Irving (Gisborne Girls' High School) is a class act. Her CV this year includes setting a championship record for 3000m (10:18.43) at the East Coast Champs in March, being runner-up at the North Island School Champs in Auckland in April (in 10:18.06) to Waikato's Charli Miller, and running second again to Miller in the national W14 road race in Masterton last month.
In Thursday's race Irving would have shocked some of the boys by holding a very forward position in the combined boys' and girls' race, being 20m ahead of eventual third placegetter Will Tidswell (Havelock North High) at the halfway mark.
The boys she was running amongst were fine athletes themselves. Winner Oliver Marshall (Napier Boys' High), runner-up Max Taylor (Napier Boys' High) and Tidswell had placed first, sixth and third respectively at North Island Champs in the 3000m, and Marshall was national M14 runner up on the road in Masterton.
Irving's time on Thursday of 10:31 easily replaced schoolmate Olivia Corrin's time of 10:43. Corrin in turn had set a North Island Championship record for 3000m when in Year 9.
Marshall ran 9:43 to take seven seconds off Christison's Year 9 record.
While the three record setters predictably won by wide margins, the closest finish on the day came in the junior boys' 4km race in which St John's runner Mark Day won with a dip on the line from Gisborne Boys' Caleb Trabitzsch. Both were given the same time of 13:22.
■ Year 9 girls' 3km: B Irving (GGHS) 10:31, 1 (record); B Lee (NGHS) 11:29, 2; A Wentz (Woodford) 11:40, 3.
■ Junior girls' 4km: R Brett (Karamu) 16:04, 1; N Boesch (NGHS) 16:13, 2; I Angland (NGHS) 16:29, 3.
■ Senior girls' 4km: E Dunn (NGHS) 15:13, 1; C Layton 15:16, 2; M Pedersen (NGHS) 15:49, 3.
■ Year 9 boys' 3km: O Marshall (NBHS) 9:43 (record), 1; M Taylor (NBHS) 10:17, 2; W Tidswell (HNHS) 10:22, 3.
■ Junior boys' 4km: M Day (St John's) 13:22, 1; C Trabitzsch (GBHS) 13:22, 2; M Ireland (St John's) 13:51, 3.
■ Senior boys' 6km: B Christison (NBHS) 19:30 (record), 1; K Elms (St John's) 20:16, 2; W Little (Lindisfarne) 20:24, 3.