Cross Country Report
Saturday 16 August 2025
GPS Cross Country Championships Hosted by Sydney Grammar School, Miranda Park, Miranda
The Shore Cross Country fraternity were excited to return to the testy layout at Miranda for the GPS Championships last Saturday. No one seemed particularly daunted by the fact that the largely lower North Shore contingent had to traverse not just the old coat hanger, but another bridge too! One of the boys was perplexed by that notion at training last week… ‘It’s in ‘The Shire’ mate’, clearly not clearing up anything at all by the look on his face, priceless! That being said, everyone was there when required, ready to race. Unfortunately, we were depleted in number by the dreaded lurgy and injury; tres triste! The regular reccie around the course, pre-race, soon provided the feedback that it was going to be another weekend of Napisan soaking for the Shore Cross Country singlets as it was muddy!
The Juniors were hamming it up on the start line for the photographer, showing little sign of nerves! However, they bolted with energy, as if out of a cannon, as racing commenced! It was soon apparent that some of the competition was at maximum amongst oursleves, as we like it, as George Harvey and Zac Robertson were testing each other out, again! Love it! George tenaciously held Zac off to be a fine 8th with Zac just behind in 10th. Henry Grieve was closing in on that pair on the second lap, but couldn’t quite bridge the gap as he placed a fine 13th. Thomas Coleman has been a revelation in the latter part of the season, as he’s constantly improved; imagine what he may be capable of with a year-round training regime! He completed our Junior Team result of 3rd as he placed 20th. We must not forget Alexander Baxter who swapped team positions with Tom, and was so close to catching him, finishing just behind in 23rd. Leon Field and Patrick Old were a solid 35th and 37th respectively. Pleasingly, our Juniors were 3rd Overall for the season-long Junior Cumulative GPS Point Score.
Our intermediates were the hardest hit by injury and illness. Ben Frantz was out with a twisted ankle and tough guys James Warren and Jonty Jagger unable to race due to illness, though the start line still comprised a good number of fine Blue Street boys. Toby Ward had a glint in his eye, no doubt on the back of his confidence-building 1st place last week at Northbridge. This ‘glint’ proved to be well-founded as Toby pushed straight to the pointy end of the race. There he remained, grinding home a very impressive win for the second week in a row to finish the season. Nice! Hugo Stewart had a solid run as he was 18th. Hugo ‘Popeye’ Pope seems to have dosed up on his spinach and finally shaken the dreaded lurgy that destroyed his debut season. He produced a fine effort to be 23rd. Hamish Cleland hung onto a good pace (after some early race madness) to secure a commendable 27th and complete our Intermediates team result of 4th on the day. Shout out to Digby ‘Diggles’ Wood who recorded a solid 30th, underlining his tenacity in his running and how much we appreciate having such a fine young gentleman in the sport! Our Intermediates finished one step higher on the season-ending Cumulative GPS Point Score competition than the Juniors, as they placed 2nd!
Our Opens scraped together a team again, just… James Bestic lead by example as he and Tom Gray established themselves inside the top twenty on course for the duration of racing. The mud seemed to be getting deeper each lap! James, Tom, Daniel Becker and James Thompson were all buoyed in racing on Saturday as a gaggle of Juniors and Intermediates cheered them on. It’s esprit de corps such as this that, to steal a phrase from my wife, ‘makes your heart sing!’ James and Tom secured the fine result of 15th and 17th respectively. Daniel was stoically a little further back as was James, but as always, they pushed themselves to record a solid result in tough, boggy and worsening conditions. The Opens were 7th on the day as they were in Cumulative GPS Point Score for the season.
As the season draws to a close it would be remiss not to thank all those who have supported the Shore Cross Country fraternity this year. Thankyou to all the parents who ferry the boys around to venues far and wide all over Sydney in a timely fashion each Saturday. Thank you too to the coaches, Ms Hu, Rev Benn, Dr Auer, Mr Winters, Cam Burnett, Lachy Brown and Ryan Gilmour who all encourage the boys athletically and are fine role models in their running. Our leaders James Bestic and Daniel Becker have been excellent this season and have grown in the role, always leading with encouragement and care. Thanks to their respective families, Team Bestic and Team Becker, who combined to host a delightful end of season gathering after the last race.
In a quick season wrap up, although we were not as strong as we would have liked in the Opens this year, lacking a little depth and depleted through injury, we can be proud of some solid performances. It was great to make it onto the podium in both the Junior and Intermediate categories, where we also have considerable depth, which augurs well moving forward! I do hope to see lots of familiar Cross Country faces on the track in the upcoming Athletics season.
Good running,
Mr Michael Spratt
MIC Cross Country
