Phil Costley Cross Country Shield Shared

The Phil Costley Shield, the symbol of Primary and Intermediate Schools’ Cross Country supremacy, was shared between the Canterbury and Wellington Regional teams at Hanmer Springs on Thursday. Over 275 Year 5 to 8 school children from Canterbury, Tasman and Wellington took part in sunny and windy conditions with a backdrop of snow covered hills in the sixth Inter-Regional Cross Country Championships (IRXC). Canterbury, who had wrestled the shared shield from Wellington in Nelson in 2009, were dominant in the Year 7 age groups, due to having Athletics New Zealand 2010 Cross country champion, Ari Graham (no.704) , winning the girls’ race and Angus Bailey (no.752), winning his third IRXC title in a row in the boys. Wellington’s strength was in the Year 8 age groups. IRXC 2007 winner Kelsey Forman, led in four of her team mates for a clean sweep in the girl’s race. With one race to go over the very testing 1.1km course, the shield lay in the balance with Wellington trailing by one point. The final race of the day saw IRXC history being made when Wellington’s Noah Billingsley took out his fourth Inter-Regional title in a row after a competitive race with Tasman’s Sam Mackay-Wright and Canterbury’s Fergus Eglesfield. Billingsley’s victory ensured a win for his team and the shield would be shared for the second time.

The closest race of the day was in the Year 5 Girls’ race where Canterbury’s Georgia Stroud, daughter of Canterbury Tactix Coach, Helen Mahon-Stroud, out sprinted her team and school mate, Mya Graham, on the line, to win by 0.38 seconds. Tasman were very competitive in the younger age groups, winning two team silver medals. They also won their first IRXC title for two years when Nelson’s Ben Hamer dominated the Year 6 boys’ race.

World Schools’ Cross Country Champion, Margot Gibson and New Zealand running legend, Phil Costley, whom the shield is named after, presented the Shield and Medals.

2010 Inter Regional Cross Country Championships

Thursday 23 September, Woodland Walk Reserve, Hanmer Springs

W = Primary Sport Wellington, C = Primary Sports Canterbury, T = Tasman Schools (Nelson and Marlborough)

Year 5 Girls 2200m

Georgia Stroud(C) 10.50.00 1, Mya Graham(C) 10.50.38 2, Eden Bastiaanse(C) 11.00 3.

Teams: (first 4 runners to count) Canterbury A 10 (Stroud, Graham, Bastiaanse, Rhian Brotheridge 4) 1, Tasman A 38 2, Wellington A 40 3.

Year 5 Boys 2200m

Nikolai Allen(W) 9.49 1, Byron Heath(C) 9.56 2, Callum Brooker(W) 10.03 3.

Teams: Wellington A 15(Allen, Brooker, Patrick White 5, Matthew Sutcliffe 6) 1, Canterbury A 25 2, Wellington B 45 3.

Year 6 Girls 2200m

Lucy Turner(C) 10.24 1, Madison Nydham(W) 10.37 2, Harriet Bush(C) 10.40 3.

Teams: Canterbury A 17 (Turner, Bush, Tegan Duffy 5, Arlia Schurr 8), Wellington A 19 2, Wellington B 50 3.

Year 6 Boys 2200m

Ben Hamer(T) 9.37 1, Eden Cruise(W) 9.45 2, Arlo Herriot(W) 9.48 3.

Teams: Wellington A 16 (Cruise, Herriot, Gus Reece 6, Joshua Nairne 8) 1, Tasman A 25 2, Canterbury A 34 3.

Year 7 Girls 3300m

Ari Graham(C) 15.45 1, Jessica Anderson(C) 15.54 2, Georgia Grenfell(W) 16.11 3.

Teams: Canterbury A 12 1 (Graham, Anderson, Ella Harris 4, Saskia Lane 5) 1, Wellington A 25 2, Canterbury B 44 3.

Year 7 Boys 3300m

Angus Bailey(C) 14.24 1, Tom Moulai(C) 14.38 2, Cameron Bartlett(C) 14.52 3.

Teams: Canterbury A 11 1 (Bailey, Moulai, Bartlett, Josh Primmer 5) 1, Wellington A 25 2, Canterbury B 48 3.

Year 8 Girls 3300m

Kelsey Forman(W) 15.19 1, Josie Kozyniak(W) 15.38 2, Alison Andrews-Paul(W) 15.49 3.

Teams: Wellington A 10 (Forman, Kozyniak, Andrews-Paul, Phoebe Anderson 4), Canterbury A 31 2, Wellington B 40 3.

Year 8 Boys 3300m

Noah Billingsley(W) 14.13 1, Sam Mackay-Wright(T) 14.24 2, Fergus Eglesfield(C) 14.28 3.

Teams: Wellington A 18 (Billingsley, Jonathan Beresford 4, Andrew Kelly 6, Logan Archer 7) 1, Canterbury A 31 2, Tasman A 43 3.

Phil Costley Shield (overall top region)

Canterbury 19, Wellington 19 1st=, Tasman 10 3rd