Cross Country Champs

By Richard Sykes | Posted: Friday June 9, 2023

Dunedin turned on another stunning day on Thursday 8 June, albeit a touch on the chilly side, for the Otago Champs at Kaikorai Valley College.

There was a quiet air of confidence amongst our runners after what has been a very successful season to date, we were however missing Jake Owen, the current South Island champion.

We had 5 runners in the Under 14 competition with stalwarts Henry Hodgson, Leo Gardner, Sam Hobbs and Robert Lloyd. They were bolstered by Ryan Ure coming out for his first race of the season. They were first on the course for us and still chipping ice off places around the course. It was a hard run on a soft track and the boys ran extremely well.

The results were outstanding!

Under 14
Henry Hodgson - first in Otago 13 min 59 seconds
Ryan Ure - 3rd in Otago
Leo Garden - 4th in Otago
Sam Hobbs - 9th in Otago
Robert Lloyd - 15th in Otago

OBHS First in Under 14 team event.

In the Under 16's, Ruie continued to show his class leading from start to finish. Every other race this season Ruie has had to compete with both Matt and Jake as a senior so it was nice for him to get a win. Hugo and Gus rounded out this team brilliantly and I feel very secure with them stepping up to seniors in 2024.

Under 16
Ruie Hyslop - first in Otago 15 minute 58 seconds for 4.5 km
Fergus Oberlin Brown - 2nd in Otago
Hugo Barsby - 5th in Otago 

OBHS First in Under 16 team event.

The seniors were the big show and there was a lot of talk about some extremely fast finishing Southlanders, posting impressive sub 2 minute 800 metres this year. With Jake unwell, Matt was going to have to push the pace to run the legs out of his competitors, something Jake has done to him on more than one occasion in past races. Matt proved more than up to the task and by the end of the first 400 metres had opened up a significant gap which never looked like closing. Very grateful to Tim Orchiston who stepped in for Jake at the last minute giving us a complete team of 3 and gave his best leaving it all out on the course.

Under 19
Matthew Bolter - first in Otago 24 min 30 seconds for 7 km
Bruno Hare - 4th in Otago
Tim Orchiston - 8th in Otago

OBHS First in Under 19 team event.

Matthew Bolter and Jake Owen are heading up to Nationals to race next weekend both as individuals and part of a combined schools relay team. I am looking forward to being able to tell you about that in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to all the parents and athletes for what was an extremely successful local season.

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