Te Kura o Hoani Pāora – John Paul College Sports Director, Matua Frank Baker took a squad of six students to Waipuna Park, Welcome Bay, for the 2023 BOP Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships on Monday. The threat of terrible weather in the afternoon meant that races were compressed together, so all Year 9 and Junior (U16) students ran together for the 3km race, and all Seniors (U20) ran together for the 4km (Girls’) and 6km (Boys’) race. Our Senior students were unable to make the trip to Tauranga this year, but our Year 9 Girls’ three-person team of Charlotte Tramain, Claire Randell, and Grace Martelli performed well. Charlotte nabbed a podium spot, finishing 3rd (in 13:23), with Grace and Claire also finishing strongly in the 23rd and 24th spots (14:54, and 14:58 respectively). Our Year 9 Boys’ were represented by Cody Shilton and Will Flinn; both ran well, with Cody finishing 15th (12:38) and Will 21st (13:22). Our sole Junior Girls’ rep was Arwen Barker, who ran well in a strong field to finish 6th (14:02).
The next event on the calendar for our Year 9-13 students is the Waikato-BOP XC champs, also at Waipuna Park on June 8th. Our Year 7 and 8 runners will be competing at the Central BOP Cluster meet at Springfield Golf Course, Rotorua, on June 13th.
