RowangLive2

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

2018 NZ Secondary Schools XC Champs Spa Park Taupo Sat 16 Jun

Sam Tanner and support crew

3-Person Team Results

6-Person Team Results

Regional Relay Results

Athletics New Zealand Race Report

Results Summary

Senior Girls 4000m
1 Hannah O'Connor (Sacred Heart Girls NP) 13:50
2 Kirstie Rae (Wellington East Girls) 14:13
3 Aimee Ferguson (Rototuna Senior High) 14:18

Junior Girls 3000m
1 Isabella Richardson (St Cuthbert's) 10:56
2 Maali Kyle-Ford (Wellington East Girls) 11:05
3 Maia Flint (Tauranga Girls) 11:08

Year 9 Girls 3000m
1 Maia Wilkinson (Wellington East Girls) 11:12
2 Edie Kozyniak (St Catherine's College) 11:18
3 Anna Bassett (Wellington East Girls) 11:25

Senior Boys 6000m
1 Samuel Tanner (Bethlehem College) 19:02
2 Liam Back (Wanganui Collegiate) 19:10
3 Murdoch McIntyre (Westlake Boys) 19:18

Junior Boys 4000m
1 Toby Saxby (Westlake Boys) 13:21
2 Mac Rowe (New Plymouth Boys) 13:41
3 Ben Ruscoe (Westlake Boys) 13:44

Year 9 Boys 3000m
1 Christian De Vaal (Macleans College) 9:57
2 Mathijs Wetzels (Hamilton Boys) 10:08
3 Joseph Morgan (Hamilton Boys) 10:13

Para Athlete Boys 2000m
1 Anton Besseling (New Plymouth Boys) 7:46
2 Josh Taylor (Wairarapa College) 9:08
3 Jacob Lowson (Papanui High) 9:30

The 45th running of this event with the usual big fields (1000 kids started) and for this year run over one of the better courses.

Held at Spa Park next to the scenic Waikato River the course layout was designed mostly around the course used for the North Island XC Champs (to be held in early July), For those used to flat courses the up and down running would have proved testing.

Some observations:

The Wellington girls did well in their races which would have pleased Anne Hare who I could hear yelling several hills away.

It is unusual to get repeat winners in the Senior races but we did with hannah O'Connor and Sam Tanner.

You would not believe the advice I overheard as "teachers" told kids how to handle various bits of the course. Yeah Nah.

Some schools send truckloads of kids while others have only one representative. There were teams/individuals from Queenstown, Wanaka and Kerikeri which are all a long way from Taupo.

The Auckland Grammar selection policy is that if you turn up for the training sessions then you get to go, no matter how fast or slow you are. I like that approach and suspect that is how other schools operate.

Given the large fields it must have been tricky in the past getting accurate finish times and places before electronic timing.

I suspect that XC is one of the few school sports that includes AWD kids in the programme.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

2018 Dorne Cup Trentham Memorial Park Upper Hutt Sat 9 Jun

Team Results

Individual Results It takes a lot of paper to print these off.

Nick Pointon's Race Report

Down at the creek there was a lot of splashing going on not to mention some jeering and tricoteuse like taunting from certain persons who will not remain nameless.

The main culprits weren’t kids this time but former teddy boys Ray Marten, Don Stevens, and Mr Gardner. There were probably others but Ray’s voice probably drowned them out.

Think Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets.

The trick at the creek was to jump off the bank straight into the water and take your chances that there was no obstructions on landing. While it is not intuitive to jump into the unknown it seemed to work for those that took the risk.

Putting a foot on the slippery bank was to invite trouble as many found out.

The alternative was to use the Jim Jones method which was to enter the creek some way to the left of the slippery bit and get through that way. But then he is a professor.

The women’s race was potentially wide open but the absence of Ruby Muir (is she still injured?) meant that the expected clash between her and WHAC’s Maiya Christini did not eventuate.

Instead the fast local women had to contend with 2015 Dorne winner Kara Macdermid from Palmerston North as she streaked around the course to head home Christini, Nicole Mitchell and Tina Faulkner in that order.

In the U20 and U18 4km race Liam Back from Wanganui Collegiate School made easy work of the course which should give him confidence for next week’s Senior Boys 6km Secondary Schools race in Taupo.

In the same race Kirstie Rae from WHAC had an 8 second win over Tessa Webb from Fielding Moa which is also a good prelude to Taupo when she will be part of the Wellington East Girls team in the Senior Girls 4km race.

In the men’s open race Dan Jones and the others who did Christchurch last week could be forgiven if he (or they) decided to flag the Dorne or at least take a back seat. But that does not seem to be Dan’s style and thus it was no surprise as with other local races that in the open men’s race he dominated from start to finish.

But perhaps the most head-turning performances came from Isaac Murphy (WHAC) and Malcolm Hodge (Scottish) who made a real fist of it by clearing out from their more fancied club mates. Can I say that? Murphy has always been a reliable and top performer for his club while Hodge has never been timid in his attacking strategy even if at times he has come unstuck. But not today.

And talking about Christchurch last weekend the 67.11 minute half marathon time clocked by Dan currently puts him 3^nd on the 2018 ANZ ranking list for this distance.

With 3 weeks to go before he heads off to the Gold Coast marathon it will be truly interesting to see how he goes. But given that temperatures will be warmer than what we get in Windy Wellington I hope he takes note and avoids what happened to the unlucky Callum Hawkins of Scotland earlier this year in the Commonwealth Games marathon.

And staying with Christchurch we also need to acknowledge the great performances down there by a number of locals and in particular the 21.31 16 marathon by Bert Prendergast just behind Dr Doogie Thorburn. They both got on the podium and on the 2018 ranking list.

Observations

Spotted some handy ex runners from decades ago when the Dorne was a much rougher course. This included Steve Hunt, Roger Price, Brian Cattermole, Kevin Jury, Barry Everitt, Barry and Barbara Prosser, Herb and Marguerite Christopher.

Former running stars actually competing included Dave Hatfield, Vickie Humphries, Liam Healey, Phil Starr and Phil Sadgrove.

There was some jostling and elbow work going on in some of the kids races as they came into the finish. Naughty naughty.

Daryl’s five-eye system seemed to work okay. He controlled everything from his command tent with his latest toys but was always backed up by local treasures Dave Gratton and John Turner who would save the day using pen and paper if anything went wrong.

Will Critchlow from Vic University seemed ambivalent about the Dorne (no hills Rowan he told me) but for somebody who confesses to train for any distance longer than 5km I am surprised that Dan Hunt was able to talk him into starting. Was it a beer bribe Dan?

Tony McCone grabbing some video footage which I believe will form part of a longer feature aimed at the Hutt Valley Harriers Dorne Cup centenary in 2025. The Vosseler Shield centenary is only 5 years away. Who will be around?

Somebody forgot to tell Des Young (WHAC) the Dorne Cup is a cross country race with grass and stuff and not a road race.

Grant McLean got a 3 out of 10 for the creek crossing.

Race 1 6km: Open and Masters Women and Ancient Masters Men