Cross-country: Impressive run by 8-yr-old Bella

Whangarei's female cross country junior runners joined all the other leading runners from the Auckland and Waikato-Bay of Plenty region to contest the annual Grand Prix meeting.

All of the Athletics Whangarei runners excelled in their races at Long Bay on Saturday.

Probably the top performance on the day was by the youngest competitor, eight-year-old Bella Kinnon, who recently won the Kerikeri and District Primary Schools Championships.

She came up short of a repeat performance, but finished powerfully to take third place in the G10 (10 years and under) race.

Another third place went to 14-year-old Amanda Still in the G14 Race with 13-year-old Rachyl Still finishing 11th in the same race.

Competing in Auckland for the first time was 12-year-old Courtney Martin who ran well to take 11th place in the G12 race, with 10-year-old Caitlin Ahlers 12th . Hazel Tana (14) had a fine run in the G16 race finishing fourth, just one second ahead of Imogen Hull (14).

All these girls are members of the club's two coaching squads and have benefited from the regular training programmes provided at Barge Park this winter.

Barge Park will be the venue for the Athletics Northland Cross Country Championships on July 14 which will feature all age groups, male and female.

As part of her preparation, Mandy Edge ran in the W45 race at the Grand Prix meeting, finishing a creditable seventh.