Cross-country: Whanganui athletes and record books

Whanganui High School distance athlete Rebecca Baker is in no danger of being left out of the record books.
PHOTO / STUART MUNRO

A good friend of mine stated that he never lends a book. He didn't mind you reading at his home but he believed that so often even with the very best intentions books were not returned.

I thought of that last week when writing Insight on previous winners of New Zealand Schools Cross Country. I reached for a splendid book of statistics produced by Brad Smith from Tauranga Boys High School and discovered it was not on the shelf. I then remembered I had lent it but can't remember who borrowed it. If the borrower reads my column I would like the book back.

The purpose of the research was to check on previous winners. I knew all the senior winners because I had researched that earlier in the year but I was not on such secure ground on junior winners. Hence my comment that I believed that Liam Back was the first junior winner since Marguerite Couchman in 1976.

I was sure about Couchman because I was coaching her and she was the first winner I had coached. I was reminded by a reader that Sarah McLeod from Whanganui High School was a winner in the mid-1990s in the junior girls. Unfortunately without the book I have been unable to check this fact. McLeod was a fine athlete and probably was a winner. McLeod travelled with a Whanganui Schools Track and Field Team to Hobart competing in Australian Schools back around the millennium.

At that meet she was involved in a 1500m race that the runners were recalled after running 200 metres when it was discovered that the photo timer was not working.

The runners were initially not amused but frowns soon turned to smiles with the race being run at the end of the series of 1500 metre races. From memory McLeod won an Australian Schools medal in the re-run later in the afternoon.

Last week I highlighted the outstanding individual efforts of Rebecca Baker (Whanganui High School) finishing as fourth New Zealand athlete in the junior girls race and Liam Back's (Collegiate) win in the junior boys and his team mate George Lambert who finished in seventh position in the same race

In big fields there were a number of individual performances that can easily go unnoticed and there were many other athletes at their first national championship who finished well down the pack who will gain from the experience and return stronger next year. I can think of many athletes who finished near the tail of the field who returned stronger from the experience.

Year 9 athletes Ana Brabyn (13th) , Ashleigh Alabaster (17th ) and Lucy Brown (23rd) the Collegiate three-to-score team bronze medal winners can take great credit for their finishing position at their first New Zealand Schools Championship.

Brabyn and Brown are young enough to have two more years in the junior grade. In the junior boys Sam Thrupp, who gained a silver team medal behind the aforementioned Back and Lambert in 36th, was the only other Whanganui runner in the top 40. Marseille Bowie in 40th along with Rebecca Baker mentioned earlier were the only Whanganui runners in the top 40.

In Senior Girls Caitlyn Alabaster 21st, Sarah Lambert 29th and Jane Lennox 31st (team silver medal winners) were the Whanganui runners in the top 40. Alabaster and Lambert have two more years at school.

In the relay events Whanganui were probably the smallest regional team, in terms of population and schools, competing. In the Year 9 Girls the team finished 4th out of the 9 teams competing. The junior boys ended 7th out of 11 schools. They were in second place at the end of the third of five legs and the senior girls in 5th out of 11 regions were the best Whanganui team results.

In the School Team events Westlake Boys High School with wins in all three 3 and 6-to-score were outstanding producing a clean sweep for the first time in the history of the event. This performance lifts them in the all- time rankings closing the gap on Auckland Grammar School and Wellington College and moved ahead of Wanganui Collegiate on the unofficial table.

Collegiate with five team places manages to hold the top co-educational school record and marginally hold their position ahead of St Cuthbert's in girls events behind Tuaranga Girls.

By Alec McNab
Athletic Insight
Wanganui Chronicle 29/6/17