Cross Country
Scots Invitational, Upjohn Park Rydalmere, 3 June 2023
The boys returned to the heavily favoured Upjohn Park for a tough grind. We were happily welcomed to neatly laid out flags along the course and Athletics NSW banners around the course as the NSW State XC relays were set to be held later that evening. The boys were ready to rip up the course, trying to warm it up for the best in the state.
The Junior boys toed the line first to hit out a quick 4km on a mistakenly difficult grass course. The “usual candidate” of Toby Ward keeps on getting better and better every week as he pushes into the top ten without his teammate Hugo Stewart alongside him. Toby finished well for a fantastic 8th place in the GPS. Fantastic run, Toby! Henry Johnstone and James Warren trotted along the 4km course with each other finishing one place off each other in the GPS (23rd and 24th, respectively). Archie Watson closed out the Shore team in 39th place to land the team 5th place in the GPS!
With Fraser Pandit out, the intermediate boys needed to find an extra gear to move up the ladder. This gear was found by many boys of the team – Thomas Gray had an outstanding run, tearing through the field, resulting in 8th in the GPS. Daniel Becker and JJ Black also found the right gear as they moved up many spots into 14th and 20th place. Jimmy Thompson closed out the field in a solid run landing Shore in 5th place, two spots higher than their last two placings! Well done lads.
The Senior Team waited on the start line with joy, knowing that they were about to hit out their seemingly favourite course. As the lads attempted to back up their relay win earlier in the season on this course, the contention for the premiership was on the line. After Jesse Cochrane led out the field for a fast start and Ryan Gilmour was caught in tight circumstances around the first bend, the field was spread out along the park. Lachy Brown and I led the field around for a lap resulting in a slight burnout from myself. However, Lachy remained strong, giving it to the best runners in the nation. Lachy stormed home for 2nd place with an incredible pace, setting up the team for a strong score. With a strong finish from me to finish in 4th place in the GPS, the race for the points was on for Ryan and James Bestic. However Ryan and James finished strong, behind the Scots boys being hunted. This did not matter in the end, as Shore landed themselves their first outright win of the tournament with a three-point gap on the field. This closed the deficit to just six points with three races remaining in the season. Lachy and I placed ourselves in a top-eight position, hopefully earning a spot on an open GPS team to race in the GPS vs CAS race next term.
Machine of the Week: (selected by the coaches and Mr Spratt) Lachy Brown.
Cam Burnett
Shore Cross Country Captain 2023
