Cross Country
St Joseph’s Invitation, GPS CHAMPIONSHIPS, Upjohn Park, Rydalmere – Saturday 12 August
The Shore Cross Country fraternity was super excited as we arrived, again, at Upjohn Park, Rydalmere, for the GPS Championships hosted by St Joseph’s last Saturday. We had a good shot at the title in the Opens to go ‘back-to-back’ GPS Premierships. However, we had to wait – nervously, maybe confidently, until the Juniors and Intermediates trotted their stuff.
Our Junior team looked strong on the start line, and as the racing commenced, the Shore Team was led confidently by Toby Ward. He had a fine run to finish 8th and appears to be in great shape heading into the Athletics Season – I’m sure Rev. Benn noticed! The ebullient gentleman Thomas Capes had a tenacious run to be 18th. James Warren ran strongly to hold off Ben Frantz as they were 34th and 35th, respectively, securing our Juniors a creditable 5th in the team event on the day.
The Intermediates were next to race, and they were led by Daniel Becker, who went ‘oh-so-close’ to snavelling a ‘top ten’ on the day as he finished 12th. JJ Black just managed to avoid the paparazzi – possibly to his chagrin and emphasised his potential as he ran strongly to be 27th despite being crook recently. James Thompson had a creditable run to place 29th, and Connor Bennett completed our Intermediate team as he was 60th. These four combined to be a solid 4th in the team event.
Next in the proceedings was what the gathered crowd had been waiting for with much anticipation! There were nervous countenances all-round on athletes, parents, coaches and invested spectators alike! Racing commenced hotly from the gun with Lachy Brown asserting himself in the heady atmosphere upfront with Captain Cam Burnett ‘in-touch’ as they looked to lead our team. Here they remained for the duration. The two athletes ahead of Lachy had a blinder, and he wasn’t quite able to reel them in. However, he knew what was required to be ahead of Scots’ first athlete. This he did as he was way too strong on the final lap securing a fine 3rd place finish at the GPS Championships! Cam raced superbly, passing another GPS athlete on the last lap to secure 6th place. Every place was going to matter, and the more GPS athletes we could place between Scots, and ourselves bettered our chances, as the lowest cumulative score decides the win! As we had hoped, Ryan Gilmour and James Bestic worked together superbly for the duration of the race. James surged out on the first lap, a little uncharacteristically, as with his engine, he normally builds into the race. However, this was the perfect tactic last Saturday as Ryan latched himself onto James. They were close to side by side for the duration! It did look like Ryan was looking the stronger of the two towards the end of the race, nearly 8 kilometres…yet it was James who found the next gear and surged toward the line. He finished a stellar 11th, with Ryan just two back in 13th. This completed our team and secured a superb tally of 33pts to be 10 in front of Scots. The GPS title was brought back to Blue Street for the second year in a row! Nice! Others who had a good crack in the Opens were Matt Hogg, who was 23rd, Jock Fenwicke 26th and Nathan Stanmore, who literally limped home, still in a creditable 31st. A big shout out to Jesse Cochrane, 29th and Ronan Martin, 36th, who have been committed to Cross Country for the duration of their time in the Senior School; 6 years!
Machine of the Week: James Bestic
Incidentally, many may not realise that the bronze figure that is integral to the GPS Cross Country Neville Emery Trophy is a representation of Cam’s dad Ant in full flight as a young whipper snapper Shore Cross Country athlete many years ago. Hence, it was fitting that Cam literally held his old man aloft at the presentation ceremony! Very cool!
We gathered post-race to bask in the glory of victory and encourage one another as we look forward to the next season. This was the opportunity to also award the prestigious Machine Award to the athlete that exhibits the worthy traits of the award for the duration of the season. Pleasingly, it was a unanimous decision amongst the coaches this year that it should be awarded to Ryan Gilmour. Sadly, we will miss the departing Year 12 athletes, yet we do hope they will continue with their running for many years to come, either competitively or as part of a healthy lifestyle. Thanks need to be extended to Captain Cam and Vice-Captain Jock for their leadership. Thanks also go to Cam’s parents and others for hosting our gathering and for their support throughout the season. As some parents have commented, surely Cross Country is the best-kept secret in GPS Schoolboy sport! The Shore coaches and I are blessed that we have such supportive and pragmatic parents within our community. Long may it continue.
Looking forward to 2024 – going for a three-peat!
Good running,
Mr M Spratt
MIC Cross Country
