Cross Country, Road & Trail

CANTERBURY RUNNING | CROSS COUNTRY

BE INVOLVED

Cross-Country, Road and Trail running covers all running that occurs outside an athletics stadium. It offers running opportunities for a diverse range of runners.

Cross Country is run around loops over mixed terrain including grass, sand, and forest floor. Each loop is about 2k with event distances ranging from 4k to 10k for adults and 1k to 4k for those under 16. For our 2026 season, the Cross Country & Road Committee have created an exciting series of races that sees people run in Hagley Park, over the hillier terrain found on the reclaimed hills of Bottle Lake Forest Park, around the sand hills and forests of Woodend Beach, through Rawhiti Domain and over the ups and downs of QE2 and Ascot Parks.
Road Racing (and Race Walking) is on hard surfaces with distances ranging from shortish loops to longer scenic events. The Governors Bay to Lyttelton is run with a handicap start, which means the faster people start later, while the Canterbury Road Champs will have mass starts for each age grouping.
Trail runs take you literally off the beaten track. These include the Lionel Fox Trail Relay at Woodend Beach, the Crater Rim event offering multiple options from 10k to 53k which will take you all over the Port Hills and the 10k Boulder Bay Classic which is a loop over the beautiful Godley Head.

Our Programme of events in wider Canterbury is outlined in the link below. While these events are tailored for our registered club runners, those outside clubs are welcome to join in as Community Runners. More details about each of the various events on offer are covered on our event pages. Links to each of these can be found in the Calendar on the Athletics Canterbury home page.

2026 Athletics Canterbury Out of Stadia Programme

2026 Event Race Calls for Race Secretaries

2026 Winter Club of the Year Information

2026 Winter Club of the Year Points to Date

2026 Champions of the Winter Season Information

2026 Champions of the Winter Season Point to Date

The Passport Rules for 2026

New Zealand CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2026 - Team Information

National Cross Country Championships – 2026

Venue: North Hagley Park – Christchurch
Date: Saturday 1st August 2026

Event information is available on the Athletics New Zealand COMPETITION / EVENT page.

https://athletics.org.nz/competition/events/

Athletics Canterbury TEAM
North Hagley Park
(1st August 2026)


SENIOR MEN	SENIOR WOMEN
Cam Avery	Kiri Atkin
Quinn Gardiner-Hall	Pascala Bowie
Jesse Kempf	Maia Flint
David Lee	Lucy Jurke
Tram O’Callaghan	Liberty McIntyre-Reet
Lorcan Rabbitte	Eva Pringle
Cameron Swales	Lahana Reeves
Toby Tasker	Tamara Reeves

MASTERS MEN 35-49	MASTERS WOMEN 35-49
Adam Clarke	Whitney Coull
Alex Cowden	Angela Doig –
Dan Dorrance	Nicola Handley
Ben Gillum	Kerstin Sandford
Alex Kelliher
Daniel Redmond	MASTERS WOMEN 50+
Brent Tingay	Katherine Fitch
Martin de Bock	Fiona Gilroy
	Wendy Richards

MASTERS MEN 50+	MASTERS WOMEN 65+
Richard Bennett	Annette Campbell
Ben Clark	Shirley Rolston
Malcolm Cornelius
David Fitch	MASTERS MEN 65+
Carey Jones	Phil Chapman
Richard Merritt	Don Greig
Charl Philipe	Grant Jeffries
Jacob Roberts	John Palmer
	Peter Richards
	Mike Van der Colt
	Mike Wilson

MEN Under 20	WOMEN Under 20
Max Aldridge	Brynne Gordon
Bede Colbourne	Amelia Henstock
Caleb Radcliffe	Zania Roberts
Eliot Ramousse
Cohnor Walsh
Cooper Wightman

MEN Under 18	WOMEN Under 18
Luke Angland	Megan Alexander
Otto Church	Milla Bolton
Leo de Monchy	Tayla Cox
Sam Moore	Maclane Gordon
Billy Nelson	Isabel Prescott
Jack Scoon	Anya Sandford
Harry Woodhouse
Daniel Wordsworth

MEN Under 16	WOMEN Under 16
Weston Bailey	Honor Boulton
Dylan Cooper	Brooke Edmond
Ben Crawford	Tayla Ford
Callum Harris	Olivia Johnson
Lachie McKercher	Honor Mathieson
Jacob Radcliffe	Sascha Mitchell
Connor Scoon	Libby Overend
Lachlan Stechmann	Elodie Wightman

Canterbury Selectors: Kevin Prendergast, Shona Brown & Ben Musson
Nomination Form:
Please complete and forward to Kevin Prendergast by 4th July 2026
Athletes must start in the 2026 Canterbury Cross Country Championships unless they have advised a Selector of a valid reason for not participating.
An athlete will be selected, if available, if they finish in the 1st or 2nd place positions in the Canterbury Championships in the following grades: Senior Men, Senior Women, Men U20, Women U20, Men U18, Women U18, Boys U16, Girls U16, Masters Men 35-49, Masters Women 35-49, Masters Men 50+, Masters Women 50+ and Masters Men 65+
Other athletes may be included if, in the opinion of the Selectors, they are likely to acquit themselves well at the New Zealand Cross Country Championships.
The Selectors may include further team members to ensure that a complete team is available to compete in a grade.

NZ ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2026 - Team Information

National Road 10km Road Championships 2026 – Club & Team Information

The National Road 10km Road Championships is now a Club-based event and including Centre Team medals for the first 3 Teams of four from a Centre, so there is no longer any Canterbury Selection Criteria. Athletes need to make their own entry and travel arrangements.

Details of the Athletic NZ 10k Regulations link are shown below

Venue: Taranaki Area – Venue TBA
Date: Saturday 29th August 2026

Event information is available on the Athletics New Zealand COMPETITION / EVENT page.

https://athletics.org.nz/competition/events/

The Athletics NZ 10k Regulations can be found at Pages 50 & 51 of

Competition-Regulation-16-July-2024.pdf (athletics.org.nz) and including

The counting members for the Centre Team events shall be the first four (4) members of each team. The team with the lowest number of points (taking the grade placing of each competitor as the number of points) shall win the Teams race in the respective event.
In association with the championships, an annual Inter-Club 10k Road Running Team Race