Cross country comes to town

IN CROWD: The green team (Manawatu/Wanganui) Emma Abraham (partly obscured left), Jane Lennox, Tessa Webb and Caitlyn Alabaster take bronze in the women's Youth class at the NZ Cross Country Champs.

Cross Country came to town at the weekend when the New Zealand Championships were held at the Auckland Domain.

The central location provided an outstanding course which was demanding in the heavy conditions and technically difficult with many tight turns.

Christian Conder, who has not raced since New Zealand Secondary Schools back in June, made an excellent return to competition in finishing 6th in the Under 20 Men's race.
Conder is clearly on the road to recovery following a recurrence of the injury first sustained on the tour to the ISF World Schools Cross Country in Hungary in April.

The injury had kept him out of the North Island Cross Country in Taupo at the start of July.

Conder is a first year junior (under 20) and was competing in his first major 8kme race. Conder ran conservatively over the first three laps and came home well over the final lap to finish a highly creditable 6th. He defeated two of the athletes who finished ahead of him in Rotorua at New Zealand Schools (Daniel Hoy and Angus White who finished first and second respectively). Only Jared Lautenslager of those ahead of him at New Zealand Schools finished in front of him.

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.