin a helicopter.

Following his arrival by heli-copter Geddes will then ridea motorbike back to Finke.

He will repeat the dose on thesecond day and it will certainlytest out his endurance as somecompetitors struggle with thegruelling track in just one race.

Geddes said the motorbike legwill pose as his biggest challengeand his commitment to date hasbeen meticulous.

He has been in training for thepast year and by the time Finke2014 arrives, all the hard yardswill hopefully come to the fore,over land and on it.

His request to ‘‘do somethingthat has not been done before’’has been granted a seal of ap-

proval by Finke Desert Racepresident Antony Yoffa.

‘‘I’m looking forward to doingsomething different and it’sabout promoting the sport andwhat we want to do,’’ Geddessaid. ‘‘Finke is a one-off kind ofrace and is so fast.

‘‘Basically I hope to survive thewhole thing and no one’s everdone it before and it’s hardenough to finish once and to doit twice is the motive.’’

Two-time King of the DesertToby Price will give Geddesplenty of support with his inti-mate knowledge of the track andwhat is required to counter it.

Geddes thanked all the greatsupport from his sponsorsT o y o T y r e s , B r o w n a n dHurley Kenworth, Off Road CarSell and Stuart Highway Cara-van Park.

‘‘Pit crew are also the people toget it happening,’’ Geddes said.

The 2014 Tatts Finke DesertRace will run across the QueensBirthday long weekend fromFriday, June 6 until Monday,June 9, 2014.

Wallabies inrare form forgrand finalNick Kossatch

WALLABIES Storm are through tothe League Reserve Women basket-ball grand final after notching up acomfortable 14-point win againstRockets Farno in the second semifinal on Tuesday night.

The Storm’s Michelle Ellis wasagain a dominant force scoring 26of her team’s 43 points.

It capped off a big week for Elliswho was awarded the Club EastsideAlice Springs Netball AssociationPlayer’s Player trophy last Saturdaynight.

She has the chance to have twopremiership medals in the space of aweek.

After Ellis scored five of the Storm’sseven points in the first quarter, theteam established a 14-point lead athalf time and from that point theStorm was never headed.

Jaiden Preece put away 10 pointsfor the Storm that will now enjoy theextra week off before the grand final.

Teniwa Ford (15 points) and 10points to Ari Whakaruru wereFarno’s better players.

The first semi final produced athrilling one-point win to theWallabies Thunder against MemoMustangs 34-33.

The Mustangs came storming backin the last quarter in a 15-8 run withDody Stephens (20 points) andPauline Hickey’s five final quarterpoints almost getting it over the line.

Kiara Russell-White was consistentthroughout for Wallabies Thunder

with 16 points and Jolene Preece able

support with eight.

Nyewente and the Rockets put on

an entertaining shooting fest in the

League Men second semi final but

Nyewente had the last laugh witha 81-66 win.

William Foster turned it on with 22points for Nyewente and he receivedexcellent support from Reggie SmithJr (18 points) and a 17-point haul fromNigel Lockyer Snr.

Schaylen Parai shot 18 points for theRockets that featured two triples,Same Heke (13 points) and ChazSolomon stroked 10 points (two triples).

Wallabies Storm knocked RocketsSaints out from going deeper into thefinals with a three-point win despitethe Saints’ Trent Abbott’s six-threepointers in his 20 points.

The Storm’s 57-54 win was on theback of a strong final 17 to 12 finalquarter where Matthew Axten (12points) took control.

He scored eight points for the termto spearhead the revival.

Team mates Archford Mazai top-scored for Wallabies Storm with 13points while Jaye Swan and andJordan White combined with 22points between them.

Rockets Saints other top point-scorers were Tyson Mann (13 points)and Stefan Yamada (10 points).

Fab four hockey stars

Bethany McDonald, Madlen Jones, Josh McDonald andManekha Byerley are Alice Springs representatives in

NT teams Picture: CHARLIE LOWSON

Nick Kossatch

YOUNG Alice Springs hockeyplayers Madlen Jones, JoshM c D o n a l d , B e t h a n yMcDonald and ManekhaByerley are living proof thatAlice Springs is a healthybreeding ground in the sport.

Jones, 14, plays senior hockeyfor local team Diva and is goingto Brusselton, Western Aust-ralia to compete with theNorthern Territory stateunder-15 team at the end ofthe month.

She will be playing in theAustralian National Cham-pionships, which will be herthird tournament.

Jones is a striker and hasbeen playing the sport sincethe age of eight.

Fourteen-year-old JoshMcDonald is off to Darwin forthe under-15 Boys NationalChampionships.

The Desert Sharks fullback/halfback said that it was goingto be an exciting opportunityto hone his skills.

‘‘I’ve been playing for sixyears and mum got me intopla y in g when she wasyounger,’’ McDonald said.

He said that playing forAustralia was motivation andit would be his third represent-ative outing, having playedwith the under-13 state teamlast year.

Josh’s older sister BethanyMcDonald recently competedwith the Northern Territoryunder-18 team in Canberra butunfortunately the team fin-ished last.

Bethany hopes to play atrepresentative level at theunder-21 level and plays locallyfor the Desert Sharks.

‘‘I’ve played hockey for six

years and I play centre half

here but when I was in Can-berra played at half and as astriker,’’ she said.

Backyard hockey did happenwhen Bethany and Josh wereyounger but not so much nowas the pair take their game toa whole new level.

Centrals hockey playerManekha Byerley, 24, jets offto Hobart at the end of Sept-ember as a part of the women’sAustralian Hockey LeagueTerritory state team called theTerritory Pearls.

It is her first time represent-

ing this team after playing at

state level.

She said the recent coachingclinics by Kookaburra playerDes Abbott and ex-Hockeyroocoach Dave Bell have been aboost to local hockey.

‘‘They both were really im-pressed in the skill level of theplayers here and they reallyexcelled,’’ Byerley said.

She has been playing thesport for 18 years taking itup during her early yearsat school.