Across the weekend of the 30 November - 2nd of December the CBHS Athletics Team competed at the New Zealand Secondary School Athletics Championships in Dunedin. The team won two gold medals and two bronze medals and competed across almost all events.

The team travelled down to Dunedin for the NZ Secondary Schools Championships on Thursday so they could be well rested in time for three days of full-on competition.

Friday had the athletes battling cold, windy conditions with a head wind into the finish line and the long jump pit. The boys performed well with many making semi-finals.

Saturday saw all the boys in action across track and field, the wind had dropped slightly and the sun was out treating us to a Dunner stunner. Eli Leifi and Josh Theil both had very good High Jumps, with Eli being stopped at 1.7m (higher than his height) and Josh being stopped at 1.73m. Nathan Cochrane, Xavier Wehi, Jack Rodgers and Finn O'Sullivan all qualified for finals and Jack Rodgers jumped a personal best in the long jump.

Sunday was finals day and Will Taylor had CBHS off to a cracking start by winning the gold medal in the Junior 3km Road Race, closely followed by Henry Allott in 6th. Finn O'Sullivan and Xavier Wehi both in Year 9, competing against Years 10 and 11 raced strongly in their finals too, although no placings, these boys will still be in Juniors next year.

Jack Rodgers who was a ball of positivity, was the star of the day, winning the gold in the Junior 400m by accelerating out of the bend and into the head wind to finish clearly as the winner and taking the bronze medal in the Junior 100m. Well done Jack.

The relays were the highlight of the weekend, with the Junior 4 x 400 team of Jack Rodgers, Xavier Wehi, Finn O'Sullivan and Will Taylor placing in third for the bronze, with gutsy runs from all boys who had been busy in finals all day. Of notable mention, was Will Taylors effort in the relay after winning the 4km road race and also having a crack at the 3km track race earlier in the day.

The most exciting moment of the weekend was the Senior 4 x 400m team of Josh Smith, Jayden McHerron, Will Ferguson and Nathan Cochrane. This is the last event of the day and it is run across three heats with the fastest times from all three heats filling the podium. We were in the race from the start with 200m runner Josh Smith giving us a chance leading the first lap, Will and Jayden who were both fresh kept us in the race with really quick runs. It was finally up to athletics Captain Nathan Cochrane as our final runner. Nathan unfortunately tripped up in his 800m final, but he shook off the disappointment and accelerated through his run to win the relay comfortably. The support crew watching were beside themselves with excitement, then we had to wait for the announced results. The CBHS team congregated at the finish line to hear, with Tram O'Callaghan (character of the trip) assuring all, that we were in 3rd place with the time the boys ran. As the results were read out across the loudspeaker, we waited, expecting to hear CBHS called out but unfortunately the team came a very close 4th. It was an amazing run and it was even better to see the whole team together from Year 9 to 13 (and parents) as one squad celebrating.

The boys behaviour was excellent and it was really nice to see Year 9's interacting with Year 13's as friends and teammates.

Thank you

Special thanks to Helen Souness and Jan Cochrane as well as their sons Shaun and Nathan for guiding the sport across the last two years and driving the fundraising for the tournament.

Thank you very much to Jo and Sean O'Sullivan for their commitment to the parent committee, support at Nationals, communicating with the parents and boys, and sourcing coaching.

Thank you to ALL PARENTS for your input and support across the year, if I have missed anyone, apologies.

Thank you to trainee teacher Miss Tracey Blair, who guided the boys across the weekend as well as ensuring they were well fed and full of energy.

Thank you to Terry Lomax, New Zealand Athletics High Performance Coach who volunteered his time on a Wednesday morning to up-skill the team in running techniques.

Thank you to Mr Lankshear for all your organisation and administration to the sports this year and coordination of fundraising.

2019

Please see the MAX (Multisport, Athletics, X-Country) Sports facebook page for more information, leading into 2019.

All are welcome to get involved in athletics next year. Training is on a Wednesday morning at School between 7.45am - 8.45am, with New Zealand Athletics High Performance Coach, Terry Lomax.

We wish all the Year 13 boys all the best for their study and work in 2019 and we hope they stay in touch.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year from the MAX Sports team.