Lake perfect stage for relay challenge

ON PACE: Megan Mackay holds a narrow lead over Jane Lennox midway through the first lap of the girls Round the Lake Relay on Monday. Lennox finished narrowly ahead at the end of the lap with Mackay's senior team going on to win the senior girls race and Lennox's junior team finishing second.PHOTO/ROB VAN DORT 090915WCSPMACKAY1

VIRGINIA Lake is one of Wanganui's great treasures and on a sunny spring day like Monday it is a very special place.

The magic of the lake is the main reason the annual schools Round the Lake Relay has retained its popularity for 37 years, making it just about the oldest event of its type in New Zealand.

The race started in 1978 with just a boys and girls race which attracted 58 teams from about a dozen schools. The inaugural race was won by Wanganui Boys College (now Wanganui City College) when their team, anchored by Dean Crowe, overhauled hosts Wanganui Collegiate school on the final lap. Crowe went on to become an international athlete and ran in the World Cup for Oceania.

He was the first of many future internationals who have run for their school around the lake. These include Olympian Lucy van Dalen, her sister Holly, and Richard Potts, who held the course record from 1989 until 2013 and who ran in the 5000m at the Auckland Commonwealth Games.

This year's event attracted 28 schools with 140 teams competing in the four races. This is just short of the average number of teams over the past decade with regular entries from throughout the southern North Island returning for the event. Only poorer support from local secondary schools meant we dipped below the average of 146 teams.

St Patrick's College Silverstream College picked up their first team win in the relay by winning the Year 9 event and in the last race won the senior boys race from regular winners Wellington College. Wellington won the Junior A and Junior B events to continue their long run of success at the relays.

The hosts met with considerable success in the girls' grades with a second places to Napier Girls in the Year 9 grade.

Collegiate were also second in the junior girls race won by a strong Sacred Heart New Plymouth team.

Harvey House team won the Junior B grade from Grey House both of whom headed second team combinations from Napier Girls, Wellington Girls and Sacred Heart New Plymouth. The Harvey team was Lexi Maples, Rebecca Brown. Kate Wells and Lucy Todd.

Wanganui Collegiate won the senior girls event. The team was led out by Megan Mackay who showed a great return to form with a gutsy first lap. She was close to the pace set by Hannah O'Connor running for the Sacred Heart junior team, who only a week earlier had set the fastest time of the New Zealand Schools team in her leg of the Inter-State relay in Melbourne.

Fellow New Zealand Schools representative Jane Lennox and O'Connor's Sacred Heart senior team first runner were in close contention with Mackay a few metres in arrears. O'Connor is still in Year 10 and with three more years to run should threaten the course record.

Alice Bird made a huge return to form with an outstanding second leg that brought her team up into the lead, a lead that was successfully held by Jazmin Phillips, allowing her team captain some comfort for the anchor leg.

The other winning Wanganui team was Wanganui Intermediate School in the girls' grade.

The team of Tayla Brunger, Paris Munro, Genna Maples and Sara Stuart won by over 20 seconds from Hawera Intermediate. Scots College were runaway winners in the Intermediate Schools grade from Huntley School (Marton)

Angus White, of New Plymouth Boys High School, broke away early in the lap to be a convincing winner of the award for the fastest boy in the senior race sponsored by Bates watchmakers who have supported the event since it started.