Juniors relish cross-country action

TOP PERFORMERS: Members of the winning Wanganui Collegiate three and six-person teams at the junior girls New Zealand School Cross Country are from left, Kate Wells, Libby Abbott, Caitlyn Alabaster, Mia Gemmell, Rebecca Brown and Emma Abraham. PHOTO/ ROB VAN DORT

THE New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country and the inaugural Regional Cross Country Relays provided an exciting and successful weekend of running in Rotorua.

The presentation of the events throughout especially was outstanding, especially the exciting 5 x 2km relay. The relay was run over the 1000m loop of the championship course which made it spectator friendly with athletes passing the changeover zone 10 times in each race.

Whanganui will struggle in the company of provinces such as Waikato and Canterbury but will always enter and frequently punch above their weight. Not unexpectedly they were near the tail in each division but join others in applauding the new venture. The selection to compete for the region gives added value to the weekend and encouraged at least three schools from Whanganui to travel to the event they would have been unlikely to attend without the added attraction of the relay.

The junior girls, although finishing sixth of the 10 teams competing were as high as third mid-race. The team combined athletes from Wanganui Collegiate School (Caitllyn Alabaster, Libby Abbott and Mia Gemmell), Wanganui High School (Rebecca Baker) and Whanganui Girls College (Nikita McDonald). McDonald ran a sensational third leg and the team's fastest at 7min 33sec. McDonald had finished 50th in the large junior girls field the day before but showed her real potential over the shorter relay completing the journey two seconds fastest than the talented Alabaster who had finished an outstanding eighth in the same championship race. Baker, who had run an outstanding race on Saturday to finish 12th in the large field, was Whanganui's third fastest in 8min 5sec.

Christian Conder (Wanganui Collegiate) provided the best Whanganui performance of the championship with fifth in the 220 strong senior boys. Conder rallied well over the final 1500m when he looked to be dropped by leading group. He fought back to fifth place and headed off all but one of his six team-mates from the ISF World Schools Cross Country in Budapest in April. Conder has again been selected for the New Zealand team.

Jane Lennox (Collegiate) finished 15th in one of the strongest senior fields in recent years. Although in contention for a top-10 place through much of the journey she missed the testing Dunedin hills of a year ago and fell back over the final run home.

She now relies on top-12 athletes turning down the New Zealand team place for Canberra to retain her place in the New Zealand Schools team. Lennox is still young and with another year at school remains an athlete with immense potential.

The large majority of athletes travel to championships as part of a team. Whanganui's most successful team result came from the Wanganui Collegiate girls junior (under 16) team who won both the three and six to score junior team titles. Last year they completed a similar double at Year 9 level and have encouragingly made the step up to the older grade. Caitlyn Alabaster ran a heady race and was always with the leading group finishing eighth. Mia Gemmell was next home in 28th with Libby Abbott in 35th to take the title. Just over 90 seconds later Emma Abraham crossed the line to add the six to claim the title. Kate Wells and Rebecca Brown were the other two team members.

This was Wanganui Collegiate's 21st team title in the 43-year history of the event with the fourth highest total of the more than 65 schools who have won team titles.

Many young Whanganui athletes will have gained valuable experience from the weekend. Collegiate athletes Sam Thrupp (24th in Year 9 Boys), Tayla Brunger (27th) and Sarah Matthews (29th) " both in Year 9 Girls.

Other athletes such as Connor Hoskin, Flynn and Louis Hogan (High School), Tamasi Connor and Makaia Matthews (Cullinane), Georgina Wallace (Nga Tawa) and Jacob Carlyon (Rangitikei) although perhaps a little disappointed with their individual race on Saturday showed spark and promise in the regional relay.