​Hannah O’Connor turned the heads of many who had never seen her run at Wellington’s Newtown Park a couple of summers ago when winning her 1500m race by almost 150 metres at the annual Capital Classic athletics meet. As Hannah was crossing the tape, the next runner was coming around the bend.

A not uncommon sight.

“I like running from the front, because I can then get out and not be stuck in traffic or be tripped up or anything. But I think it just works well for me because I can go out fast and keep going,” Hannah says.

On Saturday, the Sacred Heart Girls' College, New Plymouth, sports prefect comfortably won the Senior Girls title at the New Zealand secondary School Cross Country Championships in Taupo.

Hannah shot to the front early and eventually swatted away the chasers, winning the 4,000m event in 13.50 minutes, ahead of second placed Kirstie Rae (Wellington East Girls’ College) in 14:13 and third placed Aimee Ferguson (Rototuna Senior High School) in 14:18. Rebecca Baker from Wanganui High School was fourth and Sarah Lambert from Wanganui Collegiate fifth. There were 132 starters.

“It was a pretty awesome race for me, I just went out hard like I normally do and it happened to work for me,” Hannah enthuses.

The course was two 2km laps around Spa Park, and is a tough course. “It is quite an undulating course and there are two big hills.”

It was Hannah’s fourth consecutive schools cross country title, after winning the senior title in 2017 and the junior title in both 2015 and 2016.

“My goal was to get the four wins in a row. In year 9 I got second and I have won it ever since. So I was hoping to leave my mark on the secondary schools cross country on a high. There was lots of competition, so to be top three in an event like that is still amazing.”

Hannah’s next big race is in a few weeks at the North Island Cross Country Championships at the same venue. “That will be interesting to see how I run there, compared to how I went this past weekend!”

Hannah has had two trips overseas with New Zealand representative teams already this year.

In April she finished fourth and Aimee Fergusson was fifth at the ISF World Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships in Paris.

“I was pretty happy with that race, it was a great experience going away and competing against the different countries and making lots of new friends.” Hannah was the New Zealand team’s flag bearer at the event.

The race was won by an Australian, in a minor surprise.  “She wasn’t the number one Australian team runner. It was quite an interesting course and a lot of favoured runners across the board didn’t do as well as they were expecting to do.”

Second was a runner from Morocco and third was an English girl who chased Hannah and Aimee down at the end and beat both kiwi athletes by a second.

In early May Hannah competed at the Melanesian Championships in Vanuatu, in a trial meet for the New Zealand U18 athletes hoping to make the 2018 Youth Olympics in Argentina in October. Hannah finished second in both the 3,000m and the 2,000m steeplechase races.

She is waiting to hear if she makes the Youth Olympics team for Argentina in October.

The format of the Youth Olympics in her events is unique in that competitors compete in a track distance event and a cross country race and the final placings and medals are determined by results across both together.

In December, Hannah hopes to compete in her final New Zealand Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships in Dunedin. Last year in Hastings she was recovering from a foot injury and ran the 3,000m and finished third.

When did Hannah discover she could run fast?

“When I was 10 I entered the Taranaki Schools Cross Country Championships and I managed to win - the year before I got 24th and with a bit of training I won the next year worked out that you can achieve your goals.”

She soon joined the local Egmont Athletics club and her running career was born.

“My coach is Karen Gillum-Green and she started to coach me in year 9, just before my first New Zealand secondary School Cross Country Championships when I finished second.”

What about other sports?

“When I was in primary school through to year 10 I played netball and basketball quite competitively, and I still currently do surf lifesaving for the Fitzroy Surf Club. I do volunteer life guarding with them as well and occasionally compete for them as well.”

She is a former national U16, U19 and open title 2km beach run champion.

For now, running is her sole focus. “I train six days a week. I have long runs on Wednesdays and Sundays and then two or three speed and interval sessions and I try to go to the gym for some strength training once or twice a week.”

She is not too sure what she is doing next year, but university is definitely on the cards, either in New Zealand or possibly in the USA. 

Above: Sam Tanner (71), leads Murdoch McIntyre (875) and Liam Back in Taupo on Saturday. Tanner was to win and Back was to pass McIntyre and finish second. PHOTO: New Zealand Secondary Schools Athletics Association Facebook

Favourites Sam Tanner and Hannah O’Connor retained their senior titles at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships in Taupo on Saturday.
 
Tanner, from Bethlehem College in Tauranga, retained his senior boys title after a tussle with two of the other favourites, Liam Back (Wanganui Collegiate) and Murdoch McIntyre (Westlake Boys).
 
Early leader Saxon Murphy from St Andrews Christchurch headed the field on the first lap but when McIntyre applied the pressure, only Back and Tanner were able to respond.
The three ran together for more than half the race until Tanner decided it was time to move.
 
First McIntyre and then Back fell off the pace and Tanner went on to record a 50m win over Back with another 40m back to McIntyre.
 
O’Connor, from Sacred Heart, New Plymouth, kicked away from the bunch from the outset and claimed the lead with Aimee Ferguson of Rototuna High School.
 
The three time gold-medalist extended her lead on the second lap and shurged aside Ferguson who faded to third place. Kirstie Rae (Wellington East Girls) finished strongly for second.
O’Connor’s won the 2015 and 2016 junior titles.
 
 Westlake Boys’ High School finished second at the ISF World Cross Country Championships in Paris in April and have earned the right to send another team abroad by winning the senior 6000m six man event. The Westlake team of Murdoch McIntyre, David Moore, Stuart Hofmeyr, Jude Darby, Blair Hill and Arsh Kazi all competed in France a few months ago. Fellow Auckland school Baradene College won the senior female event.

Individual Medalists
 
Senior Girls 4000m (132 competitors)
1 Hannah O'Connor (Sacred Heart Girls NP) 13:50
2 Kirstie Rae (Wellington East Girls) 14:13
3 Aimee Ferguson (Rototuna Senior High) 14:18
 
Junior Girls 3000m (100 competitors)
1 Isabella Richardson (St Cuthbert's) 10:56
2 Maali Kyle-Ford (Wellington East Girls) 11:05
3 Maia Flint (Tauranga Girls) 11:08
 
Year 9 Girls 3000m (121 competitors)
1 Maia Wilkinson (Wellington East Girls) 11:12
2 Edie Kozyniak (St Catherine's College) 11:18
3 Anna Bassett (Wellington East Girls) 11:25
 
Senior Boys 6000m (182 competitors)
1 Samuel Tanner (Bethlehem College) 19:02
2 Liam Back (Wanganui Collegiate) 19:10
3 Murdoch McIntyre (Westlake Boys) 19:18
 
Junior Boys 4000m ((156 competitors)
1 Toby Saxby (Westlake Boys) 13:21
2 Mac Rowe (New Plymouth Boys) 13:41
3 Ben Ruscoe (Westlake Boys) 13:44
 
Year 9 Boys 3000m (142 competitors)
1 Christian De Vaal (Macleans College) 9:57
2 Mathijs Wetzels (Hamilton Boys) 10:08
3 Joseph Morgan (Hamilton Boys) 10:13
 
Para Athlete Boys 2000m
1 Anton Besseling (New Plymouth Boys) 7:46
2 Josh Taylor (Wairarapa College) 9:08
3 Jacob Lowson (Papanui High) 9:30
 
3 person teams results: https://nzssaa.org.nz/static/nz-xc-2018/results/3-person-teams.pdf
 
6 person teams results: https://nzssaa.org.nz/static/nz-xc-2018/results/3-person-teams.pdf