Catherine Lund (Ariki) executed a smart tactical race and was rewarded by placing an outstanding 27th in the women’s under-20 race as all three finishing New Zealanders secured top-50 spots.
Bella Earl (Owairaka) finished a highly respectable 36th with Boh Ritchie (Hamilton City Hawks), the New Zealand under-20 cross-country champion, finishing in 42nd place.
The fourth Kiwi, Mackenzie Morgan, suffered from heat exhaustion and did not finish, so the New Zealand team did not register a score in the under-20 women’s event.
It was Earl who led the Kiwi challenge early. However, Lund, the New Zealand under-18 cross-country champion, made a massive move on lap two advancing 12 places up the leaderboard to sit 30th at two-thirds distance.
The 17-year-old maintained her inspired run on the final lap to move up three further places.
"I’m proud and pretty surprised with how I ran,’’ Lund said afterwards.
‘‘The main concern before the race was the heat, so I ran under the hoses and I was completely drenched before the start.
"It was very hard, but there were a lot of downhills and I’m quite good at catching people on the downhill."
Her co-coach, Rebekah Greene (Hill City University), the national mile champion, produced a solid second leg to ensure New Zealand sat seventh and still in contention for a top-six placing at the halfway stage of the 4x2 km mixed team relay.
The Kiwis eventually came home in 10th.
Oli Chignell (Hill City University) had an issue with his quad and was forced to pull out of the senior men’s race after completing about half the distance.
By: Staff reporter
