State Cross Country Championships at the beautiful Nowra - 21st June 2014

Nowra is such a wonderful setting for the state cross country championships, and every year more and more juniors make the 3 hour each way trip down there.

What a setting eh?? (Photo taken by Julie Steele)

It was a great day of racing for most of the teams, despite a number of late withdrawals, with podium finishes for the under 14 boys, under 14 girls, under 16 boys and under 18 boys.  Special mentions go to young Hannah Lovlin who ran up in the under 14s and to Dan Cooper and Tom Davies who toed the start line of the under 18 boys 6k within 10 minutes of finishing their own race. Dan went on to to out sprint Tom to claim the fourth spot in the team, earning his second team medal of the day. David Gardiner, Becky Rogers, Amelia Gorman and Bethany Halmy all ran very well as individuals with no team.

Tom Davies and Sophie Gocher, both under 14s booked their spots in the NSW team for the National Cross Country Championships next month with their silver and bronze medal performances yesterday. They became only the 3^rd and 4^th Sydney Striders Juniors to win individual medals after former NSW Cross Country Champion Josh Phillips from 2 years ago and Lachlan Francis who won silver last year.

The photos here capture the scene.....

Start of the under 12 girls race

Ciara Sinclair ahead of Emily Gocher in the under 12 girls 2K race.

One of the steeper hills. Emily Gocher is just ahead of Emma Kirkland

Emma Kirland, Alexander Sinclair, Gemima Davies, Emily Gocher and Ciara Sinclair - the under 12 girls





JackStokeld takes an early lead in the under 12 boys 2K







Matthew Hogg in the under 12 boys 2K








Oscar Blackley and Tom Stokeld in the under 12 boys



A sea of under 14 boys on the start line for their 3K race.

Hamish Longworth in the under 14 boys 3K. Look at that scenery! This hill is near the end and everyone in every race has to run up it at least once.

Sopie Gocher, Nicola Hogg, Hannah Lovlin and Olivia Hogg with their medal for the under 14 girls

Under 16 boys Lachlan Cooper, Fraser McKinlay and Nick Corel with their team medals. Josh Phillips had gone home.

Adam Halmy, Harlan Mulherin, Daniel Francken and Dan Cooper - the under 18 boys with their medals. After this race they were top of the ANSW ladder for the winter season

Becky Rogers in the under 18 girls 4k race



David Gardiner in the under 20 boys 8K race.

Green Pom poms are now official junior Striders race-going material

Look how inspired Dan Cooper and Tom Davies are by the cheering and the pom poms

A typical scene around the whiteboard. Dan Cooper, Jack Coates, Tom Davies, Olivia Hogg, Nicola Hogg, Gemima Davies and Emily Gocher showing the multiple uses of Striders pom poms, and family love: Kieran and Amelia Gorman

The Sydney Striders Awards night at Dockside Darling Harbour and the Miranda state cross country relays

Junior Striders were busy in May. Below you can see highlights from the Annual Awards dinner at Dockside, Darling Harbour on 23rd May and from the NSW cross country relay championships at Miranda on May 31st. A record 7 juniors attended the dinner, as there were just more national and state champions meriting an award this year: so they had their own table. We also had a record number at the relays with 51 junior runners in total - only Adam Halmy needed to run twice.

Edita Grinbergs, Tessa Constantine, Josh Phillips, Locky and Daniel Cooper and Lachlan Francis at the juniors table.

Tessa Constantine, Josh Phillips, Lachlan Cooper, Sonia O'Sullivan the guest speaker, Edita Grinbergs, Lachlan Francis and Daniel Francken with their awards. 

Tessa Constantine, our 400m hurdler, gave a speech that made us all proud. Behind her are Caroline Yarnell, Sonia O'Sullivan, Josh Phillips, Lachlan Cooper, Edita Grinbergs, Lachlan Francis and Daniel Francken.

On to Miranda now. Below is our famous whiteboard. Everyone has to tick their names off when they arrive. So... if you look carefully you can see who was in which of our 13 juniors teams. With so many new members this year, this was the day for mass participation rather than a sack full of medals. We did have 2 teams win silver - the under 12 girls and the under 20 girls. Most of our teams just missed out on medals and came fourth!

The famous whiteboard

All the under 12 and under 14 runners before their 2K relay. You can't see some of them, as they are behind taller runners. They were a pretty happy bunch. Harry Prowse came out with the quote of the day: he said he'd loved everything about his day in Miranda- it had been lots of fun - except for the running.

Below are some shots from the relays. There are probably some of you not pictured here - do feel free to bring a camera and take a picture yourselves Striders parents :)

Gemima Davies securing her timing chip

Amelia Thornthwaite on first leg in the u12 girls

Evita Dixon - her first race for junior Striders in the u12 girls

Maeve Goehner in her first race for juniors Striders in the u12 girls

Cam Gorman doing his bit for the u12 boys

Matthew Hogg running well for the u12 boys

Samuel Greenland as photographed by ANSW in the u14 boys

Benji Wilson on form in the u14 boys

Tom Stokeld hands over  to Harry Prowse in the u14 boys

Alice Wensing looking very strong in the u14 girls

Our silver medal winning under 12 girls team: Ciara Sinclair, Maeve Goehner, Nicola Hogg and Emily Gocher

The 3K start. So we had Arlia Patterson, Jess Francis, Lachlan Cooper, Adam Halmy and David Gardiner here on first leg of the u18 girls, u20 girls, u16 boys, u18 boys and u20 boys teams respectively.

Another view of the 3K start

Bryn Lynch, Josh Phillips and Fraser McKinlay hanging around the changeover area

Arlia Patterson on first leg

Jess Francis hands over to Bethany Halmy in the u20 girls relay. Bethany looks insanely happy!

Back to the u16 boys. Here is Lachlan Cooper on first leg

David Gardiner having a really good run here on first leg of the 3K for the u20 boys

Kate Willis in the u18 girls

Frida Wensing running well in the u18 girls

Our very own Gus Wong takes over from David Gardiner to run second leg in the u20 boys 3K

Lachlan Cooper tags Nick Corel who is on second leg for the u16 boys

Harlan Mulherin hands over to Ben Jagger in the u18 boys 3K

Bryn Lynch hand over to Fraser McKinlay, who is running last leg in the u16 boys 3K

Daniel Francken had an excellent run for the under 18 boys team.

Bethany Halmy, Jess Francis, Hannah Rasmussen and Amelia Gorman on the podium getting their silver medals. Second out of 6 teams!!

Bethany Halmy, Jess Francis, Hannah Rasmussen and Amelia Gorman - silver medal winners

Tony Wong in the dads team on the hill in the fading sunlight

Tony Wong poised to start his 4K leg

Caroline Yarnell wastes no time waiting for Tony to come by in his race

There goes Tony Wong.........................

This has nothing to do with anything. It is Caroline Yarnell sand hill running at Palm beach. We do intend to incorporate more of this into our training in future.