Curtain came down on the cross country season with the running New Zealand champs in Dunedin

George Lambert, right, on the podium in Dunedin to receive his first individual cross country medal. Photo / Sarah Lambert

The New Zealand Cross Country in Dunedin last weekend brought the curtain down on the cross country season.

Dunedin provided an excellent course at the Chisholm Links and also provided all four seasons in one day. There were warm, sunny spells similar to those that greeted athletes as they were checking the course the previous day, there were heavy squally showers and just after the last race, a wintery hailstorm was the prelude to the snow on the following day. Fortunately, almost all the races were held between showers so different to the persistent wintry rain faced by athletes at the New Zealand Schools Championships eight weeks previously in Hawera.

The Athletics New Zealand Championships sees smaller and more elite fields than at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships. At the Schools Championships, athletes represent their individual schools, whereas at the Athletics New Zealand Championships athletes enter individually under their member clubs with most then selected to run for one of the 11 New Zealand Centres in their centre colours.

Team medals are awarded to centre teams opposed to school teams at New Zealand Schools. The two school-age group New Zealand Championships competed for in Dunedin were at under-18 and under-20 levels.

The latter had runners who had left school as part of the field whereas the under-18 grade had a few runners who may have competed at New Zealand Schools in the Junior (under-16 grade) as the under-16 and under-14 races in Dunedin were non-championship. A comparison of numbers competing at the two venues is interesting. In Hāwera, there were 279 athletes running in the Senior Boys and Senior Girls Grades. In Dunedin 98 ran in the under-18 and under-20 grade.

There were 691 finishers in Hāwera (740 entries) slightly fewer than 2019 (The 2020 event was cancelled). In Dunedin there were 164 finishers in the under-14, under-16, under-18 and under-20 grades (the two younger grades were non-championship).

As mentioned in an earlier article, cross country is a demanding activity often conducted in wintery conditions without the sexy glamour of some other endurance events. At school level, we noted a slight drop in numbers, which was reflected in many regional championships and analysis is underway to see what factors have brought about this drop.

It may be the effect of Covid and the cancellation of events in 2020 or that the location of the 2021 event or date in the calendar was an influence. Athletics New Zealand should be undertaking a similar analysis. Should team sizes be reduced to three as at NZSS (who have a three and six to score teams) or whether a club team event should be run in conjunction might add to entries? The sport is unique in that an athlete could run for more than one team in the same event.

George Lambert was our most successful runner in Dunedin, where he gained his first individual cross country New Zealand medal taking the bronze in the under-20 grade. A year earlier he had finished second in the Cross Country Challenge held under alert level 2 and without Aucklanders who were at level 3 at the time of the race.

Lambert, a New Zealand School's International, showed growing maturity as a runner. When he was younger, he tended to go out in front and fall off the pace as the race developed. He sensibly did not try to go out with Will Anthony, the run-away winner.

With 1km to go, Lambert, in a solid third place, saw that MacCallum Rowe (Taranaki) who has a reputation for fast finishing, was beginning to close the gap. Lambert worked hard over the undulating back section of the course ensuring it would not go down to a sprint up the home straight. Lambert was rewarded by a pleasing 27 minutes and 8 second best 8km performance.

Year 11 athlete Daniel Sinclair, who had finished a highly creditable 8th at New Zealand Schools again finished 8th but, with a year left in the grade, can be encouraged by the fact that he was only 21 seconds shy of a medal. Team-mate Louise Brabyn finished 13th in the under-18 women's grade and has two more years in that grade and should also be encouraged by her southern effort. The Masters Grades bring numbers and colour. Paula Conder was a tantalising two seconds away from a medal in the women's 45-49 grade running in a large combined field.

Attention now turns to the road with the New Zealand Road Running and Walk Championships scheduled for Sunday, September 5, with our own Round the lake Relay the following day. The new alert levels could affect both events.