The first Cross Country event of the season went off really well .
The weather was perfect - autumn is becoming the best season of the year in Canterbury - blue skies ,
warm sun and mild breeze made the whole event so nice. Even a group of cicadas made a racket in the remaining oak trees by the river.
University's organisation was faultless .The course was well marked (if a little tough in places ) . Good to see the stretch along Harper Ave followed the 4WD track as usual.... There was a good turnout of teams . Papanui Toc -H fielded a retro lineup to mark their recent centenary (?) with runners wearing an assortment of past singlets. Even Craig Brown did a lap to the cheers of all.
Christchurch Avon had a reasonably successful day .'Club of the Year' is always on the minds of Craig Eustace and I when selecting teams. But sometimes the best teams can't be fielded due to other considerations .That was definitely the case in the Senior selections where we could have done better - but at the expense of denying some people a run. Overall I think I struck the best balance . There were several withdrawls during the week which meant a Vet Mens team had to fold .As it was Denis and I ran, and had times recorded (Denis did 2 good laps ) .
There were many outstanding individual runs : Richard and Jane in the vets; Margot and Lydia in the W19 s and all the M19 runners (Sean ,Tannock, Daniel, Matt D, Matt P, Cameron, Josh ) . Courteney walked the course in a time that would give some of the slower runners a scare (21.32) .
Our SM1 team posted third fastest time .Admittedly they were well adrift of the winners , but considering five of the team were under 17 years of age it was a phenomenal effort .Thanks to 'old boy' Perrin for anchoring the team . Thanks also to Nick Merrett for appearing after 2 months of injury and running a good opening time for the SM2 team . Sue Johnson also ran 'injured ' to help the vet Women out. Iain Chinnery ran a blinder after being promoted to the top Vet team (dont throw in your day job Iain ! ) .
Likewise the Senior Women were all under 18 years .They were 5th placed- but would have got second had Jane taken the fourth lap.This was my most difficult selection decision, but we needed Jane to fill the Vet Womens team to assure they all got a run .I also over-estimated Emma's fitness when putting her on Lap 4 . The selection pool for all the women was just so depleted .
Nice to see that the plastic punnet labelled "Ch-Ch Avon Runners " full of barley sugars , was empty by the end of the day .Especially popular with the juniors .
Results appeared in record time by early evening .Apologies to Sean Eustace and Anne Kennedy who were listed as 'Sam ' and 'Anna ' in the results . Hagley Relay Results.
ps- latest Club of the Year (COTY) results put us in third spot behind Pap and Uni .Like the Crusaders we have started the season quietly .
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Checking blog data shows that these posts are attracting an average of 50 views .Assuming most of these are by CHCH Avon members that is good demographic penetration . Denis wants to go back to paper newsletters , and I agree it was nice getting them, but even old runners have to move with the times . Just hit 'Print' Denis .
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Message for members wishing to enter the 2012 New Zealand Marathon Championships.
Entries for the adidas Auckland Marathon Half Marathon have closed and entries for the Full Marathon are almost full.
urgent message to any of your club members who may wish to enter the 2012 NZ Marathon Championshipsin Auckland on 28 October 2012 that they should enter as soon as possible to secure a spot in the race. We advise them to enter online as soon as possible so they are not disappointed.
Check out www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz to enter.
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Iain asks that anyone entering the Wellington Half Marathon in June consider filling in the Teams section . It wont cost any extra and will give the Club a chance at the teams title. Just write 'Christchurch Avon ' . Iain says he knows three of us will be up there , so that only requires one more to form a team.
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Those intending to run the Olympic Rossendale 15 km in early May , please note that the venue given in the 2012 Programme is incorrect. The race will be held at Greenpark NOT Greendale . Apologies to Dave Catherwood who was looking forward to watching the racing around his old family farm .
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Club Captain Rodger Ward is starting a regular Wednesday evening run : 5.45 pm from under the clocktower in the car park of the Harewood Tavern.
It will start Wednesday, April 4 and carry on all year if numbers build .
envisage the format to be a casual jog down to Nunweek Park, a couple of easy laps, jog back and
maybe a beer.
Later on in the season we would look at doing some intervals, fartlek (speedplay) or drills.
Regards,
Rodger
Try to support this as often as your schedule and other commitments allow.
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2011-2012
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARDS DINNER
FRIDAY 25 MAY 2012
6.30PM
CASHMERE CLUB
50 COLOMBO STREET
CASHMERE
AWARD CATEGORIES
THROWER OF THE YEAR
SPRINTER OF THE YEAR
HURDLER OF THE YEAR
JUMPER OF THE YEAR
COMBINED EVENT ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
MIDDLE DISTANCE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
DISTANCE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY
WALKER OF THE YEAR
CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE YEAR
ROAD RUNNER OF THE YEAR
COACH OF THE YEAR
PRICE :- $30.00 per person
(Drinks additional)
TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FROM:-
Andrew Reese email: HYPERLINK "mailto:anreese@xtra.co.nz" anreese@xtra.co.nz Ph: 3323884
Avril Davies email: HYPERLINK "mailto:avriljackways@hotmail.com" avriljackways@hotmail.com
Ph: 3831370
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Here is an end of year round-up from Marilyn Morrison on the activities of the Junior club.
here is Megan Eustace's story:
Here is an end of year round-up from Marilyn Morrison on the activities of the Junior club.
"Hi All Chav members,
This year Chav had 12 athletes selected into the Inter Provincial team to represent Canterbury against teams from other New Zealand provinces.
All 12/13yr athletes aspire to get into this team and it is a great honor to be chosen.
This year Georgia Freeman had the additional honor of being chosen as Team captain :)
The Canterbury team finished in 3rd place (scoring more points than when they won last year! ).
It was a great effort and all of our Chav athletes played an important part in the team.
I have attached the results for you to see(to be added gradually)
Each athlete goes into the team with a score from their top 4 events.
Obviously -if they can get PBs and better their score -that is great.
It is however -unrealistic to expect that everyone will do that (especially if they have already peaked for can't Champs and posted really good times and distances ).
Those athletes who came very close to their PBs should also be very proud of their efforts -as they would have still scored highly :)
For instance Megan's LJ, Rebecca's 200m and Jake's 400/800/1500m were all so close to their Pbs!
Congratulations to Joseph Cantwell -who got 4 PBs from his 4 events and Joseph Taipari -with 3 PBs and a Wind-assisted PB :) :)
Great effort also from Harriet, Chris and Christiaan with 3 PBs each!
The club gave them all a very generous financial contribution towards their trip and in return -they were asked to write a short report that we could all read.
Their stories are great to read and our younger athletes in the club will hear what a great time they all had in Auckland and hopefully it will make them keen to try to get selected in the future.
I will send them through a few at a time for you to enjoy.
Marilyn "
here is Megan Eustace's story:
" As we walked outside it felt like we were walking into a sauna when we stepped off the plane at around two o’clock on Thursday afternoon. The twelve year olds had travelled separately from the thirteen year olds so we still had to wait another hour for them to arrive. The managers planned on waiting in the airport but there were too many of us and we started to get bored so we walked through the blazing heat, down the street to the bus. Planning to get the back of the bus before the thirteen’s arrived, we raced to the back, certain we weren’t going to move even if they tried to force us. We changed our minds though when we saw them sprinting towards us and not looking very happy.
After the short bus ride from the airport to our hostel (Auckland Grammar School), we soon arrived there. At first we weren’t sure how nice the hostel would be, because it looked quite old from the outside, but as we went inside it turned out to be very nice and it looked like a good place to be able to come home to after what was going to be a very exhausting weekend. We had just unpacked our bags and settled in, when the managers announced that we were going to practise our chants. After finding a good spot with not too many people around, the team captains went through the chants with us and we chanted until our voices were sore. Before heading back we had one last chant off between the boys and the girls and of course the girls won!
Arriving back, we checked the time and realised it was dinner time so we headed downstairs to the dining room. It was nice to have a good meal and luckily it was lasagne which is good athlete’s food too. After dinner we prepared for an exciting day of sightseeing and having a look at the track the next day, and then we headed off to bed.
We woke up early the next morning as we had to walk down to the park to do some relay practise before going off to do some sightseeing and take a look at the track. Everyone was wondering where we were going sightseeing and hoped it was the beach. Unfortunately we didn’t end up going to the beach but we did go to the sky tower which was just as good. We also went to Michael Joseph Savage Memorial and we stopped off at Auckland Domain for lunch before carrying on to get a team photo at King’s College and then finally going to the track. Climbing off the bus, we got a glimpse of the track and saw that it was red and blue which was a surprise as many of us had never seen a red and blue track before. After some more relay practise and a bit of practise at our chosen field events we drove back to the hostel for some dinner and an early night, ready for a very busy weekend.
Driving to the track the next day, everyone was very excited and slightly nervous. Canterbury had won the last two years in a row. Would we be able to do it again? As soon as we got off the bus we began chanting as loud as we could. Luckily for me, my events were well spread out with two events on each day plus a relay on the last day. Shortly after the march past I went to go and warm up for my 100m sprint. At that stage the weather was quite nice but it was still a bit hot. Lining up for my race, it was almost my heat. The heat in front of me had just gone when they realised there was a problem with the gun. After waiting around for another ten minutes the wind had picked up and unfortunately my heat ended up having a much stronger headwind than any other heat.
Between events I cheered as loudly as I could and supported Canterbury. Before long it was time for my second event, High Jump. Luckily there was less wind while I was at High Jump and I managed to jump a seven centimetre P.B. of 1.57. Everyone was very exhausted on the bus as we drove back to the hostel which meant another early night to prepare for competition the next day.
After arriving at the track the next day, I had to go to warm up for hurdles straight away and sadly missed the chanting that Canterbury did while walking in to the track. Although after I had finished my two events, hurdles and long jump, I was able to join a great chant off between Canterbury and Counties Manakau. After the deafening chant off, my relay team and I went off to warm up for our 4x100m relay. Everyone was very nervous, as they hoped that no one would drop the baton or mess up the changes after only having two practise sessions. Luckily no one did and our team managed to get second.
We took the bus back to the hostel for a quick dinner and to get ready for the prize giving and disco. We then drove to King’s College, where it was being held, and as we walked in we chanted against the many other teams who were also chanting. Finally we sat down, eager to find out the results. Firstly, the individual place getters were announced and we all cheered loudly as people from Canterbury went up to collect third place in the girl’s thirteen year olds, second place in the girl’s twelve year olds and first place in the girl’s twelve year olds. Nervously, we all waited for the results to be called out. When we were down to the placings, Canterbury, Auckland and Wellington were the three teams left. In third place was Canterbury, and our team went up to collect our trophies as the team captains said their speech. In second place was Auckland and in first place was Wellington. We congratulated them as the boys all did a haka.
After the disco we drove back to the hostel to spend one last night there before flying back to Christchurch the next day. We were all a little bit disappointed that we had come third when Canterbury had won for the last two years in a row but we were still pleased with our performance over the weekend as we had gained over one thousand more points than Canterbury did the previous year when they had won.
The next morning, we drove to the airport and then all flew back to Christchurch together. As we walked into the Christchurch airport, Canterbury did one last chant as we were greeted by our family and friends. Everyone was happy to be back in Christchurch although we all thoroughly enjoyed the trip. It was great to be able to represent Canterbury at a national athletics event.
I would really like to thank the club for the subsidy that they gave us to make the trip more affordable and I would also like to thank Marilyn and all the coaches for the time and effort they put into helping us so I could compete to the best of my ability.
Megan Eustace
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