Conder top medal hope at NZ champs

SERIOUS CONTENDER: Christian Conder (blue), Wanganui distance runner, will handle the pressure in the Youth Men's event at the New Zealand Cross-Country Championships in Christchurch on Saturday.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

IN-FORM Christian Conder is probably the best medal hope of the five Wanganui athletes lining up at the New Zealand Cross-Country Championships on the deceptively demanding Halswell Quarry course in Christchurch on Saturday.

Conder starts in the Youth Men's (Under-18) event.

The race has one of the largest fields of the day with 60 competitors and he will need to be at his best if he is to return with silverware.

In his field are three runners who finished ahead of him at the New Zealand schools event in Dunedin, where he finished seventh. That result earned him a place in the NZ Schools team to Australia at the end of the month.

Some in the field are runners Conder has yet to beat, while he has mastered others in recent outings. As in all great sporting events, however, it will come down to performance on the day.

Conder is a proven performer under pressure, having won the North Island Youth grade this season.

His younger brother, Thomas, will start alongside him in the Youth championship, while mother Paula will line up in the 30-strong masters women's field.

Jane Lennox, who like Conder finished seventh in Dunedin and is also part of the national schools team, faces a particularly demanding test in Christchurch.

Lennox has had the misfortune to have her build-up interrupted by a week of illness.