Kapiti Harrier and Multisport Club organisers of the NZ Cross Country Championships

By David Haxton

Displaying New Zealand Cross Country Championships tee-shirts are from left Lauren Brazier, Keegan McCauley and Finlay Brazier. Photo: David Haxton

Younger members of the Kapiti Harrier and Multisport Club played a key role in the organisation of the recent New Zealand Cross Country Championships.

The club hosted the prestigious championships at Waikanae Park on Saturday 2 August.

Preparations involved making sure the course was up to scratch, securing sponsorship, generating publicity and trying to make sure everyone had an enjoyable experience.

Around 470 of the country’s top runners entered and there were hundreds of supporters.

The club’s younger members played a major role in the preparations especially Lauren Brazier, 17, Keegan McCauley, 15, and Finlay Brazier, 16. The trio are on the club’s organising committee and offered a youth perspective.

Finlay was in charge of creating event tee-shirts. He came up with a design and sourced a printing firm to create the tee-shirts.

Keegan’s task involved helping create a web page with race times, course photos and important stuff like accommodation, transport and how to get to the park.

Lauren organised a children’s under-10 fun run and drummed up support locally for the gold coin donation-based dash.

The trio have enjoyed going to the committee meetings and offering their viewpoints.
“It’s such a great opportunity for us to learn how to organise an event. It’s going to be a really good day,” Lauren said.

Club president Bryn Kempthorne said in the last few years the junior membership of the club had steadily grown to the point where the juniors slightly outnumbered the senior and masters athletes. “We are now also seeing several of the juniors stepping up to administration and organisational positions within the club.”

“This brings fresh ideas and new enthusiasm all round and I applaud it.”

The cross-country course was given a test run during the Wellington Cross Country Championships on Saturday 19 July.

Ferndale was the major sponsor and Kapiti Coast District Council directed $11,000 towards the event.

For more information visit www.kapitiharriers.org.nz

Results

Team results

Media Release

Images from the event

Coverage of the event on SKY TV