Conder departs for the Australian Championships to compete for the third time for New Zealand Schools with the knowledge that he has finished ahead of all but two of his 11 team mates, an important confidence boost on his road to recovery.
Fellow Wanganui Collegiate athletes featured in the Manawatu/Wanganui team bronze medal in the Youth women's grade (Under 18). Tessa Webb (Fielding) gave the team an excellent start finishing second to the outstanding Hannah O'Connor (Taranaki).
O'Connor who had won the junior (under 16) at New Zealand Schools again demonstrated her outstanding potential. Webb who had won the senior grade at the New Zealand Schools ran well for second.. Wanganui athlete Caitlyn Alabaster was the next MWA team finisher in 10th position.
Alabaster, who only turned 15 three weeks earlier, is an exciting young athlete who is improving with every race. Alabaster was closely followed by fellow Wanganui athlete Jane Lennox in 12th position. The fourth MWA team member was another Wanganui runner Emma Abraham who was in her first major 4km race.
Abraham ran a strong first lap but struggled over the second 2km circuit showing tenacity to finish when clearly running under considerable discomfort. Her final 27th position was invaluable to her team edging them ahead of Tasman to finish behind Canterbury and Auckland.
It is interesting to note that under the three to score format used at New Zealand Schools as opposed to the four to score at the Athletics New Zealand Championships MWA would have been second only one point behind the leading Canterbury Team clearly illustrating the strength of youth women in the MWA Centre.
The other leading Wanganui performances came from Paul Duxfield who finished 10th in the Masters 55-59 division, Paula Conder who finished 8th in the Women's 40-44 division and in the under 18 grade Oliver O'Leary, Liam Jones and Thomas Conder finished in 41st, 43rd and 47th respectively.
The exciting Auckland Domain venue will hopefully be used again next year when the New Zealand Cross Country returns to the City of Sails a week earlier at the end of July 2017.
The venue brings the sport, often conducted out in the country, right into the city and in the process gives an added profile to the event.