New Zealand Cross Country Championship 2025
August 2, 2025 - 2025 China Southern Airline presents New Zealand Cross Country Championships
We ran New Zealand cross country champs for our club and here are the results:
Women 5000m Under 18 Individual (official results)
3rd Lisa Hellyer 18:49.87
13th Sarah Hellyer 20:22.64
Watch YouTube live coverage on Athletics New Zealand channel (from 03:05:14) :
Sarah
I was sick for the last week or so with a lung infection and had to stop and take it easy for most of the race. I struggled to breathe and maintain a steady heart rate even during easy runs, which was frustrating, but that's just a common side effect of a cold. Although it was far from ideal, I was happy that I finished the race and am looking forward to redeeming myself in the upcoming road race (Auckland Champs) or in Australia.
Lisa
I felt a bit sluggish during the warm-up, with my heart rate reaching around 145 bpm despite the pace only being 6 minutes/km. This was very unusual for me, which led me to think that I had caught Sarah's cold overnight (the one thing I didn't want happening, especially before Nationals). Despite this, I managed to break away with the leading group (Nina, Amy, and me) with about 3 km to go, still feeling very composed and relaxed, which led me to try and break the group even further by adding a surge from around 800 m to go, like I would usually. However, this time—possibly because of the cold—after about 400 m, I didn't feel great and ended up hitting a wall, which led me to walk for a bit before continuing. I ended up finishing the race in third, a race that I would have thought I should have won. This is because all of the work had been done! Work such as the 5 km time trials that clocked under 16 minutes, or the 25 km long runs that averaged under 4:20, and especially the 1 km time trial that recorded a time of 2:45 only three days before the race! So although today was a day that didn't end up reflecting the hard training, I am wise enough to understand that the work doesn't get lost with just one bad performance. I know it is in there somewhere and will emerge again when needed (under the circumstance that I am not sick again, of course). Anyway, today was very much a trust-the-process kind of day, which was actually rewarded by my parents through an expensive dinner with family down here in the south, so that was a win. Anyway, peace out.
