Four years of toil to get to officiate at Commonwealth Games – صحيفة الصوت

The 2022 Commonwealth Games will be littered with stories of sacrifices that athletes have made to get themselves the special sporting event.

But those stories based on dedication aren’t limited to just the athletes themselves.

Amongst the raft of officials who will oversee the Commonwealth Games – which starts with the opening ceremony on Friday morning – are tales of hard work.

Invercargill’s Erin Criglington falls into that category.

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Criglington will officiate in the track cycling, mountain-biking, and road cycling events.

It caps off four years of toil to get herself to the point that on Monday morning she jetted off to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games.

“It’s pretty exciting, and it’s just nice that all of the study for the past few years has come to fruition and I get the opportunity to go to the Games,” Criglington said.

That has included completing exams at 2am in the morning.

Her journey started in 2018 when the Invercargill accountant went about becoming an elite commissaire at national level in New Zealand.

The following year Criglington started to work towards becoming a qualified international commissaire.

In November, amongst the pandemic, Criglington headed to Switzerland to tick off the practical component of the qualification. The same day she passed that requirement Criglington was told she had been selected to officiate at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

New Zealand got to nominate a male and female official for cycling at the Commonwealth Games.

“I was the only qualified international woman [in New Zealand], I got selected, and now I’m away [to the Commonwealth Games],” she said.

Her roles in Birmingham will include assistant starter for the track cycling, she will be one of the commissaire for the road time trial and will be a chief judge for the road races.

She is unsure just yet what her role will be at the mountain-biking.

Criglington herself delivered some notable performances on the bike over the years which included winning world masters titles.

She felt the step toward joining the officials’ ranks was the right move.

“It’s my way to put back into the sport that has given me so much. I just enjoy getting to the different events and helping the athletes have a good race and perform at their best.”

Criglington is one of Southlanders who will be involved in an official capacity in Birmingham, included is weightlifting official Barbara Grieve who recently was named official of the year at the 2022 ILT Southland Sports Awards.

Jason McKenzie is part of the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team support staff specialising in psychology. While Paddy O’Brien is World Rugby’s sevens referees manager and Karl McDonald is physio for the sevens referees.

Southland will have nine athletes competing at the Commonwealth Games, including Southern Steel netballers Shannon Saunders and Kate Heffernan. Southland Sharks player Dom Kelman-Poto will line up in the New Zealand men’s 3×3 basketball team, while 2022 Southland Sportsperson of the Year Alena Saili will again be part of the New Zealand women’s sevens team.

Four Southlanders will ride for medals in the track cycling which will be held in London. They are Bradly Knipe, Tom Sexton, Nick Kergozou and Corbin Strong.

Gore javelin thrower Tori Peeters is Commonwealth Games-bound, fresh off her first shot at a World Athletics Championships in the United States last week.

Saili will be the first Southlander in action when the Black Ferns sevens team play Canada at 9pm on Friday night [NZ time].