Wairarapa winners at cross-country champs

The small Wairarapa contingent exceeded expectations in picking up three medals one gold, one silver and one bronze at the North Island cross country championships at Taupo last weekend.
The record-breaking win of Stevie Paine of Masterton in the girls under-12yrs event was the obvious highlight but there was also considerable merit in the second placing of Molly Creagh of Masterton in the girls under-14 race and the third placing of Tom Quinn of Carterton in the boys under-12 race.
Coach of the three successful athletes, Mark Harris, concedes that while Paine's victory was always seen as a possibility, because she had finished runner-up the previous year, the efforts of Creagh and Quinn caught even him by surprise.
"When you looked at the size of the fields and the quality of the opposition it was hard to believe we could come away with as many three medals, it was certainly better than we expected," Harris said.
The merit of Paine's performance in registering a record time of 7mins 36secs for her age group over the hilly 2000m circuit is indicated by the fact she not only beat the second female by all of 11secs but in a race which was combined with the under-12 boys she was among the first five home.
Harris said the tactics for Paine were to stay in touch with the pace over the early stages and then use her speed and strength to outfinish her rivals. "She was a class above them, she just ran them off their feet," he said.
Creagh competed over 3000m and she was just 5secs off the winner in placing second in 12mins 10secs, a performance made even noteworthy by her being eligible to compete in the same grade again next year.
She was lying third going into the last 400m and mounted a strong finishing sprint which saw her not only gain second but cut rapidly into the lead held by the eventual winner.
Quinn raced over 2000m and while his time of 7mins 29secs was 21secs off the first placegetter the latter's effort did represent a record for the age group. Like Paine and Creagh, Quinn ran a heady tactical race, ensuring that he had something more to give coming into the closing stages.
Several of the other Wairarapa athletes, who all competed under the Athletics Masterton banner, also impressed, including Holly Travis who finished eighth in the girls under 11-years event, despite being one of the youngest competitors at 8yrs of age, and Vicki Paine who was lying fourth at the end of the girls under-16yrs race and kept battling away despite sore legs to finish 13th.
For Zac Sinclair of Carterton, who contested the boys under-19 grade, the Taupo championships were used as an ideal workout for future walking assignments including the Wellington championships.
Sinclair, 16, recently showed his huge potential by completing a 10km walk in a staggering 55mins 33secs and coach Harris considers he is a realistic chance to qualify for next year's world junior athletic championships.
"It's a big ask but that's the sort of progress he has been making over the last few months," he said.