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New Zealand Cross Country Championships, Mission Estate Winery, Poraiti – 3 August 2024

Hannah Prosser fresh from a break in her track and field and cross country scholarship at Boston University ran away with the senior women’s title over 10k around the Mission Estate Winery in Napier.

Lisa Cross led from the start with Prosser, Eva Pringle, Annika Pfitzinger and defending champion Anneke Arlidge forming the leading group.

The 20 year old Prosser who has a background in the triathlon pushed hard from the front of the group and with 6k to go was leading with twice previous champion Cross.

Her relentless pressure eventually led to a divisive break and she went on for the title in 37:31, a minute ahead of Katrina Andrew who rallied well over the last lap to pass a tiring Cross on the last hill climb. Andrew a former national road champion claimed the silver medal with Cross taking bronze.

Prosser explained that it was the first time she had tackled the longer distance.

ATHLETICS NZ – National Cross Country Champs at Mission Estate, Napier, New Zealand, Saturday, 3 August 2024. Photo by John Cowpland / alphapix

“I’ve never done a 10k before so I wasn’t really sure on how that would go for me, I do more of the shorter distances like 6k. So I just thought I’d stick with the front group and stay in control and see how I feel.

“After the first 5k I was feeling really good so I picked up the pace a bit and see who would go with me and run my own race.”

Prosser controlled the hill well using it to her advantage in each lap.

“I just ran the downhill as fast as I could as I wasn’t expecting it to be as muddy so I tried to go on the least muddy parts,” she said.

“I did the cross country season at Boston last year and then I had a bit of an injury so I’ve only just got back into running.”

Prosser is with the Aspiring Athletics Club and her earlier success at national championships was a gold in the under 20 5000m and a silver in the 3000m last year. Auckland won the senior women’s teams title from Canterbury.

Connor Melton of Canterbury relished the conditions and the course to win his first national title. The 25 year old was delighted to win the 10km in an impressive 32:08 beating former national junior champion Toby Gualter by 15 seconds.

ATHLETICS NZ – National Cross Country Champs at Mission Estate, Napier, New Zealand, Saturday, 3 August 2024. Photo by John Cowpland / alphapix

William Little set the early pace from the start, before Gualter was controlling a group of seven. Melton gave the hill a good nudge and manged to drop a few of the group leaving just three Melton, Gualter and Ronan Lee with 3k remaining.

Over the final 500m David Lee came through to take the bronze, finishing five seconds ahead of Ronan Lee.

Melton said he was confident going into the race.

“It is my first national cross title in four years after injuries and sickness. I’ve just had my best ever buildup for the last three months leading into it with no interruptions.

“I had no expectations, I just felt really good the legs felt good and it didn’t start hurting so I kept winding it up and on the last lap I thought I could win, and I drove hard to home.

“The intention was to go over the hill each time and keep the momentum going on the downhill as I’m more a strength runner rather than a speed guy and I used the mud to try and run strong.

Melton is coached by Sam McLean and he said that the coach would be pleased with the results

“He also coaches myself, David Lee, William Little and Cameron Clark so to have two on the podium today he’d be pretty stoked, said Melton who led Canterbury to victory in the teams title beating Auckland and Wellington.

Victories were achieved by leading from start to finish by Rachel Felton in the master women, Jake Hendrickx in the master men, Catherine Lund in the women under 20 and Brynne Gordon in the women under 18. Daniel Prescott had the final say in the under 20 men after the lead changed continuously over the second half. George Wyllie and Hamish Murray crossed the finish together in the under 18 men with Wyllie fractionally ahead for the title.

Results:

Men

Senior 10km: Connor Melton (Canterbury) 32:08, Toby Gualter (Wellington) 32:23, David Lee (Canterbury) 32:28, Ronan Lee (Auckland) 32:41, Matthew Taylor (North Harbour Bays) 32:59, William Little (Canterbury) 33:15.

Masters 8km: Jake Hendrickx (Auckland) 28:03, Oliver O’Sullivan (Otago) 28:19, Dwight Grieve (Southland) 28:22. 6km: Ian Calder (Whangarei) 25:12, Todd Krieble (Wellington) 26:49, Tony Price (Wellington) 27:22.

Under-20 8km: Daniel Prescott (Canterbury) 27:22, Finnley Oliver (Waikato BoP) 27:26, Joshua Gordon-Glassford (Auckland 27:30, Nick Dobbie (Taranaki) 27:31.

Under-18 6km: George Wyllie (Waikato BoP) 20:20, Hamish Murray (Waikato BoP) 20:21, Corban Holmes (Waikato BoP) 20:29.

Under-16 4km: Sam Ruthe (Waikato BoP) 13:29, Duke Cutts (Auckland) 13:46, Leo de Monchy (Canterbury) 13:53.

Under-14 3km: Jacob Radcliffe (Chch Avon) 10:46, Leo Green (Pakuranga) 10:49, Matthew Meiklejohn (Trentham) 11:00.

Women

Senior 10km: Hannah Prosser (Otago) 37:31, Katrina Andrew (Auckland) 38:32, Lisa Cross (Auckland) 38:36, Annika Pfitzinger (Tasman) 38:41, Eva Pringle (Canterbury) 39:40, Anneke Arlidge (Auckland) 40:05.

Masters 6km: Rachel Felton (Taranaki) 23:45, Sally Gibbs (Manawatu Whanganui) 24:24, Karen Donaldson-Barron (Auckland) 24:32.

Under-20 6km: Catherine Lund (Otago) 22:16, Tess Hannigan (Brisbane) 23:21, Charo Heijnen (Waikato BoP) 23:25, Sascha Letica (Auckland) 23:49.

Under-18 5km: Brynne Gordon (Canterbury) 18:57, Siena Mackley (Southland) 19:14, Scarlett Robb (Auckland) 19:22.

Under-16 4km: Indie Williams (Auckland) 15:13, Maddie Worrall (Speedplay) 15:17, Leah Marais (Auckland) 15:32.

Under-14 3km: Anna Phillipps (Hamilton) 11:54, Tayla Sturgeon (Hawera) 12:13, Mackenzie Hetherington (Tauranga) 12:18.

Para Athlete 4km: Sasha AL-Dazhani (Taranaki) 20:41.