Cross country: Competitors race to Agrodome (+video)

Rotorua Lakes High student Ella Fookes, is aiming for success in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships this weekend.

The 17-year-old will be one of 26 local athletes competing in the event held at the Agrodome and Ngati Whakaue Tribal lands.

Fookes is competing in the premier female event - the 4km girls' senior race and the 2km girls' relay on Sunday.

The Lake City Athletic Club runner admitted she was feeling nervous ahead of the events, as she goes up against more than 120 competitors.

But said she feels prepared after recently completing an eight-week training programme run by Rotorua Lakes Council.

"It's a little scary to think about how many people I'll be up against and it is a very tough field," she said.

"But it's really exciting to have the event here in Rotorua and hopefully that could give me an edge on the day.

"I feel I have improved a lot recently thanks to the training programme. It really showed me what to work on in the gym and things like diet which I haven't looked at so closely before.

"I want to run to the best of my ability and hopefully I'll give a strong performance."

Fookes will face tough competition including Takapuna Grammar pupil Katherine Badham, who won the recent Auckland title and Christchurch Girls' Amelia Persson who was second in the junior girls last year.

Fookes will be one of 960 runners who will descend on to the Agrodome, from 125 schools.

Sunday sees a new feature with a regional relay competition with girls' and boys' teams racing for provincial honours.

Meet manager Jason Cameron believes Rotorua is the perfect place to hold this year's annual event.

"The course offers so much for both competitors and spectators. It provides outstanding landscape and breath taking scenery.

"It's an amazing opportunity to have it here, and I'm sure the area will prove why it should be held here more often."

New Zealand Secondary Schools Athletics Association president John Tylden said he was looking forward to seeing the event unfold.

"It really is a great spectacle. The huge numbers of competitors and the ideal course layout will make for truly exciting racing.

"We want to encourage everyone to come along and watch. The course is perfect for spectators, you won't have to go too far to see the whole thing. We have the new relay event on the Sunday which will be really entertaining to watch. There are teams from 15 provinces so it will be an interesting race," he said.

In the premier male event, the senior boys' 6km, Hamilton Boys' High School student Isaiah Priddey is aiming to add the senior boys' cross country title to the junior boys' title he won last year. But Priddey will have his work cut out in the largest field at the championships at more than 240 and up against the in-form Dan Hoy from Westlake Boys.

The stakes are high for all the students. The top 12 place finishers being offered a position to travel with the New Zealand Secondary Schools Athletics Association to the Australian Cross Country Championships.