From the Chair

If Cross-Country running is your jam, then this week had it all. 
It started on Friday with the Primary School Cross Country Champs at Waimumu. The weather played nice and the youngest of our Southland Harrier family featured strongly in results. Congratulations to everyone who competed it was great to see many Harrier faces come across the finish line. Waimumu is always a challenging course, the extra mud, and high creeks possibly played advantage to the Southland Harriers on the course who had already been practicing this season on our Saturday Runs. 

Saturday Morning the sun shone in Christchurch, and a strong contingent of Southland Secondary Age Harriers attended the New Zealand Secondary School Cross Country Championships. We are very proud of all the athletes' efforts. A extra shout out to the coaches who have worked alongside the athletes for years, we thank you.

For us left in the south, our 3 in 1 event started at Park Run in the rain. Thankfully the clouds parted and the rest of the day was stunning. A muddy wet, Heather Skerrett memorial run at Elizabeth Park and fast and fun mile at the Surrey Park track followed by hot soup, cake and sausage rolls put on by the Skerrett family was a just the reward for everyone who came out for 1,2 or 3 runs!

Sunday more racing in Christchurch , and more fantastic results from our Southland relay Teams in Christchurch.

Your every devoted chair will do her best with results below, but the real winner this weekend was the Southland Harriers. We all take pride in watching our young Tamariki grow into champions, and it all starts on the tracks and muddy parks  and trails of Southland. 

Southland Primary Schools Champs Results

1st Under 10 year old boy-Baxter Tamariki, and 1st Under 10 year old girls- Chloe Hall. 

2nd Under 11 year old Boys-Sean Iversen, and 3rd Under 11 year old Girl-Piper Muir. 

1st under 12 boy-Craig Iverson, 1st under 13 year old girl Charlotte Hawkes, 2nd Lily Gemmill. 

2nd in new AWD category Poppy Tamariki.  

Congratulations to everyone who made it to the Champs event, it is a big deal to represent your zone, and you should all be proud. 

Full top 10 results can be found on the Southland Primary School Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100028842746106

New Zealand Secondary School Cross- Country Champs Christchurch

Full results and race report in a future newsletter but here is a sneak preview of photos, and a Congratulations to the Southland Mixed Relay Team who placed first in the 4X2km mixed relay team, and Abbey Obyle 5th in the  3000M Junior Girls. All the athletes who attended are our future New Zealand Representatives and Champions and we look forward to cheering them on in 2024 and beyond.

Result link: https://live.athletic.net/meets/38669

St Pauls Heather Skerrett Memorial 

Heather Skerrett Age Grade Winners 

Junior Boys-Kye Ah Koui, Junior Girl- Mahli Ah koui

Senior Female-Debbie Telfer, Senior Male-Craig Iversen

Congratulations it was a tough course, and I believe maybe a record breaker for the amount of mud and water competitors ran through. It was great to see both young and old out on the course, sinking into the grass, up, down and around Elizabeth Park. Thank you to all the volunteers, and the Skerret Family. The event was made extra special by having Heathers great-granddaughter attend, at only a few months old I am not sure how much she took in but she brought some cuteness to the event. We also appreciated having Issac OGrady representing the Skerrett's on the course, he might be built for a rugby field not a cross-country course but he held his own. 

For full results for 3-1 and Heather Skerrett please see the Southland Harriers Webpage: https://www.sporty.co.nz/southlandharriers1/

We will have the results up as soon as we can, it was just a big weekend for the committee!!

Gore Cross Country

Date/Time: 22nd June 2024, 2pm.

Where: Saturday Hamilton Park Gore. 

Cost: This is a free event hosted by Gore Harriers.

Register: Please register for event, this is very important as it assists our handicappers to create a exciting event. Link: https://www.webscorer.com/register?raceid=355210

A fantastic event which includes, fence jumps, hay bails and sometimes a little bit of mud (maybe a lot this year).

Under 20, Seniors and Masters who are registered to a club will be eligible to win trophies. All other runners who place in the first three of their respective age grade will receive certificates.

All runners must race in their respective age grade. No exceptions.

Distances

Under 10 and Under 12-2kms

Under 14 and Under 16-4kms

Under 18, Under 20, Seniors and Masters- 5.4km

Afternoon tea, prize giving and sport prizes after the event.

Any questions please contact, southlandharriers@gmail.com or message via Facebook messenger.