Event results
t’s a long way to Kenya, and that journey started about 11 months ago in Palmerston North, when Wellington Girls College (WGC) destroyed allcomers to book themselves a place in the biennial ISF world schools cross country championship for 2024.
Max Doherty’s impressive showing also earned him Individual selection, and so set the journey of 5 Olympic athletes and one proud coach to the biggest adventure of their lives.
Fast forward to May 12th and the pride of northern Wellington were as ready as they could be. “Trust the process” said their coach, “what an experience” said everybody, “don’t worry about the Kenyans” implied nobody, “be wary of the heat and altitude” said those that knew.
In between were hours of training, (no summer off this year), sausage sizzles, T-Towel peddling, Samosas selling, and Quiz nights. A wonderful 9 day altitude training camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa, had them as ready as they could be. Police escorts and Kenyan confusion had them right where they wanted to be, ‘eventually’.
Hosts Kenya rewrote the playbook, which saw the traditional schools event parked, so our 12 WGC and Westlake Boys school athletes were to represent New Zealand, alongside the 12 individual athletes, which may overwhelm many, but not today.
Juju was the youngest on tour and as a young year 11 qualified to run in the Under 15 race. After a very late bus arrival and longer than normal bus journey, there wasn’t much time to warm up and get to the call room. As the only NZer in this race, being in the caldron, on your own on the other side of the world would throw most athletes, however Juju’s maturity exceeded her years, she took all this in her stride and ran an impressive 22nd, behind some very fast East Africans.
Next up our Under 18 Girls took to the start line (to find a starting position anywhere they liked so long as it was behind an East African). Ava under strict instructions from John not to go out and chase the Kenyans, ran a fantastic and disciplined race over the 3.5km challenging terrain, to finish 26th overall, in doing so being the 2nd non African home, and 1st NZer.
Maia (the 4th youngest in the field, aged just 15), finished an impressive 43rd with just 1 younger runner ahead of her. Not far behind was Annabel in 45th, also one of just a few born in 2008, who unbeknown to her was about to test covid positive in the coming days. Equally important was what was behind these young runners, not just the slew of carked out bodies, but also some East Africans.
In the last race of the day was the U18 Boys race, and globe trotter Max, was keen to leverage off some impressive performances over the last month in Scotland and England. The destruction we had seen throughout the day was a whole new level in this race, and Max ran bravely to stagger home 64th. A massive effort and pushing his body to the ‘max’.
We also wish to recognise the efforts of the other Wellingtonians at ISF, with 3 more girls all from WHAC, also running in the U18 race.
Poppy Healy (having just returned from an outstanding effort at the Australian track champs in Adelaide) backed up to finish 39th. Giselle Kenworthy who battled 3 days of African illness and dug incredibly deep to finish an admirable 58th, and Maria Relevant, where it was a miracle just to get to the start line, with 'shin splints and covid,' coming home in a respectable 62nd.
The carnage around all these young runners was something to behold, with athletes being carted off by medics and so many DNF’s – the experience was out of this world. Impacts of the altitude and heat, not to mention other new challenges only experienced in Africa. And then there were the Kenyans. Wow just wow.
The team would like to thank all their loyal supporters who travelled at great expense to both support, coach and chaperone these kids to the experience of a lifetime. The Dohertys, the Moorheads, the Copes (who is undoubtedly the best and most loyal coach any young athlete could ever wish for) and of course Bec Tuck and Felicity Holden. They also wish to acknowledge the support and generosity with fundraising efforts of all those at Olympic Harriers.
Looking for motivation - here are some quotes from the Olympic travellers
Maia Holden “So thankful for such and amazing opportunity, the best experience of my life, with the best people”
Annabel Tuck “the most amazing experience, makes we want to work harder“
Juliet Moorhead “So lucky to have the opportunity. Loved being part of the team and enjoying all the experiences with the team“
Ava Sutherland “To have the opportunity to compete against the world’s best in Africa is an experience I never thought I’d have, and I am truly grateful for. The people, culture, animals, and running were all amazing, making it an unforgettable trip“
Max Doherty “An amazing place, with the most amazing experiences and people“
John Cope “It was a fantastic opportunity to experience different cultures from other continents and to challenge themselves against the best school age athletes in the world“
This from NZSSAA: New Zealand Secondary Schools Athletic Association:
Congratulations to our team who competed at the World Schools Cross Country Championships in Nairobi, Kenya. The competition format was changed from past events where there had been races for individual athletes representing their country and races for athletes representing their selected school. This year everyone ran in age grade races for girls and for boys. Our athletes, who were selected according to the previous format, performed well in very competitive circumstances.