The Cross Country season finished with the GPS Championship event hosted by Sydney Grammar held at Newington’s spiritual home, Sydney Park. It could be said, we had a home ground advantage, irrespective, we took that advantage and used it.

The 2018 season was blessed with great weather and ideal conditions for XC racing, and this was certainly the case for the final season race.

With the seniors racing over the 8km distance, the under 16s over 6km and the Juniors over 4km, the day was set for challenging racing with many of the accumulated point scores for the final win being extremely close.

Our Junior team set the pace from the beginning of the season with constant wins and top 10 placings from the get go. This group has many talented athletes and others that are prepared to do the hard yards to support them. Injuries, illness and fatigue are the bane of the endurance athlete and the entire team managed to raise at different parts of the season, despite these challenges, to bring us across the line.

On the day, the Junior team went into the event with what we saw was an impossible lead to be lost, however, things can happen on the day that can prevent this, so every member stumped up for some of the best runs of their season, placing in higher positions and achieving personal bests bringing them across the line as 2018 point score champions.

2018 was lead by Archie Cuttance (11/FL) and his able leadership team of year 11 athletes. Other age groups responded to their mix of humour and whole-hearted attitude to training, racing and athlete encouragement. While not all athletes are Elite, it’s the team that gets individuals into positions that lead to wins as we saw on the weekend.

All athletes, in the 3 age categories have to be congratulated for their 2018 efforts and support. Particular mention for James Smith (9/MA) and William Smith (9/MA) for their consistency over the season, and Bailey Habler 8/MO) for his determination to help the team given he was injured and couldn’t run to his potential, but turned up and walked the course just to make sure his previous points counted towards securing the championship. There are others in these groups that could be mentioned, but it must be remembered, they all contributed in different ways to achieving their own and team goals for the 2018 season.

Symon Astley
Director of Cross Country & Snow Sports