Joan Comes Home
QGSSSA Cross Country - 13 May 2016
In 2014 St Aidan’s won the Joan Benson Percentage Cup at the QGSSSA Cross Country for the first time ever, in 2015 we marginally missed out, with a 2nd place in the Percentage Cup. So at the start of the 2016 season, the campaign to “Bring Joan Home” began, with all girls enthusiastically committing to the mammoth task at hand!
The entire team’s commitment and dedication paid off on Saturday 13 May when they were once again crowned the winners of the Joan Benson Percentage Cup. The team also improved from 7th place overall in 2015 to 3rd place overall in 2016. What makes the overall achievement even more impressive is that we are the second smallest school competing in the event with only 63 athletes.
Fast Facts
Top Individual Athletes
• 1st - Tayla Behr
• 2nd - Dakota Farrell-Thomas
• 2nd - Shellbee Welsh
• 4th - Yasmin Doherty
• 6th - Stella Gracey
• 6th - Kate Riethmuller
• 7th - Nina Brown
• 9th - Hayley Walker
Tayla Behr ran a scintillating 10:13 for the 3km course which made her the 4th fastest time for the day and the only race she wouldn’t have won is the 16 years event! Our newcomers the 12 Years team put 3 athletes in the Top 6 – Dakota Farrell-Thomas (2nd), Yasmin Doherty (4th) & Stella Gracey (6th). This is the first time St Aidan’s has ever had 3 athletes finish in the Top 6 at QGSSSA. The 13 Years team had their 5 athletes finish in the Top 22 which was the best performance of the day for St Aidan’s. St Aidan’s finished 8.5 points ahead of 4th place MBC and won the Percentage cup by nearly 3% (seems like a small number but this is a HUGE margin of victory).
We return even stronger in 2017: from our Top 20 times on the day, only one athlete will not be back next year and we’ll be aiming to bring Joan home in consecutive years for the first time ever!