Last week Baxter Tamariki, 11, of Invercargill, took out the 12 year-old boys title at the Southland Primary Schools cross-country competition.
It was the third win in three years for the Southland Boys’ High School year 7 student.
"I feel good, just because I put hard work in, and it ended up rewarding me," Baxter said.
The annual regional event saw the top six runners aged from 10 to 13 from 16 Southland zones race at the field days site in Waimumu.
Since 2024, Baxter had progressively won the 10, 11 and 12-year-old boys bracket, despite being a year younger each time.
He said the age difference played on his mind at the start line.
"You don’t know who’s out there to beat you," he said.
There was also the weight of expectation on his shoulders.
"I have pressure. I’ve won it before, I need to win it again ... people expect me to get it," he said.
In the end, he won comfortably, with other runners 20m behind him at times.
But the course was not straightforward.
"It was very hard at the start ... Then the hill, it was ... so steep.
"On that home straight, it just felt like it was never ending," Baxter said.
It was not his first win this year.
In January, at the Colgate Games, in Nelson, he won the 1500 and 400 metre races in his age group.
Baxter said he played six other sports including basketball and aerobics.
He hoped one day to play rugby professionally.
Of the 18 competitors from Southland Boys’ at the Southland cross-country event, Baxter was one of the three who had podium finishes, alongside Marco Savoury, who placed third in Baxter’s race and Cam O’Connor who came second for the 13-year-old boys.
