Whanganui Collegiate School head girl Amy McHardy. Photo / Rob van Dort
Whanganui Collegiate School head girl Amy McHardy. Photo / Rob van Dort
There was a golden end to a year of silver medals for Whanganui Collegiate School head girl Amy McHardy at this weekend’s New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country at Massey University in Palmerston North.
McHardy, who turned 17 the day before the championships, had won three silver medals this summer in her first year as a rower.
The medals came in the under-18 novice double sculls, the under-17 coxed quad sculls and the under-18 quad sculls. McHardy was a key member of last year’s cross country silver medal team and hoped, as did her teammates, they would go one better at the weekend.
It was not to be as she and her team of Louise Brabyn and Pascale Bowie had to settle for silver in the three-to-score team competition behind their Wellington Girls’ College rivals, headed by Amy’s twin sister Kate. The girls had to settle for another silver in the six-to-score, losing to Wellington Girls’ by three points (175 to 178).
It was a solid effort from the Collegiate team of McHardy, Brabyn, Bowie, Greta Darke, Harriet Douglas and Rosa Meyer. Meyer - who had shown such great form throughout 2023 - suffered a repeat of an ankle injury when she fell at the crowded start and did well to finish 50th in considerable pain, leaving her and the team reflecting on what might have been.
On Sunday McHardy ran for Whanganui in the regional 4 x 2-kilometre relays as part of the senior mixed relay team represented by an all-Whanganui Collegiate team. Toby Caro ran first, handing over a narrow lead to Louise Brabyn, who lost a few metres to Otago.
McHardy ran a gritty third leg against Otago’s Catherine Lund, who only 20 hours earlier won the senior girls title. McHardy did superbly to lose only three seconds to Lund.
McHardy’s determination not to surrender greater distance allowed Daniel Sinclair running the anchor leg a chance of victory.
Sinclair steadily closed the gap to win by two seconds. A great win for Whanganui, the second-smallest province competing in a race, contested by 13 teams. Otago held for second, with Waikato third.
Sinclair had on the previous day taken a silver medal in a dramatic and hard-fought senior boys race over three two-kilometre laps. Each lap is a flat playing field section of the Massey Rugby Institute before heading for 1500 metres on the hills on the Massey farm.
It was a true cross-country circuit that suited the son of a Waikato farmer, who attacked on the hills.
After the second lap, the leading group was down to three, with pre-race favourite Elliot Pugh (Bethlehem College), who had finished 39th in the world championships, being detached as they entered the farm section.
This left a battle between the two Daniels, Sinclair and Prescott (St Thomas of Canterbury College).
Prescott made his break on the final hilly section and held it to the finish to win by less than five seconds over the 19-minute race, which had over 200 entries and 184 finishers.
Fifty-seven schools had athletes competing with 11 different schools with the top 12 finishers, Auckland Grammar School took the team title with two runners in the top 10 and a third at 15th. The strong Westlake Boys’ High School from North Harbour were second, just one point ahead of Whanganui Collegiate (54–55 points).
Westlake were the convincing winners of the six-to-score from Auckland Grammar School and Whanganui Collegiate, winning their sixth team medal of the day with bronze.
Toby Caro finished 14th, with Oliver Jones in 39th. The other members of the six-to-score bronze team were James Hercus, Matthew Sinclair and Nate Burke. Sinclair was selected for the New Zealand schools team to go to Australia.
The Whanganui Collegiate team made a good start to the day in Palmerston North by winning team silver medals in both the three- and six-to-score events.
Hannah Byam was first home in 16th, followed by promising Year 9 runner Tilly Darke in 32nd and Captain Olivia Gilbertson one place behind. Zoe Broadhead and Year 9 Grace Chadwick and Alaska Humphrey made up the six-to-score team.
Nga Tawa should be encouraged by their bronze medal in the six-to-score team bronze in the Year 9 girls and they will provide a base for their excellent development programme.
It was good to see Whanganui High School involved and hopefully, it and other Whanganui schools will look at the 50th New Zealand cross country championships in Christchurch next June and also challenge to be part of the exciting regional relays on the following day.
Aiden Muir was High School’s best performer in 44th in the junior boys, after a great race with the Whanganui leading scorer Blake Candish in 43rd.
