Standard of cross-country races sets bar high

AT THEIR BEST: The future of Whanganui Schools Cross-country Caitlyn Alabaster (Collegiate) [left], Rebecca Baker (High School) and Nikita McDonald (Girls' College) with Libby Abbott on the left leading the chasing group at the Whanganui Schools Championships last month.PHOTO/ROB VAN DORT

The positive feedback concerning the New Zealand Secondary Schools 2016 Championships in general and the inaugural regional relays in particular has been overwhelmingly positive. The standard of presentation of both has raised the bar for venues for future championships.

Planning is under way for Christchurch next June under the leadership of John Gamlin, who has headed the local organising committee on three previous occasions. Regions will already be thinking of 2017 and the success of Rotorua will lead to stronger relay combinations and even stronger individual and school team competition in the championship on the previous day.

I have spent an interesting weekend looking at and analysing statistics of New Zealand schools cross-country which started in 1974. The 40 Year History of the National Secondary School Cross Country Championships compiled by Brad Smith from Tauranga Boys' College has been invaluable in this analysis.

At a Whanganui sports awards dinner, I sat at a table with New Zealand middle distance great Nick Willis who said winning a New Zealand schools senior title was just about the toughest race to win in New Zealand. He and many other outstanding athletes never achieved this feat. An athlete has to be at their best on the one day and will be in a field that has more than 40 individual school champions on the starting line.

In the first 10 years of the championships, there were 40 individual titles won in the four grades. Thirty different schools had a winner with seven schools providing two and one school, St Cuthbert's, providing three. Wanganui has had 10 individual winners from five different schools in the 43 years of competition. Marguerite Couchman (Girls' College) in 1977 (junior girls), Martin Holmes (Wanganui High School) in 1984 and 1985, Sarah McLeod (High School) in 1995 (junior girls), Melissa Gilbertson (High School) 1987 (junior girls), 1990 (senior girls), Duncan Ross (Boys' College )1993 (senior boys) the Beamish brothers (Wanganui Collegiate) - Hugo in 2006 and Geordie in 2014 (senior boys), and Brad Mathas (Cullinane) in 2006 (junior boys).

Team titles have been shared by 68 different New Zealand schools. Wellington College has won 42 titles, Auckland Grammar School, 37. Interestingly, Brien McCrae has been teacher in charge at both schools contributing significantly to their impressive totals. Tauranga Girls' College are next (28) with Wanganui Collegiate on 21. Collegiate are by the far the leading coeducational school in a competition dominated by large single sex schools. Wanganui Girls' College in 1991 was the other Whanganui winner among the 68 schools.

Part of the improvements in presentation have come about by technology. Timing chips originally tied to the shoes and now in the actual numbers speed up the production of results. In the relay the timing chip was in the lightweight baton. However, with all such timing there is the chance for human error. If an athlete wears the wrong number the result will record the wrong name. In the relays, if the order is different to that declared, again there will be an inaccuracy in the result.

This was the case in the strong Whanganui junior girls team result reported on last week and I apologise to the athletes for the error. The promising Rebecca Baker (High School) actually ran the third leg and produced the fastest time of the team, two seconds faster than lead out runner Caitlyn Alabaster. Nikita McDonald, (Girls' College) reported on last week as the fastest, was actually fourth fastest narrowly headed by Libby Abbott (Collegiate). Baker and Alabaster are outstanding athletes and although both play other sports (Baker is a leading hockey player) and (Alabaster a solid netball player). The aerobic fitness gained brings an added dimension to those sports. They, along with the other Whanganui team mates Abbott, McDonald and Mia Gemmell (Collegiate) and hopefully some new exciting talent, can be at the core of Whanganui relay teams at the 2017 championships.

Cross-country attention switches to Spa Park in Taupo this weekend with the popular North Island championship. Taupo in fact made a strong bid to host this year's New Zealand Schools and was part of the first ever bidding process for the New Zealand secondary schools event. I am sure the high standard set in Rotorua will be continued in Taupo.