2018 National XC Champs Grenada North Park Tawa Sun 5 Aug

Oli Chignell 2018 Senior Men's XC Champs

Lisa Cross 2018 Senior Women's XC Champs

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Individual Results
Team Results
ANZ Race Report
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Well the mudbath is over for the year and we have a new bunch of national champions. The only thing left is to pick out the grime and clods of dirt from your spikes and gummies. 

But is that the end of it?

Locals know that Grenada North is a boggy place, even on a nice day.  Out of town competitors were warned but the level of mud on Sunday was possibly beyond the pale. 

Of course, this all goes to defining what a good running cross-country course is and does Grenada North meet the standard.  

From a purely technical perspective, Grenada may not tick all the boxes. The starting straight could be a bit longer before the first turn comes up and yes there are probably too many turns as well especially when you add up the laps.

The course layout team did a fair job at trying to find the driest lines for the modified course (changed to avoid the worst bits of the Wellington XC aftermath) but it was clear that only so much could be done.  

The thick mud seemed to be everywhere and we were probably lucky it didn't rain on the day as much as forecast.   

I know that some people would have loved the course.  Michelle Allison said she was having a great time and a day later Malcolm Hodge said he enjoyed it (really Malcolm?).  

Spectators would have been happy because it was easy to see how the races progressed and to get real close to the action.  A race director Todd Stevens thought it was a good course.

Senior men’s winner Oli Chignell was obviously not too phased by the mud either as he is a little fella (and built for mud surfing) - see Oli’s video interview with Murray McKinnon and Nick Pointon). 

But on the other hand, some will have hated the course not because there were boggy bits but because there was so much of it.  And if for nothing else these championships will be remembered for the mud.

Grenada North will be used again for the 2019 championships but I suspect there will be some interesting discussions behind the scenes between now and then.

Observations:

Good news that the NZ team will be named for the World XC Champs in 2019. The last time we had a team at these champs was 2011. The bad news is that anybody selected will have to pay for the trip themselves including contributing to the team management costs. 

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester did a good job navigating the course in the run- for-fun event and in bare feet.  He got dirty though.

Wayne Atkins was back watching the action.

Niam MacDonald ran a terrific race and continues to impress

Michelle Allison (W60) can still jump hurdles

Nick Horspool and Dan Jones still recovering from the Gold Coast marathon (and their great times) so would not be pushing it.

Liam Back is going to go a long way in the sport

Steve Reese-Jones owned the Master's Men race but headed off most of the Men’s U20 field as well

Can’t help feeling for Penny Peskett, runner-up in the Senior Women’s race for two years in a row.

Oli Chignell

Boys and Girls U11 Photos

Women U18 Photos

Boys and Girls U13 Photos

Masters Men 35-64, Men U20

Master's Women and Master's Men 65+ Photos

Men U18 and Women U20 Photos

Wellington Mayor, Justin Lester takes the jump in the run for fun

2018 Wellington Masters Johnsonville Hill Road Races Wellington Sun 22 Jul

A digital generated impression of Sharon Wray's "special apricot truffles".

Results to come

This event is in its 33^rd year and is what I would describe as a boutique race.

This is because the starting numbers are not huge; in fact if they were any bigger it would actually be a problem from a safety point of view. Organisers also provide a light lunch which makes it the day strongly social.

The race was originally set up and organised for many years by Brian Watson a member of Olympic Harriers.  Which is why the course is close to the Olympic Harrier clubrooms located at Moore Park.  

Brian currently lives up the coast at Levin but I certainly remember racing against him in the 70’s and 80’s. In 2009 Brian wrote a brief history of the race which sets out the reasons for its establishment.

So what we have is an 8km running race that is achieved by completing 5 laps of a 1.6km loop around J/ville streets with no road crossings.  It includes uphill and downhill but nothing too strenuous. There is a race walking option which involves 4 laps or 6.4km in total.

The course is reasonably safe but racing exclusively on the footpath is probably not that fantastic due to unevenness etc.

Thankfully it didn’t rain as forecast but the brisk wind from the north was bitterly cold. I call it spring weather.

The fastest 8km competitor today was Brian Garmonsway from Trentham United, who also picked up the Lockhart Hewitson Memorial Baton awarded to the person who either smashes an age grade record or gets closest to it.  

The fastest walker was NZ race walking record holder Jackie Wilson also from Trentham United.

But the real stars were Sharon Wray’s’ “special apricot truffles”. These creations are delicious and the only reason why Johnny Hines turns up every year.  Sharon says the recipe is a secret but we shall see.

Observations