Liam Back went some way to emulating his running heroes on the first day of the NZCT AIMS Games in Tauranga today.
The St Peter's College (Auckland) 12-year-old lists middle distance greats Peter Snell and John Walker as his idols and copied Snell's trademark withering finish to claim the Year 8 boys' cross country title on a stunning opening day at the national intermediate schools tournament. The championships have attracted 7500 Year 7 and 8 athletes from all over the country, from 228 schools.
Back has a decent track pedigree, breaking a 34-year-old Auckland record in the 800m earlier this year and clocking a new 400m mark to boot. But cross country titles have eluded him, until now, as he out-gunned Finn Ward (Auckland Normal) and Gisborne's Matthew Proffit to record a sweet victory.
"I didn't compete last year because I was too slow," he explained. "I've done well on the track but I wanted to get a cross country title to add to it. I've trained four times a week since then because I wanted to go for glory and managed to get it finally. I stuck near the front and went with my gut and came out on top."
Despite a balmy spring day in the Bay of Plenty, athletes from colder climes featured heavily. Christchurch's Lucy Kokich claimed the only individual record of the day, clocking 11mins 24secs for the 3km distance, breaking the old mark - set in 2006 - by 4secs. Gisborne Intermediate's Briana Irving also dipped under the old record, clocking 11.26, but she couldn't head her Christchurch rival.