2018 South Island XC Champs Ascot Golf Course Christchurch Sat 7 Jul

Leading group on lap 1 of Women's race

Results

This event is held in Christchurch on the same day as the North Island XC champs are put on in Taupo. They are quite different meetings.  

Being centrally located in the North Island Taupo is a big attraction for the NI clubs and over the years has been well supported. 

It’s been going since 1977 and for many clubs it is a weekend away and a time to socialise.

The course at Spa Park is also fantastic, arguably the best in the country.

Next to the mighty Waikato River and close to the centre of town the park offers the prospect of a challenging and undulating course, excellent underfoot conditions and great spectator opportunities. 

Because the event is held in a cold July there is always the risk that those who came up from the South might need to use the alternative routes to get home due to snow and ice on the Desert Road.

The SI event by contrast is mostly supported by Canterbury Clubs, although you might spot the odd Nelson or Otago runner if you don’t blink. The chances are the event started out differently with broader SI support but that seems to have dwindled - disappeared really. I suspect that travel distances could be the prime cause.

The Kennett Cup appears to be the trophy up for grabs but it is possible this is an exclusively Canterbury trophy which somehow has been combined with the SI championship name. 

So you could be forgiven for identifying the SI’s as simply another Canterbury centre race.

The venue for the races was the disused Ascot Park golf course which is now in wrack and ruin. It’s behind the old QEII complex and there is a proposal to build a new Shirley Boys High and Avonside Girls High next to each other on the site but I don’t think anything has finally been decided.

Ascot has been used before as an XC venue so competitors would have been familiar with what to expect in terms of layout and ground conditions.  

From the air the layout resembles the four fingers of a hand which means competitors can look across to see where the rest of the field is. 

The course is generally flat although there are a number of mounds and depressions typical of golf course design. There are also a couple of wide hurdles to jump.

Underfoot conditions are uneven due mainly to tufts or weeds and the lack of a lawnmower. It is potentially ankle breaking territory and one young runner did come to grief. 

There is a spongy section that I would describe as like a self-saucing butterscotch pudding but nothing like the Eton Mess that Grenada Park in Wellington will be.

The races cover multiple laps, a combination of a short lap and a long lap depending on your grade, which makes it ideal for spectators and photographers. 

Even the smallest kids ran two laps of the 1km loop so you get to see them going around them twice.

One thing I like about the SI’s is the efficient programme.  The show starts at 1.15pm and is over by about 3.15 (give or take).  

There are only four races: the first two are for kids 11 to 14’s and under 8’s to 10. The next race is for women (Masters, Open, Junior and Youth) with a combined start. The only variation is that the number of laps required differs for each grade. 

The same format is used for the men’s race (Masters, Open, Junior and Youth) and overall is a good use of time.

Oh yes. It was a beautiful day in Christchurch, clear blue sky, the sun beating down and temperatures hitting about 19 in the afternoon . By Wellington standards it was a calm day. The Met Office forecast late morning rain but there was not a drop. Except in Darfield.  

Leading group on lap 1 of Men's race

Athletics Canterbury Race Report

"Rebekah Greene, a world junior championships representative in 2010 and 2012, won the senior women’s 7km in 26:05.

Greene who won the 2011 national junior women’s 1500m completed a four year scholarship at the University of Florida last year. 

Sarah Douglas was second in 26:35 and Nynke Mulholland third in 26:53.


The senior 9km went to Ieuan van der Peet in 29:13, six seconds ahead of Andy Good with Sean Eustace third in 29:56.


David Fitch was the fastest through in the masters 9km in 31:56, with Richard Bennett recording 32:16 and Chris Mardon 32:25. 

Johanna Buick recorded 19:55 in the master women 5km, Maggie Chorley ran 20:35 and 

Tina Cox 21:03. Connor Melton won the U/20 7km in 22:50 from Mitchell Small 23:16. 

Navajo Prentice was well clear of Louise Daly in the U/20 5km running 19:05. The U/18 5km went to Taonga Mbambo in 16:21 from Andres Hernandez 16:48. 

Martina Conner won the U/18 5km in 19:23, twenty seconds faster than Brea Roderick.


Other winners; B14 3km Charlie Hazlett 10:29, G14 3km Emma Parke 11:45, B13 3km Connor Stewart 10:57, G13 3km Niamh Motley 12:02."