Mr Armon once again put together a training regime
for our cross country and road runners. Throughout the
year the opportunity was available for the keen ones
to improve their running, and despite some not showing
the discipline required, those who did saw the necessary improvement.
Mt Maunganui Relay
Run by Tauranga Girls, this event is run in four 3.4km
legs around the base of Mt Maunganui. The school
took three teams away, junior girls, and year 9 boys
and girls.
Havelock North Relay
The venue for this relay changed from the school to
Anderson Park. It was notable for a couple of stream
crossings and ample space for viewing. The event
is now the official ECNISS cross country relay. Once
again, Napier Boys’ dominated the boys’ grades,
winning all three with their endless pool of talent. Our
senior boys’ were the best of the teams from school,
finishing second after a tremendous last leg from Jarrod
Lobb. Other team members were Sean Morrison, Marcus Yule and Todd Burnard. The year 9 girls’ team had
a promising start with Georgia Hulls leading the field
after the first leg, but eventually drifting back to finish
third. Both junior boys’ and year 9 boys’ teams also
finished in third place.
ECNISS Championships
The weather was lousy all the way to the Wharerata
ranges, but the other side of the ranges provided a
window of warm but cloudy conditions. The flat course
is always conducive to fast times and this was no different. The Year 9 girls struck blood immediately when
Georgia Hulls leapt out to a healthy lead and never
relinquished it. It was an amazing performance, considering her forte is seen as being a sprinter. Monique
Thomson ran a good race for sixth, enabling the
3-person team to finish in third place. The year 9 boys’
team also came third on the back of a very good run
by Joel Engelke who settled for 4th. Richard Russell just
missed out on a top ten finish, coming 11th.
Callum Wilkie provided our other podium finish with a
great run for third after a massive battle with the other
two place getters. The lead three cleared out on the
rest of the field. The high place by Callum provided
the team with another third placing. The senior boys’
team were the best of the team results, coming second
to the powerful Napier Boys’ team. Napier had six
runners in the top ten. Jarrod Lobb, 7th, and Sean Morrison, 8th, had a huge battle to find the HNHS cross
country champion, with Jarrod hanging on by 5 metres.
The championships also double as the HNHS championships, so on completion of the event, the HNHS
champions were; Georgia Hulls (Year9), Joel Engelke
(Year 9), Annah McPherson (Junior), Callum Wilkie (Junior), Jessica Ford (Senior) and Jarrod Lobb (Senior).
NZSS Championships
A small team of ten went to Christchurch for this event,
hosted in the Halswell quarry. A 6-person Year 9 girls’
team and a 4-man senior boys’ team represented the
school, managed by Mrs Hulls. The senior boys’ field is
generally massive, with over 250 running in the race this
year. Best placed was Georgia Hulls, who finished a
very good 26th.
Not experienced in cross country with such numbers, judging
the pace would have been difficult and the event would
have been a huge learning curve. The Year 9 girls’ team
ended up fifth overall, with Georgia’s 26th, Monique Thomson (69th), Rosie Caldwell (71st), Isabella McPhail (81st),
Harriet Broadhurst (87th) and Sophie Hoogerdijk (89th). Their
3-person team ended in 13th.
Jarrod Lobb was the best of the boys’, finishing in 131st,
while Sean Morrison (142nd), Callum Wilkie (166th) and
Todd Burnard (169th), saw the team finish in 25th place. All
are in their first year of three in the senior grade.
Tawa Exchange
A ten-person road race relay was again part of the Tawa
exchange. The race started at the end of the Te Mata
Road, and did the block around the Tukituki Valley in a
clockwise direction. Each team had six girls and four boys,
with the legs run by each athlete at the whim of the manager
as long as no-one ran twice. The race saw the lead change
four times. In a tremendous contest, the last Tawa runner, a
boy, caught the last HNHS runner, a girl, with less than 800m
to go on the leg from the Craggy Range winery to the end
of Te Mata Road. The two teams were separated after
32 km by just 47 seconds! The HNHS team were very much
younger than their opponents, so it was a great effort. The
team was Abbey Cullen, Rikke Hansen, Annah McPherson,
Jemima Knott, Todd Burnard, Sean Morrison, Georgia Hulls,
Jarrod Lobb, Callum Wilkie and Monique Thomson.
Virginia Lake Relay
The Wanganui Collegiate hosted event was held in sunny
conditions, though with a cold wind. Havelock North High
had three teams participating in an event that attracted
over 600 entries. The Year 9 boys’ ran superbly to finish a
close-up third place in their event. Joel Engelke, Hamish Legarth, Conor McKay and Richard Russell were team members
who finished just behind Francis Douglas. Scots College won
the race comfortably, but HNHS left notable running schools
such as Wellington College, New Plymouth, St Pats Silverstream and Wanganui Collegiate all in their wake. Richard
had a tremendous last leg, bringing the team from seventh to
third.
The Junior girls’ team also ran well, ending in fifth, despite
having Monique Thomson running for them after already running for the Year 9 team earlier in the day. This was due to
a late withdrawal. Other team members were Rikke Hansen,
Hope Every and Libby Ford. The Year 9 girls’ team of Harriet
Broadhurst, Georgia Rathbone, and Georgia Hulls linking with
Monique finished seventh in their race,.