Cross Country Report – 22 July
Trinity Relays, Ewen Park, Hurlstone Park
Our runners returned for the third and final relay race of the season, one that has a special place in Mr Spratt’s heart, the Trinity Relays. Mr Spratt had run these relays for 20-plus years at his old school, Trinity Grammar School, and this was the first time the event had returned since 2019. The Shore lads were ready to make Mr Spratt proud and dominate the relays!
The Junior team lined up against 86 teams ranging from Junior teams to Senior teams to Old Boy teams and even Staff teams. However, this did not bother the Junior teams as a swarm of Year 7 and 8 students sprinted to the front, pushing the older boys to the back of the pack. Toby Ward used this excitement and momentum to lead the first Junior team around with a blistering first leg. James Bestic (Intermediates) and Ben Frantz (Juniors) soon followed behind with a valuable lesson regarding shoe laces, with Frantz finishing his leg with a shoe in his hand! Double knots! Double knots! The Junior First team; Toby, Ben, James Warren, and Archie Watson, raced around for a fantastic 7th place, and the Intermediate team; James, Fraser Pandit, JJ Black, and Daniel Becker, finished in 5th. Some holiday work paying dividends for the Intermediates! Well done, boys.
The Senior team had their eyes on the race record, where they would need to average three minutes 10 seconds per kilometre for each runner. As Lachy Brown and I were backing up from a tough race at the NSW All Schools Championships a day earlier, our relay dominance throughout the season was in question. I led the team out, managing to stay in contact with the swift field followed behind by the ever-rising talent of Jock Fenwicke. Ryan Gilmour took the reins with a blistering pace, moving the team up a few positions. Nathan Stanmore was tasked with catching up to the Trinity Senior Team who were just ahead of Shore. With Nathan’s return to fitness, he was able to do just that, taking and stretching the lead over the Trinity boys. Lachy Brown opted to go last in the relay to try to take it easy from his race the day before, but with the record in sight and Trinity on our heels, we needed something special from Lachy. This we got, as Lachy held off a mighty strong Trinity competitor to land Shore first place, obliterating the old record by 40 seconds! The Second Senior Team, consisting of Jock, Jesse Cochrane, Matt Hogg, and Ronan Martin, finished in 5th place – the highest of all School’s Second Teams!
The Shore Open Team continued their dominance over the relays this season, winning all three. A true sign of depth and strength! Next week we return to the tough Sydney Park course with a 10.00am start.
Machine of the Week: (selected by the coaches and Mr Spratt) Shore Open Team
Cam Burnett
Shore Cross Country Captain 2023
NSW All Schools Championships, Eastern Creek Raceway, 21 July 2023
As Cam has already mentioned, Shore was represented by himself and Lachy at these Championships last Friday. Cam had a blinder of a race, to snavel a step on the podium in 3rd. Lachy wasn’t so fortunate and succumbed to breathing difficulty as a lurgy lingers. Pleasingly, he had already secured a ticket to Nationals via the club route. Well done, boys. It is nice to be able to rely on fine young men such as Cam and Lachy to represent the School so well and tenaciously in the rarified atmosphere of such events!
Mr M Spratt
MIC Cross Country
