Balchin chases cross country crown

Daniel Balchin will be looking to go one place better than he has for the past two years when he tackles the New Zealand Cross Country Championship 10km in Wellington on Sunday.

Balchin, who turns 28 on Monday week, has won the national road title for the last two years but has been unable to shake off the bridesmaid tag over cross country in the same period.

The civil engineer shifted to Alexandra earlier this year for work and competed in the Otago cross country championship which he won with ease recording 35:04 for the 10km.

Balchin has come up through the ranks of the senior mens championship over the past six years from eighth in 2012, sixth in 2013, third in 2014 and second for the last two years on the Auckland Domain course.

After winning in Dunedin he said that his goal is to go one better at the nationals but he added that it will be tough.

And tough it will be, with Oli Chignell, Peter Wheeler, Nick Horspool, Jono Jackson, Jacob Priddey, Joshua Baan, Cameron Graves, Isaac Murphy, Ieuan van der Peet and Sean Eustace all vying for a taste of the action.

Chignell was second in the M18 in 2015 and won the M20 title last year, Wheeler, the North Island champion, has been the class act in Auckland this season, back in 2010 he was ninth in the M16 and in 2016 he was fourth in the seniors, Horspool was fourth last year, Jackson won in 2016 and was third last year.

Priddey won the M16 in 2012, Baan won the M20 in 2014, Graves was second in the M19 in 2010 and 2011, Murphy was fifth in the North Island championship and won the Wellington title in 35:09, van der Peet won the recent South Island title and Eustace has been consistently high placed in the junior grades over the past six years and won the Canterbury title in 33:12.

The womens championship over the same 10km distance at the demanding Grenada North Park in Tawa will provide a challenging race between Penny Peskett, Lisa Cross, Anneke and Sabrina Grogan, Kara Macdermid, Katherine Camp, Nynke Mulholland, Sarah Douglas and Rebekah Greene.

Cross who was second in the senior womens in 2010 is back racing after giving birth to two additions to the family and will be after the cross country title to add to the road title she won in 2011 and the half marathon title in 2012.

Greene, back from four years at the University of Florida, has dominated the racing in the South Island this season winning the South Island and Otago titles. Peskett second last year and the North Island champion has opted at the age of 41 to have another crack for the senior title. Last year she was pegging back the winner Ruby Muir all the way over the final lap.

Camp who is ranked seventh on the New Zealand womens 800m all-time list, won the Canterbury title, from Mulholland. Douglas was second in the South Island championship while Macdermid won in Wellington, Anneke Grogan was third in Taupo and won the Waikato Bay of Plenty title and Sabrina Grogan was third in Canterbury.

Leading runners in the master men will be M35 Nick Pannett, Nathan Foley and Alasdair Saunders, M40 Steve Rees-Jones, Stephen Day, M45 Chris Mardon, M50 Richard Bennett, Peter Stevens, Anthony Broadhead and in the master women W35 Natasha Mitchell, W40 Michelle Hopkins, Johanna Buick, W45 Paula Canning, W55 Sally Gibbs who has won the masters outright for the past two years.

Jayme Maxwell and Navajo Prentice are expected to battle out the U20 6km title, while Christopher Dryden just back from the world junior track championships is up against Seamus Kane, Kalani Sheridan, William Sinclair and Lachlan Haitana in the mens under 20 8km.

Liam Back is expected to have the edge over Stuart Hofmeyr, Murdoch McIntyre, Finlay Seeds, Andres Hernanadez and Taonga Mbambo in the mens under 18 6km.

Hannah OConnor the 2016 under 18 cross country and road champion should as she demonstrated in the North Island championship comfortably win the womens under 18 title from Kirstie Rae and Aimee Fergusson. OConnor won the G15 title in 2014 and 2015.

Bella Earl is the leading runner in the G15 and Joseph Morgan in the B15, while Reuben Duker in the B13 and Sophie Robb in the G13 both have a chance.

The championships start at 10.20am with the boys and girls under 15 3km, the senior men and women 10km is at 1.20pm and the final event the master women and master men 65 plus is at 2.30pm.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Athletics New Zealand