SHC Senior Boys Cross Country Team to go to World Championships

We are a team of Y11 Distance runners, bringing back the glory days of NZ distance running and aiming to be the crowned best School team in the world.

INFO:

In July the New Zealand Secondary Schools Athletic Association (“NZSSAA”) announced that it had selected the Sacred Heart College six-man cross country team to represent New Zealand at the above event in April 2016.

This is a tremendous honour for the boys involved and indeed for the entire school community. The team is comprised of James Uhlenberg, Sean Paget, Liam Miller, James Matthews, Jacob Holmes and Jonathan Ansley. Dominic Grace is a reserve. Mr Rhys Taucher will also travel as the team coach.

The core of the team has been together since Year 9 when they were bronze medallists and Year 9, six-man team national title-holders at the 2013 National Secondary Schools Cross Country in Christchurch. In 2014 the team won the bronze medal (as juniors), and then in June of this year the 6-man team won GOLD and the National Senior Boys Cross Country title in Dunedin.

This achievement is all the more special as the team consists only of Year 11s and were competing against Year 12s & 13s. It is likely that this is the first time in NZSS history that a team of Year 11 students has won the Senior Boys team title. As such, all 6 boys from the winning National Senior Boys team will now travel to take on the best school teams from around the world in Budapest, Hungary next year.

The NZSSAA advises that the cost of the trip will be $6,500 per boy plus $3,000 for the teacher in charge; totalling $42,000. This is a significant total to raise (in little over eight months).

The team is comprised of boys who are well rounded young Marist Men in-the-making. As individuals they are doing well academically and are involved with other sports besides running, including representing SHC in rowing, football, cycling and triathlon. The boys are all fully committed to the task of aiming to be crowned “World Secondary School Cross Country Champions” in 2016.

We would appreciate any support that you can give us. We will keep the page up to date with training progress and milestones we reach along the way.