RowangLive2: 2019 NZ National XC Champs Harcourt Park Upper Hutt Sun 4 Aug

Monday, August 5, 2019

2019 NZ National XC Champs Harcourt Park Upper Hutt Sun 4 Aug

New Nat XC Champ Maiya Christini is all smiles

Individual Results

Team Results

ANZ Race Preview

ANZ Race Report

I doubt that anybody could complain about this year’s champs. It was a great day all around with good weather and an even better course.

Set in scenic Harcourt Park Upper Hutt the course layout was the same used for the Wellington Secondary Schools XC Champs held back in May.

Historically the location has been utilised for schools cross country including primary and intermediate competitions.

The main problem for this location is designing a layout that has plenty of room for the start.

The course today had its other challenges in the form of sharp corners and some evener sharper uphill sections but overall it provided enough positives to make it superb for racing and spectator viewing.

There was live stream coverage from a professional streaming company with all the equipment and know-how plus the excellent on site commentary from Rees Buck.

Both of these elements add that extra bit of pizzazz to the proceedings which overall were very well organised.

Celebrity visitors included Steve Hunt, Wayne Atkins, Tina Wild, Roger Robinson & Kathrine Switzer, Cameron Goldsmid, Eric Speakman and of course Tim Hodge aka Groucho Marx.

Hayden Shearman talks to Cameron Graves (there is some background noise)

The new senior men’s and women’s champions for 2019 are Cameron Graves (Auckland) and Maiya Christini (Wellington) both who won their races decisively. Graves used his obvious strength and long stride to chew up the K’s and by half way was well ahead of his rivals. He actually made the win look easy which is deceptive as racing hard is rarely a breeze. He finished in a respectable 31.25 which makes you wonder what he could do on the road. (he is targeting a 63 minute half-marathon).

Second home was Daniel Balchin (Canterbury – although he lives in Central Otago) with Jacob Priddey (Otago) third and Dan Jones (Wellington) fourth.

Balchin in particular needs to be acknowledged as one of NZ’s elite runners who consistently turns up to most crossy and road championship events without fail.

Special also mention needs to be made of Steve Rees-Jones (Waikato-BOP) who chose to run the Men’s Senior grade rather than the Masters grade. He finished an impressive 9^th overall.

The women’s race turned out to be a race between Rebekah Greene (Otago), Kara Macdermid (Wang-Manawatu) and Maiya Christini (Wellington). Lisa Cross (Auckland) and Katherine Camp (University of Canterbury) were off the pace and in no danger to the leading group.

So at the finish line it was Christini, Macdermid and Greene with Lisa Cross fourth.

Observations:

Mel Aitken did a Gabby O’Rourke and ran in her master’s race as well as the open race.

Logan Slee formerly of Trentham United went to Dunedin, came back representing Otago and got himself a medal for his third placing in the Men’s U20 race. Joel Carman needs to ask him what his secret is.

Liam Back currently dominates his age group cross country. His tactic is to sit in behind until the last and then make his move. It’s called doing a Wharton and Will Anthony knows this.

Is it any surprise how brilliantly Maiya Christini did when seeing how well she handled the muddy swamp at Grenada North Park.

Katherine Camp did not fire today.

Sally Gibbs must have a shipping container full of medals and awards.