Teen runners prepare for Aussie battle

Two Wanganui Collegiate runners are gearing up to represent New Zealand at the Australian School Cross Country Championships next month.

The two 17-year-olds, Antoine Bonnet and Jamie Wells, are part of the 21-strong New Zealand Secondary School Cross Country team that will compete in Adelaide on August 25. Both finished in the top 12 at the June New Zealand Secondary Schools Championship to gain automatic selection for the New Zealand schools team, with Bonnet placing fifth and Wells 12th.

Bonnet said he is hoping to make the top five runners at the Australian championships.

He said he was pleased with how he performed at the national championships, although he thought he could have done better if he had not been sick the previous week.

"I was actually hoping for a little bit better, but I'm still happy to make the New Zealand team.

"Under the circumstances I think I did pretty good."

Bonnet was part of the under-18 team that competed at the Australian championships last year, where he was placed 10th.

But the trip will be the first international competition for Wells.

"It's going to be pretty tough," he said.

"I've never done anything like this before, and I don't know what the Aussies are like so I really don't know how I'm going to do."

Wells competed in the Athletics Manawatu/Wanganui Road Race Champs in Palmerston North last weekend, where he won the men's under-20 race.

Coach and New Zealand team manager Alec McNab said the boys are training well.

He told them: "If you two can replicate what you did in New Zealand, or even better - go a couple better, that would be very good.

"You're stepping up a grade in age, and in distance, and against Australian runners," he said.

Before their trip to Australia, they will both compete in the New Zealand Championships in Hamilton running for the Manawatu/Wanganui Centre Team, on August 4.

Both Bonnet and Wells are in their last year at Wanganui Collegiate. Neither of them is sure if they will continue to run competitively next year.

However, McNab said he thinks the boys will surprise themselves and said he can imagine them continuing to race, especially as he thinks people will soon start to take notice of them.