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| Angela Simpson about to win the NZ Schools Champs 2009 (Photo: Ian Simpson / NZ Orienteering Federation) |
New Zealand is sending a strong team to take on the Australians in the Southern Cross Challenge, at the Australian Schools Orienteering Championships on 29 and 30 September in Bendigo, Victoria.
Led by current New Zealand Schools Senior Champions Angela Simpson and Mathew Ogden, the team will be looking to maintain New Zealand's unbeaten record against the Australian States since the Southern Cross Challenge competition began in 2003.
Angela Simpson has been a standout junior for New Zealand in 2009, taking 24th place at the Junior World Orienteering Championships Sprint race and qualifying for the Middle distance Final with teammates Greta Knarston and Kate Morrison, the only non-Europeans to do so.
Schoolmates Mathew Ogden and Gene Beveridge (Massey High) will also be looking to build up overseas experience and to cement a place in the team for the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Denmark 2010.
The Australian Schools Championships will be held on the open eucalpypt forests and gold-mining terrain of Browns Reef in Bendigo, where the Victorian Schools team will have a considerable home advantage.
New Zealand Secondary Schools team:
Junior Girls
- Holly Edmonds, Napier Girls High School
- Rebecca Gray, St. Cuthbert’s College, Auckland
- Hannah Sampson, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, Wellington
- Lauren Turner, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, Wellington
Senior Girls
- Jaime Goodwin, Havelock North High School
- Selena Metherell, Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti, Christchurch
- Laura Robertson, Chilton Saint James School, Lower Hutt
- Angela Simpson, Rotorua Lakes High School
Junior Boys
- Nick Hann, Onslow College, Wellington
- Liam Paterson, New Plymouth Boys High School
- Benjamin Reynolds, Westlake Boys High School, Auckland
- Tim Robertson, Hutt International Boys School
Senior Boys
- Gene Beveridge, Massey High School, Auckland
- Ryan Cambridge, Kings High School , Dunedin
- Duncan Morrison, Napier Boys High School
- Matthew Ogden, Massey High School, Auckland
Manager: Derek Morrison
Assistant Manager: Anna Robertson
