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Sunday 28 July 2013

Wrap up of NZSS Relay Results

Well it looks like Napier Girls and Diocesan have tied over the weekend in the Senior Girls relay event. Briana Massie and Alice Tilley are the two who could not be separated by the clock. I am unaware currently if they could be separated on the ground (any readers who were there could fill us in through the comments).

In the Senior Boys Devon Beckman finally fired to provide his team crucial distance over Cashmere, which Callum Herries then managed to hold. A savvy bit of coaching perhaps from the Napier Boys coaches putting their speedster out on the second leg.

Podium at the Senior Boys Relay

In the Intermediate Girls it was Diocesan and NGHS battling again, but this time the former was clear, with Hannah Pitmann Bell bring them home. Havelock High School  won the Intermediate Boys, with the star there being first leg runner Jarrod Lobb.

In the Junior grades Waiuku College carved up in the boys and Napier Girls got their own title in the Girls (just ahead of Pukekohe High School). For more results/maps and photos check the event website, or route gadget.

4 comments:

Steve said...

The chute was a taped route in a paddock roughly 5m wide of about 100m length down a wide shallow re-entrant with the spectators behind another tape about 20m up the true right hillside. The ground underfoot was slippery and getting muddier as more and more runners finished.

Briana entered the finish chute a metre or two ahead of Alice and the noise from the spectators, which had been loud to begin with, rose to such a volume that the sheep in the next paddock stampeded and half Hawkes Bay ground to a halt in amazement. Alice tried to take Briana on the right but was unable to get between her and the tape. She dropped back, tried again on the left but seemed unwilling to trust the underfoot conditions. Finally, in the last ten or fifteen metres she eventually found a gap, darted past Briana and reached the finish banner perhaps half a pace ahead.

There were two finish controls and the girls grabbed one each. They were still at speed at this point and collapsed to the ground in a melee of legs and flags. Both seemed to need two or more attempts before punching successfully.

The obvious lesson from all this is that more attention needs to be given during training to the important skill of punching control boxes, particularly finish controls, at speed.

It could also be said that both girls, whose ladylike tussle down the chute displayed manners that were a credit to both their Mothers and their Schools, might have benefited from a quiet word on the effectiveness of a well-placed elbow in such situations.

Unknown said...

Nice one! Thanks Steve. Sounds like it was one of the relay finishes to go down in legend. Good commitment for their teams.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Ignore delete, sorry was trying to edit.

The teams from Napier Boys and Cashmere were impressive! Onslow's chances diminished as a stomache upset left Simon Teesdale loosing his breakfast twice between getting out the car and the start. He reported abandoning vaulting the fences as he retched his way over the first crossing. On the subject of fence crossing, Shamus overcame twisting his ankle at control 5 to cross the final fence with a dive and forward roll!