The country’s best off-road runners produced a great spectacle of quality racing at the recent National Cross Country championships held at Waikanae Park. Over four hundred athletes, including seventeen from the host club Kāpiti, ran their hearts out on the demanding cross country course. The weather was mild and calm with just the odd passing shower and the course was generally firm, except for a few puddles and mud in the pony paddocks section.
There were some outstanding performances. Race Secretary, Bryn Kempthorne reports that amongst many junior stars on the day, Danielle Trevis (Auckland) winning the Women’s 19 race by over a minute and Matt Baxter (Taranaki) blitzing the Men’s 16 field by 40 seconds, stand out. The feature Senior Men’s and Women’s races were won in emphatic style by Alex Parlane from Auckland and Canterbury’s Fiona Crombie. Parlane aged 20 is the youngest ever winner of the men’s event. Afterwards the winner said “I made my break about half way through the race, but the last lap was tough and I knew that Shaun Krawitz was closing on me.”
For Crombie it was her second successive title and she loved the Waikanae course, describing it as true cross country.
