Waitarere teen faces Kenya's high challenge
Adapting for elevation in South Africa
Waitarere Beach runner Courtney Fitzgibbon will be climbing some lofty heights in Kenya literally and figuratively. While Fitzgibbon, 17, is no stranger to running at sea level - she lives at the edge of the Tasman Sea on the west coast of the North Island - the Kenya gig is on another level altogether.
It will be the first time she has competed at altitude and at a truly world-level event. The International School Sport Federation Worlds Schools Cross Country will be held on May 10-15 in the country’s capital Nairobi, almost 2000m higher than Fitzgibbon’s home at the beach.
New Zealand is sending the top six boy and six girl cross country athletes to Kenya, in addition to two secondary school teams. To acclimatise, they will set up camp at a facility on Potchefstroom in South Africa, a place popular with international athletes preparing for an increase in heat and altitude, a full week before competing.
There is nowhere suitable in New Zealand to prepare. Put into perspective, the highest point of the lofty Tararua Ranges near Fitzgibbon’s home at Waitarere Beach is 1.5km.
The Kenya trip represents the latest challenge in what has been a break-out season for Fitzgibbon. The Waiopehu College head girl has just returned from competing in the steeplechase with a New Zealand team at the Australian Track and Field Nationals.
After Kenya the next target is an Oceania Championship in Fiji at the end of the month, followed by the NZ secondary schools nationals in Christchurch a fortnight later.
She gained selection for Fiji after retaining her U18 steeplechase title at the NZ National Track and Field championship in Wellington last month.
Then it is on to the World Triathlon Multi-sport Championship at Townsville, Australia, in August, where she’ll compete in the aquathlon event consisting of a 1km open water swim and a 5km run.
Fitzgibbon, who turns 18 next February, has recently taken on a new coach, Tauranga-based Kent Horner. She has been introduced to an exciting new training programme which she hopes will help lift her performances even more.
While she currently trains six days a week, she likes to do some other type of exercise on her day off, so as not to get bored, and swims at least twice a week. “Cross-training is important,” she said. Her running career started with the annual cross country at school and playing soccer at weekends. That led to her entering mountain running and open water swimming events in her early teens. From there she began running bonafide cross country events - some as long as 18km - against adults which opened the door for a crack at track running.
The transition from cross country to track events had only come in the past two years when she had shown a real affinity for the steeplechase, probably a distant relation of the cross country.
“I really love cross country because I love hills, and that’s probably why I enjoy steeplechase so much because it’s another challenge,” she said.
Her long-term goal is to gain a scholarship to a college in the United States, allowing her to study and continue her athletic career. Fitzgibbon said she was grateful for the support she had received from the Levin community with sponsorship and fundraising, including $5000 raised from a quiz evening. “I couldn’t go on my trips without this support,” she said.