On the 3rd of September, ten girls from Newlands Intermediate competed in the 2023 Aims Games Cross Country.

We woke up on Saturday morning with a long day of driving ahead of us. We travelled up by van with multiple stops such as Taihape where we took a lunch break and had a gumboot throwing competition as well as many more toilet breaks! After six tiresome hours being squashed in a van we arrived at Rotorua. While dinner was cooking we headed off on a run around the stinky hot pools. When we got back to our accommodation we ate a nutritious dinner and had an early night sleep.

The next morning we woke early and headed off on an hour journey to the race course in Tauranga. We took a quick look around the course and our nerves grew dramatically. All the eager runners had a knot in their stomach when the time came to line up. Cheers and shouts filled the air as the races started. Between races, athletes queued at food trucks awaiting a delicious treat or two. The 3 kilometre track included flat grassy fields, bumpy terrains and a dreadfully savage hill. It was a long, hard and tiring race but after we finished we all felt very accomplished. After the race we all collapsed down on the grass in the cool shade.

Our efforts were not in vain - the year seven girls came second place while the year eights came a respectable fifth as well as being the first girls back in the relay. Team points are accumulated from where your top 3 runners come. This means we were right up at the front of the pack! In the relay we raced against Year 7 & 8 boys too and gave those teams a run for their money coming 7th place.

After we finished the races and the relay we headed off to the hot pools. We relaxed our muscles while celebrating our efforts. When we got back to the accommodation we celebrated by having a pizza party, playing hide and seek and having a dance battle. We woke up early to begin our long journey back home after a successful weekend.

Finally, the cross country team would like to say a big thank you to John Cope and Leanne Stubbing for making this amazing opportunity happen and making it so memorable. An extra thanks to John Cope for all the long hours of coaching he has dedicated towards us.