‘True’ cross-country tests field

Competitors in the girls’ under-13 grade run across paddocks in Waimumu yesterday. PHOTOS: GREGOR RICHARDSON

After a week of rain, the sun arrived at just the right time.

The Southland Primary Schools’ cross-country was run at the field days site in Waimumu yesterday, with the best runners converging from across 16 zones covering all of Southland and Half Moon Bay.

Organiser and Myross Bush School principal Wendy Kitto said the 458 contestants were competing on a "true" cross-country track across creeks, over logs and through farms.

She said they were lucky to have the field days site and the shelter of the AgriCentre, as "rain, hail or shine", a crowd was able to cheer the young runners across the finish line.

Lily Wiegersma, 12, of St Peter’s College, Gore, won the girls’ under-13 grade yesterday.

The sun was out, however, and the previous wet weather served to make it a genuine cross country course.

This was the event’s 10-year anniversary, and Ms Kitto said it had just grown bigger and bigger every year.

It was Nikki Dermody’s eighth year at the cross-country; she was the mother of three boys and her youngest was running this year.

"They all get competitive," she said. "There’s some very talented kids."

Cam O’Connor, 11, of Southland Boys’ High School, won the boys’ under-12 section.

She said the town children, like her own, were not used to the rough terrain of this event, but the country children took it in stride.

Winners included Southland Boys’ Cam O’Connor, 11, in the under-12 year boys’ grade.

In the 12-year-old girls’ category, Freya Gilmour (James Hargest) and Elsie Selbie (Northern Southland) were neck and neck, finishing first and second respectively.

CJ Iversen, of James Hargest, came first in the 13-year-old boys’ and Lily Wiegersma, of St Peter’s College in Gore, was first in the under-13 girls’.