Oliver Chignell, winner of the Senior Cross Country Race by Judith Bateup

John McGlashan School Cross Country

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For the first time in many years the school Cross Country was run in and around the grounds of the College. 

The new course met with wide spread approval. The day dawned fine which added to the enjoyment of the boys and comfort of the 30 odd marshals.

Year 7 & 8 boys ran 3 km, consisting of a lap of the JMC playing fields then 2 km through the Ross Creek reserve. Josh Hou surprised a few by beating Dom Morrison into second place with Will Morshuis third. Josh’s time was 12 minutes and 28 seconds.

The Novice and Junior boys competed over a 4km distance. This course took the boys around a full lap of the entire school before heading into Ross Creek. The boys probably didn’t have time to take in the beautiful scenery that is a feature of this course.

They ran across the dam wall before descending into Ross Creek. The creek crossing is a definite highlight of the race, before boys make the gut wrenching slog up the hill and onto the homeward leg.

Ben Mitchell and Josh Stoddard sorted themselves out early as the frontrunners. Josh and Ben are rivals over the longer distances, 4km probably suiting Ben slightly more. Josh took the early lead and forced the pace. Ben ran a canny race and was leading over the dam wall … a lead he never relinquished.  Josh never gave up and forced the issue right to the finish line. A great race with Tyler Wilden also performing well for third.

Ruaidhri Brosnan had a comfortable win in the novice section followed by Tom Warman and Jack East. Dom Brosnan won the intermediate easily from Seb Sole with Ben Morris third.

The senior boys winner was never in doubt. The interest was what time Oli Chignell would set on the new course. His time of 18.02 will be hard to surpass. The senior boys took the race seriously and there were many fine performances. Lochie Chittock placed second with Ronald Poon fighting off Oscar Engelbrecht for third.

It was great to see that the culture of running is still alive and well at John McGlashan College. Competition for house points was keenly contested. First place was in the balance a recount and scrutiny from the judges was required before finally awarding Balmacewen (2151 points) the Cross Country Cup. Ross finished a very close second (2145 points), followed by Gilray and Burns.