Cross Country
St Ignatius Invitation, Riverview – Saturday 5 August 2023
The Shore boys returned to Riverview for the first time this season, dreading the slow, muddy hills with an extra lap of running. Fortunately, the boys were greeted to a nicer, different course without the big, dreaded hill and a short course. This may have discouraged a few runners throughout the field, but Shore used this as an opportunity to showcase their depth over the shorter courses.
The juniors were welcomed to a short course, just over three kilometres. The boys raced around the first oval, tussling for positions. Ben Frantz led the Shore boys around for the two laps, grinding his way around the steep grass hills in 27th place. James Warren and Archie Watson followed soon behind, working with each other in a big pack throughout the whole race (the teamwork we love to see at Shore), landing themselves a solid 32nd and 33rd place, respectively. Digby Wood closed out the top-four with a solid finish in 38th place, landing Shore with 130 points and 6th place. Well done, lads!
The intermediates were disappointed to hear of Fraser Pandit pulling out with knee problems; however, this did not discourage any of the boys. Daniel Becker continued his hot streak of good races with 18th place, and he will be one to watch in the future! James Thompson returned to his Term 2 form with a huge run, finishing in 29th place, his highest throughout the season! Ollie Campbell and Blake Alderson rounded off Shore’s top-four with solid efforts in 42nd and 56th, respectively, the two boys showing great improvement across the season. The intermediates placed themselves 5th, ready for a big run next week at the GPS championships!
The Senior boys came into the race knowing that Scots had a three-point deficit on them, requiring a courageous effort from all boys to try to take the lead leading into the final meet of the season. Jesse Cochrane utilised his hurdles training with Mr Benn to fly out of the blocks, leading the field out around the first oval. Lachy Brown cruised around with the front pack with one goal in mind: to beat a tough Scots runner in good form. Lachy showed his strength and speed, gliding up the grass hills and sprinting home in 2:55 per kilometre to land himself 2nd place, one spot ahead of the Scots boy! I was able to hold off another Scots boy to boost the team’s points, putting one place on him in 6th place. Ryan Gilmour came into the race knowing he was going to put his body on the line for the school. He worked with James Bestic throughout the race to defend off three Scots boys in 11th and 15th, respectively. Shore landed themselves 34 points, four ahead of Scots, and to be now placed one point in front of all Schools in the season’s overall standings!
The Senior boys enter into the GPS championships with a slim lead and require a courageous effort from all the boys to win back-to-back premierships. We encourage all boys to come and cheer the senior boys around Upjohn Park next week to assist them in getting over the line. We will see you all next week at Upjohn for one last hit-out for the season (and last ever for our Year 12 students). Get ready to run hard!
Machine of the Week: (selected by the coaches and Mr Spratt) Lachy Brown
Cam Burnett
Shore Cross Country Captain 2023
Top image: Shore Opens – surging to the front!
