Harriers: Classy Mayo takes out 8000m

Palmerston North's Callum McConachy edged out Wanganui's Gai-Marie Smart in the walk event at the 2014 Centre Cross Country championships at Bason Reserve on Saturday. PHOTO/LEWIS GARDNER

A total of 39 Wanganui Harrier Club members competed in the 2014 Centre Cross Country championships with many of the youngsters taking the limelight.

The centre champs are held between contributing Wanganui and Manawatu clubs. This year athletes from Wanganui Harrier Club (WHC), Feilding Moa and Palmerston North Athletics contested the various divisions.

Racing was held over three loop courses at Bason Reserve with all loops involving varying degrees of hill climbing and testing under-foot conditions.

The day's racing commenced with a strong field contesting the walk event with Palmerston North's Callum McConachy edging out local competitor Gai-Marie Smart for the win with WHC team mate Damien Wood in third.

The under 10 grade saw WHC members pushed back on the podium by strong races from the youngsters from Feilding Moa Club. Oliver Hutchins and Estelle Murray raced hard for well-deserved third placings in their races.

The under 13 Boys event was one of the closest finishes of the afternoon with Ben Conder (WHC) holding on for the win from Brayden Popow (PNA) and Morgan Murray (WHC). The boys were separated by just 6 seconds at the finish line.

Christian Conder continued the Conder family dominance with a strong run in the Under-18 race leading home Louis Hogan (WHC) and Adam Fairclough (PNA).

Finishing the Conder trifecta was Paula Conder who finished first in her age group of the masters women's.

The largest field of the day was in the 8000m senior men's race with 21 registered competitors taking part. WHC regular Neil Mayo showed his class with a winning time of 34:54 leading home all competitors.

Jimmy Hildreth showed that, despite missing a large chunk of the cross country season, he is still in good form, finishing 5th overall and taking out the masters men's 40-44 age group.