Athletics: Bronze for Whanganui’s masters mixed team at NZ Cross Country Championships

Whanganui's masters 35-plus team (from left) Gen Foo, Sally Gibbs, Bex Sharratt and Brendon Sharratt placed third in the mixed relay at the New Zealand Cross Country Championships. Photo / Brendan Gibbs

I must correct some omissions from last week’s Insight that reported on the Athletics New Zealand Cross Country Championships in Taupō.

I could blame jet lag but will not because most of the background research was done in a Glasow Airport lounge in the couple of hours before departure and tidied up at Dubai Airport only a few hours into the journey. The initial format of results on the website was somewhat “clunky” and hard to cross-reference results, which slowed the research process and may have contributed to a couple of omissions.

I completed the article on my return home last week, 42 hours after leaving Scotland (only 23 hours were in the air); but it was not until meeting runners on Saturday’s parkrun did I realise I had missed a couple of results, including one of podium significance.

In my review, I missed a significant bronze medal team performance in the mixed club relays from the Wanganui Harrier Club masters 35-plus team. The solid team of Brendan Sharratt, Bex Sharratt, Gen Foo and Sally Gibbs. Gibbs, who won the masters 60-64 individual title the previous day, ran the anchor leg to secure the bronze medal ahead of Wellington Athletics and Harrier Club. The race was won by TTT Runners with Wellington Scottish Harriers taking silver.

Relay races on the day following championships are becoming popular at cross-country championships. They provide another opportunity for runners to join in a team event over shorter distances and have a second race during the weekend. For many years, Australian schools have run relays as part of their championship weekend.

New Zealand Secondary Schools introduced regionally selected teams on the Sunday of the 2016 Championships in Rotorua with a mixed grade added this year. Whanganui was the inaugural senior winner. Mixed relays were introduced at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst this year. Relays are clearly popular. Next month’s Round the Lake Relay at our own Virginia Lake was started in 1978 and continues to be a major event on the secondary school running calendar and, although no mixed relay is planned for this year, it will be considered in future.

I did mention last week that live-stream tends to follow the leading runners. I looked at Saturday’s championship races only, and not the relays, and therefore missed seeing considerable coverage of Whanganui runners Daniel Sinclair and Pascale Bowie who featured well over the opening two legs of the mixed senior relay. Daniel led through the first leg of the race and handed over a lead to teammate Bowie who ran with determination, doing well to lose only two places. Although the team fell back to eighth over the remaining two legs, it was pleasing to see Wanganui Harriers embracing the spirit of relays by entering three teams in Taupō. Hopefully, this will grow in the future and, if the best runners from Athletics Wanganui and Wanganui Harriers team together, there could be some exciting future results.

Bowie was my other omission from the list of Whanganui athletes who finished in the top 20. Bowie finished 15th as a first-time runner in the under-20 grade ,which meant her first race over 6000m. Bowie found the additional 2km (New Zealand Schools was over 4km) demanding but managed to hold both her form and her position and, as mentioned earlier, was able to run well again the next day.

Bowie has made great progress in the sport. In 2022, she finished 69th at New Zealand Secondary Schools and was Whanganui Collegiate’s fifth scorer, securing a team medal. In June this year, she was the third scorer finishing 26th and won team silver medals in both the three and six-to-score events. Her 15th position in Taupō was another step in Bowie’s exciting cross-country journey.

I also mentioned last week Toby Caro had been added to the New Zealand Schools Team to travel to Canberra to compete in the Australian Cross Country on August 26.

This is a great reward for a hard-working young athlete. He won his first individual podium position in the North Island Schools senior boys steeplechase in April. He has demonstrated steady progress over the past two years in both country and track. He was part of a medal-winning Collegiate team in 2022 in Nelson when he finished 19th. He improved to 14th this year and returned with two team silver medals and a relay gold running for Whanganui in the mixed relay. Another athlete’s misfortune has opened up an opportunity for Caro in Australia. His training has already lifted in quality and I am confident the opportunity will present another step in Caro’s athletic pathway.