Region's top runners ready for battle

STAYER: Rebecca Baker (WHS), Junior Wanganui School 1500m track champion and winner of last year's Round the Bridges fun run, will renew her close rivalry with New Zealand School Year 9 Road Race silver medal winner Caitlyn Alabaster at the Whanganui Secondary Schools Cross-country Championships at Collegiate today.PHOTO/FILE

MORE than 150 of the district's leading runners will be in action on the golf course circuit at Wanganui Collegiate this afternoon with the first of six races at the Whanganui Secondary Schools Cross-country Championship at 12.45pm.

Clashes with other events has meant no entries from Rangitikei College and Wanganui City College and only one from Wanganui Girls' College, the result of a similar clash. Even with these unfortunate absences there is a slight increase on last year, but it should be remembered that event was in Waiouru.

Not unexpectedly, the largest entry comes from the host school with 58 athletes entered through all the six grades with both 3 and 6 to score teams in each of the grades.

Wanganui High School has 3 to score entries in all grades and an impressive 10 starters in the Under 16 boys where they will strongly challenge the hosts in both the 3 and 6 to score sections.

Nga Tawa have 20 starters (single-sex school and therefore entered in only the three girls' grades). They have always supported such events well and clearly understand and subscribe to the team element of the sport with teams in both 3 and 6 to score sections in the 3 grades.

Cullinane have team entries in the Year 9 boys and girls and Under 16 Boys but sadly none in the two senior grades. It is pleasing that we have received entries from both Taihape Area School and Ruapehu College (last year's hosts).

At this year's event relay teams will be selected to compete in a new Regional Relay competition on Sunday, June 19 in Rotorua.

The first three runners in each of the grades have automatic selection for the team of five with the other two athletes selected from the other athletes competing at the cross country. The selection will be based on performance in cross country over similar 2km relays and track performances over the summer.

In trying to predict event leaders it is hard to see past the two new Zealand schools representatives Chrtistian Conder and Jane Lennox in the respective senior boys and girls grades.

Lennox will be kept honest by her Collegiate team mate Alice Bird and Georgina Wallace of Nga Tawa (sadly Emma Rainey - High School - is not listed on the entry form) while Conder should be chased home by training partner Louis Hogan (High School)

In the under 16 girls, junior Wanganui School 1500m track champion Rebecca Baker (High School) will renew her close rivalry with New Zealand School Year 9 Road Race silver medal winner Caitlyn Alabaster (Wanganui Collegiate) and this, like last year, could be the individual race of the meeting. Baker won last year. Hopefully both will form the core of a strong relay team in Rotorua.

The Under 16 Boys race could as mentioned be a great team battle between Wanganui High School and Wanganui Collegiate School. Picking a winner in both the team and individual event being hard to predict.

In the Year 9 boys, track junior boys 1500m winner Connor Hoskin (High School) will probably start as favourite but as little is known about the form of other runners this makes it a hard race to predict. The Year 9 Girls, the first race on the programme, has a similarly inexperienced field although the Collegiate trio of Sarah Matthews, Isabel Brabyn and Tayla Brunger have good track performances on their CV.