By Mr Paul Dominikovich | Posted: Thursday June 15, 2023
A somewhat depleted Cross Country Team travelled to Christchurch for the Canterbury Champs on Thursday, June 2nd.
The standard is very high in Canterbury so it is a great chance for our team to assess where we are at.
The Year 9 boys run 3 x 1000m around the old Ascot golf course. Isaac Williamson was our top performer with an excellent 16th place. Hunter Stevenson (26th), Heath Wheeler (29th) and Myles Wheeler (35th) combined for the four person team score which placed us 4th behind CBHS, Cashmere and Burnside. Ned Brown (45th) and Isaac Adam (46th) were our other finishers in this race.
In the Under 16 race, also over 3000m Hamish Tilsley recovered from a dreadful start to be our first home in 26th place. Jack Houstoun (37th), Riley Horstmann (38th) and Tristan Harding (50th) were the team here placing 5th with St Andrews the dominant team. Murphy Porter (51st), Caleb Turner (56th) and Reuben McKeown (57th) also competed in this race.
The Senior Boys race is 4000m and the top end is exceptional. Tom Allan was around in 14 minutes which placed him 5th and with Malachy Cleland (9th), Payo O’Sullivan (16th) and Josh Young (17th) our four person team added to 47 which was good enough for 2nd, sandwiched between Cashmere (39) and Christchurch Boys’ (56). Also in this race were Daniel Poulter (22nd), Max Finlayson (30th), Ben Allan (39th), Mac Brown (40th), Jonty Porter (44th), Luc Todd (46th), Lewis Taylor (47th) and Ashton Bennett (49th).
This was the final selection race and hit out for the team before Nationals. 30 boys have been selected to travel to Palmerston North where the field sizes will be between 150 - 200 athletes.
