By Cameron Mumby

The NZ XC Champs; the Big Kahuna; the last dance of the cross country season. This is where the best of the best (with honours sir) come to face off against each other.

Just 10 Hawks took on the challenge this year but we punched well above our weight, bringing home 6 medals in total.

Last year Christchurch served up cold frosty weather; this year however we scored the hat trick with cold, wind AND rain.

I was up first at 10am and conditions were a brisk 4 degrees though it felt more like minus 1 with the wind chill. I got off to a good start and was sticking with the lead M50 runners until we hit the steeple jump for the first time. Then it happened. A guy in front of me went down and I had no-where to go. I side straddled the hurdle and got going again but the damage was done. A gap had opened up and I just didn’t have the capacity to bridge it. I tried a couple times to lift my pace and close it down but with recent sickness, I was already on the limit.

Lap 2 and I cleared the hurdle just fine. Lap 3 and the hurdle was gone! The ground around it was super slippery and too many people were either slamming into it while trying to jump or slipping on the landing. For the rest of the day it was taken out of action.

I tapped out the final few k’s of the race, still pushing hard of course because there was always the team competition to think about. Finishing 4th, I helped our WaiBoP team take out the bronze medal in the Men’s 50+ category (thanks Dean Chiplin, Peter Caudwell and Fred Shilton).

Chris was up next and from the gun, the pace was hot with a couple South Island athletes going out hard. Chris worked his way through the pack though and finished strong in 3rd place, bringing home our first individual medal for the day.

The next Hawks to toe the line were our under 18 men and this was always going to be a spectacle. Most of the field stayed together for the first lap with Jack, Max and Tasman right up in the mix. On to lap 2 and a lead bunch of 14 started to pull away with our 3 boys bookending it.

By kilometer 3, the half-way mark, this lead group had reduced to 10 and unfortunately Tas was one of the 4 that had slipped off. The rollers on the golf course section had seen to that.

Just a few hundred meters later and the lead group had strung out to single file around a muddy off-camber bend. Max put the foot down here and unfortunately this caught Jack off-guard. He was a bit further down the train and struggled to get around other runners to catch up.

We now had 3 distinct groups at the head of the race with one of our boys in each group. It was only a few seconds between them at this stage but when you’re on your limit, that gap seems like an eternity and is so hard to close down. It just goes to show you that a course like this is so unforgiving; one lapse of concentration, one bad line, one missed footing and you can lose so much time.

On to the third and final lap and as expected, the pace just ramped up and up. The lead group of four strung out to single file again and behind them there was carnage as the chase groups started to splinter.

With 1 kilometer to go, the lead group was down to 3 and Max was leading the charge! With 400m to go it was down to 2!!!

They entered the insanely long finishing straight with Max leading out. He gave it everything but Alex MacBeth was hot on his heels wanting to improve on his 2nd place from last year. Alex saved his kick for the final hundred; Max dug deep but just couldn’t respond and crossed the line just a couple seconds later to take out the Silver medal.

Behind them, a long stream of runners proceeded to cross the line with Jack in 5th and Tasman rounding out the top 10. Only around 30 seconds separated this group showing you the depth and class of this top field. It was an amazing race to watch. As an added bonus, with their WaiBoP team-mate Kingston Ryan, they took out equal second place in the teams comp, adding yet another silver medal to our tally.

Now onto our girls, Emily and Jasmine; they were in the under 16’s race and again another deep field went out hard right from the gun. They paced themselves well and by the 1km mark, Emily had got into a good pack of 6 runners with Jasmine not too far behind. They continued to run well, dosing their effort and saving a little for that energy sapping finishing straight. Emily put in an amazing kick to split her pack apart and finish in 17th place. Jasmine too ran strong all the way to the finish and crossed the line in 25th place.

Next up our under 16 boys, Daniel and Oscar, toed the line. The weather had warmed up slightly to about 8 degrees by now but the course was churned up pretty bad from the few hundred runners that had just been through. It wasn’t going to be easy.

Both boys started well and settled in to their groove. At about the 1k mark, the race favourite Jacob Williams had pulled ahead and a pack of 6 containing Daniel was on the chase. By the half-way point there were some clear gaps forming. It was Jacob then a Canterbury runner then Daniel and an Auckland runner together in 3rd & 4th. Just like the under 18 men, the tempo ramped up and up as the boys tested each other and tried to pull away.

With 500m to go, Daniel had slipped to 4th with a second or so gap up to 3rd place. They turned into the long, slow home straight and Daniel was still in 4th. I remember thinking that here we go, we’re both going home with a 4th place finish today just like Napier 2 years ago. But then it happened; with 200m to go Daniel just kicked and lifted his pace. Not only did he take 3rd place, he kept going and took 2nd place right on the finish line!!! Our next individual silver medal for the day!

Meanwhile, Oscar was finishing off his race with an amazing turn of speed. Crossing and collapsing on the finish line, he averaged a super quick 3:36 pace for this slow and challenging course. A great result.

Our final individual racer for the day was Jahan in the under 14 boys. His 3k race may have been shorter but it wasn’t any easier. A blistering pace was set from the start and the boys strung out pretty quickly into a long line. Working hard he kept his effort consistent and controlled, crossing the line in 10th place with another super quick time.

The last chance for a national medal would come in the evening with the twilight relays. We only had enough athletes for an under 16’s team so all hopes rested on their shoulders. No pressure guys.

In running order we had Oscar, Jasmine, Daniel and Emily with each of them running 2 x 1km laps before handing the baton over to their team mate. The temperature was a cold 2 degrees but their pace was hot; each of them giving absolutely everything for their team. The podium chopped and changed a few times throughout the race but when it was all done and dusted, we came away with the Silver medal. A thrilling end to an amazing cross country season.

A big thank you has to go out to Graham Dudfield here; his dedication to the junior squad is reaping great rewards and all of us Hawks are extremely lucky to have him. Cheers Graham!