Cross Country season underway

By Richard Sykes | Posted: Wednesday May 17, 2023

Tuesday, 16th May was the first round of the 2023 cross country season at the Logan Park Road Race.

There was an air of expectation amongst the seniors and nervous excitement for the Year 9's who were running in their first races against Year 10’s. The weather did not let us down and it was ideal running conditions although perhaps a bit wet and slippery underfoot in places.

Junior boys and senior girls were running together in one lap of the 2.5km route, in the opposite direction to what had been published on any maps prior to the event.

Henry Hodgson, Leo Gardner and Sam Hobbs were flying the flag for OBHS. Henry started hard keeping just behind the leaders who had gone out fast, Leo and Sam slightly slower out of the gate and settled into a nice rhythm. Henry faded slightly as the race progressed, coming in with a very respectable time of 9:28 in 9th place. Leo was not far behind in tenth and Sam a solid 16th. All 3 runners can be very proud of their efforts for their first cross country for OBHS.

The senior boys race was 2 laps for a total of 5km. The race started pretty promisingly with Jake Owen taking his customary position as lead runner while Matt Bolter, Trinity runner, Ruie Hyslop and Fergus Oberlin Brown made themselves comfortable on his heels. At the end of the first lap (of the 2 laps) the running order had not changed, OBHS 1,2,3 and 4. When they eventually reached the finishing straight on the second lap Matt had slightly out kicked Jake.

The final results

1 - Matt Bolter 15:47

2 - Jake Owen 15:57

3 - Ruie Hyslop 16:30

4 - Fergus Oberlin-Brown 16:34

5 - A very respectable 17:20

This being the 20th year of the Logan Park Road Race meant they also held a relay (4x1500m). With all the runners having just completed a race (and not having enough for 2 teams) seniors decided to share the race with the Juniors. Our running order was Jake Owen, Matt Bolter, Leo Garden with Henry Hodgson to bring it home. By the time Matt had come in Leo was defending a 300m lead, which he increased to 400m and Henry held the lead against some of the fastest seniors eventually crossing the line 1 minute 21 seconds ahead of second place.

Overall, a really successful first event for the season.

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