At the World Schools Cross Country with Esther Keown
Fifteen year old Esther Keown from Auckland won the recent World Schools Cross Country title and led the New Zealand team to victory. Esther writes about her winning Czech experience…
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Earlier this year Esther Keown won the women’s 19 and under 3,000m championships, photo Nesport.
Esther at last years NZ Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships, photo Nesport.
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On 15 April 23 other athletes, five managers and I took off headed towards London (our first destination) in preparation for the World Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships being held in Zdar Nad Sazavou (Czech Republic). We had a brief stopover in Hong Kong and arrived in London after an extremely long flight. We stayed in a youth hostel near Hyde Park. It was really nice except for one slight hiccup where I got food poisoning from dodgy hamburgers and was sick three times in one night (not fun).
Over the next week we ran in Hyde Park which was beautiful, and toured around London, going to all the exciting sites like Madame Tussauds, the Red Bus Tour, London Eye and many more. It was an amazing experience and the team started to get a lot closer. On Tuesday 22 April we woke at 4:30am to catch our flight to Czech Republic. Traveling through terminal five was worrying but it all worked out with no luggage lost. The Czech Republic countryside was amazing. I took way too many photos, 850!! Our hotel was nice - we were staying with half the other teams and met some awesome Australian, French and Spanish people.
The food in Czech Republic was quite different to New Zealand and English food. Some dinner options included bread with custard (lucky I didn’t pick that) and salty fish with baked beans (I did eat that). Some of the food was amazing though (the muesli for breakfast was the best muesli I’ve ever eaten, we all miss it).
Race day had finally arrived, it was 24 April. Hannah Morgan and I ate cold baked beans and bread because there were no cooking facilities and that’s what we were used to before races. After getting ready we caught the bus and everyone suddenly turned from their normal loud selves to weirdly silent.
The course was a tough one with about 300-400m up hill at the beginning, the rest (600m) flat and downhill and for my race we did it three times (3km). The guys had five laps (5km). The course was lumpy underfoot and had small starting pens, making for a very pushy start.
The gun went off and I had a terrible start. I didn’t realise the starter was saying “on your marks” in a different language so I got a shock when the gun sounded. Everyone sprinted hard for about 100m. I got grabbed by my singlet by an Algerian runner so I slapped her hand and said “get off”. I felt pretty good up the hill and at the top I saw an opening between an Aussie and the fence so moved into the lead. I started to get worried that maybe I had gone too fast or too early but just kept going. I passed the first lap with about 10m lead over the field.
The second lap was fine - I felt good and just went extra hard up the hill. I passed the second lap with about a 50 metre lead. I looked back and saw a lot of black singlets which gave me a boost. The last hill was hard and I was nervous about being caught. I heard random languages being screamed frantically by coaches which also freaked me out, so I tried to run faster.
At the top of the hill I started to lift the pace so I didn’t get caught and realised that I might actually win and was shocked! Down the last hill I sprinted as hard as I could and crossed the finish line, I didn’t know what to think because I was in shock. Before the race I had hopes of being in the top 10 but was not thinking about winning! Two Belgian girls followed in second and third and then Hannah Newbould fourth, Nicki McFadzien fifth (even though it says sixth on record it was a bit dodgy), Nicki McFadzien 11th (also says 12th but also dodgy), Hannah Morgan 21st and Sophie Corbidge 25th. I was so happy and couldn’t really believe it.
The team did so well and everyone was ecstatic. Sitting on the ground at the end with the others was weird because a camera kept coming up close and I didn’t know what to do so I just smiled with a bright red face. In the other races New Zealand did extremely well too. The selected boys got sixth, school boys got fifth and school girls sixth also. The team was amazing and most athletes were happy with their performances.
The nights after the race were definitely the best. All-finished, we could relax and not worry about conserving energy for the race. The medal and closing ceremony happened on the last night. When I went up on stage to collect my medal they played “We are the Champions” which was hilarious and when the New Zealand girls’ team went up, little fireworks exploded on the stage which was exciting! Also at the closing ceremony countries were told to do a cultural performance and our New Zealand guys were easily the best (not being biased) doing the Haka, and going so hard out that the following day some had bruises on their thighs from slapping themselves.
The disco after the ceremony was awesome as well - we danced for about three hours. We had one more day left in Prague to explore and see the sights. Prague is gorgeous with old buildings and a great café called “Coffee Heaven” where we took refuge for about two hours before the final dinner. The experience was amazing and the people who went on the trip were even better. We all made life long friends and experienced a world event in running for the first time. Thanks to the managers who organised it all and to the 23 other athletes who are all amazing people.
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