Super 8 Cross Country May 2010
For cross country runners, any day is a good day to run but it did help that this year’s Super 8 event in New Plymouth emerged as a magnificent autumnal day. The Super 8 event is second only to the National Secondary Schools Cross Country in terms of the quality of competition and many very talented, nationally ranked athletes were on display over the challenging, undulating course.
With a young team, our goal was to improve on our 6th placing of the previous two years.
Our Year 9 team of Jacob Priddey, Marek Schirnack, Finn Maunsell and Hamuera Lee made a superb start to the day placing 3rd in the 3-man team event. Arguably the most exciting race of the day, Jacob Priddey led the field through the first 1500m lap. He slipped back to second place mid-way through the second lap but, with an impressive and incredibly gutsy sprint to the finish, closed the 10 metre gap to the Tauranga runner, narrowly missing out on first place in a photo finish.
Encouraged by the performance of our Year 9 team, our Under 16 Junior team was outstanding. Theunis Pieters and Drikus Conradie stayed in touch with the front runners throughout the race and deservedly earned 4th and 5th placings. Equally impressive was newcomer Shay Cullen whose 10th placing secured a tie for first equal with New Plymouth Boys’ High in the 3-man team event. Completing the team, David Nyika held on to 11th place and Hyrum Smith, in his first year with our cross country squad, performed admirably.
In the prestigious and grueling Senior boys 6km event, our three very talented Year 11 students, Tom McLaughlin, Tamati Lee and Nick Anselmi worked exceptionally hard to gain 10th, 17th and 23rd placings respectively. Running the longer 6km distance for the first time, they equipped themselves superbly in a field that included two athletes recently returned from international competition. Supporting them were Year 12 students, Jarrod Jennings and Robert West along with our senior athletes, Jack Maunsell and Ben Nicholson.
In the overall standings, Hamilton Boys’ High School gained a 3rd placing, an achievement we feel immensely proud of.
A special thank you to Graeme Lee, our second driver and team supporter.
Tonia Heeps
TIC Cross Country