Flat, twisty course a test for athletes

VIRGINIA LAKE: The Round the Lake Relay (Monday) continues to be one of the oldest and most popular events on the running calendar. This year it has attracted 27 schools and 133 teams. PHOTO/FILE

THIS FIRST week in September marks the 14th anniversary of when I started writing this weekly column.

Back in 2001 I wrote the first "Insight" on my return from Melbourne after attending the IAAF Final with some fellow track and field supporters and today I am writing what I estimate to be my 550th article on once again returning from Melbourne.

The reason for this visit was the Australian Cross Country and Road Relays held at two famous Melbourne sporting venues. The former at Moonee Valley race course, the home of the Cox Plate; the latter at Albert Park, the home of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix. The New Zealand Secondary Schools team of 21 athletes attended both events with Wanganui represented by Wanganui Collegiate athletes Christian Conder and Jane Lennox.

The flat twisty course around the Moonee Valley race course was radically different to conditions and course at the News Zealand Schools Championships (the selection meeting for Australia) in Dunedin at the Gladfield Golf Course.

The young New Zealand team also had to contend with very competitive State teams from throughout Australia and as in all such odd numbered years this doubled as an Australian trial for next year's ISF World Schools Cross Country.

The leading New Zealand performances came in the Under 20 grade with New Zealand's Conal Wilson (Auckland Grammar School) finishing just outside of the medals in 4th place with team mate Cameron Avery (Cashmere High School) one place behind helping the team to a bronze medal. The next best performances came from Hannah O'Connor (Sacred Heart New Plymouth) who finished 9th in a very competitive Under 16 event and Samantha Burke (Mount Aspiring College) who was 10th in the Under 18 grade, the race in which Jane Lennox finished 43rd out of the 96 competitors.

Fifteen-year-old Lennox had moved up to the Under 16 grade to join nine others of the total New Zealand Team of 11 girls and finished seventh home with only 15 seconds separating the 5th to 9th scorers. Lennox should be pleased with her first up performance in the black singlet on a course which did not favour her abilities over tough terrain. Lennox as being outside of the top five New Zealand finishers moved up to form an Under 20 5 x 2000m relay team that did well to finish third against the Australian State combinations. Lennox should be delighted with her improved technical performance over her 2000m lap.

Christian Conder finished 25th and was the fourth New Zealander to finish.

Again the leading team group finished close together and although 5th as a team were in fact only 8 points shy of a medal. Conder lost a little ground on the teammates who finished ahead of him over the second lap of the 6000m race. The team improved one place in the relay and was only two seconds behind the bronze medal winning team.

Both Conder and Lennox will have learned much ahead of next year's ISF World School's Cross Country and with almost eight months to go I am certain that both will perform well.

Closer to home both will be running in the 37th annual Round the Lake Relay at Wanganui's iconic Virginia Lake on Monday The Round the Lake Relay continues to be one of the oldest and most popular events on the running calendar and this year it has attracted 28 schools and 132 teams with schools coming from Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Taranaki.

The number of schools entered is three down on last year, with a drop in actual team entries of 11 teams. Disappointingly, this is attributable to a drop in secondary entries from the Wanganui region where at secondary level only Wanganui Collegiate, Cullinane and Girls College have entered as opposed to six schools in the intermediate school's grade.

There are four races making up the programme. Race 1 is at 1.40pm and is for Year 9 and intermediate schools girls. The boys equivalent race is at 2.25pm. The senior and Under 16 girls starts at 3.25pm with the boys in the same grade at 3.55pm. All races start around the Lake with changeovers and finish at the Peter Pan statue.

The holders in the girls Awatapu College return to defend their title. Host school Wanganui Collegiate who took silver in the teams at New Zealand Schools in June with Napier Girls High School and New Plymouth Girls should be in the mix.