The Skellerup Kennett Cup Steeples is the longest running cross country race in New Zealand. It was first contested in 1930 with only a break of five years in the 1940s during the Second World War breaking the continuum of the race.

Caversham Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club took out that inaugural race winning the magnificent Kennett Challenge Cup. The first runner home was Mr. J.J. Morris, also from the Caversham club, in a time of 18 minutes and 46 & 1/5 seconds. The early races were held at the Riccarton race course over a distance of about 3.5 miles (about 5.6 kilometres) and the steeple height was a little over 4 feet (1.2 metres) The race received sponsorship from Kennett Jewellers and in 1965 Skellerup also came on board as sponsors and donated the Skellerup Trophy for the first visitor home in the open race and another for the first junior man. At this time the length of the race was increased to 6 miles (9.65 kilometres) and this is the distance it is run over to this day. The venue was also changed and the race was moved to QE II Park, formerly the New Brighton Race Course and there it has remained. In later years the hurdles were also lowered to around 80cm as they were considered too high for the younger grades and some of the women competitors who were by then included in the race programme. Many of the male runners, particularly the masters competitors, probably also welcomed the lower height and now there is even an option to run around the far end to avoid the hurdles altogether.

In the teams event two Dunedin teams, Caversham and Civil Service Amateur Athletic Club had a stranglehold on the cup and it wasn’t until 1951 that a Canterbury University College team held off their southern rivals for the win with Christchurch Harriers (now Christchurch Avon) winning in 1952. From that time Christchurch Clubs have dominated with Olympic and the powerhouse New Brighton Athletic Clubs enjoying multiple successes. With the generosity of the sponsors, clubs from all around New Zealand were invited to take part and in the golden years of running in the 1980s the event grew even further in stature attracting national teams from Australia for an Australia versus New Zealand match up. So prestigious was this race at that time, national television covered it and both the 1986 and 1987 events can be seen on Youtube (/www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QRML8iJVY8 or search Skellerup Steeples ). It was also covered by television on another occasion when it snowed and all other sporting events were cancelled!

The Olliver Challenge Cup was awarded for the first place in the Open Men’s grade. J.C. Daly, a New Zealand 3 mile champion, won this cup in the early 1950s and in 1968 and 1971 it was won by the inimitable Eddie Gray. Many members of the 1975 World Cross Country Championship winning team from New Zealand were either winners of the Men’s Open grade or first visitor home in the open grade: Dave Sirl, Euan Robertson, both Rod and John Dixon, Euan Robertson, Bryan Rose, the indefatigable Jack Foster and Christchurch’s own John Sheddan from the Olympic Club who won the open grade several times in the early 1970s. In the late1980s and early 1990s Peter Renner, who still holds the New Zealand 3000 metre steeplechase record, had a golden run and likewise Phil Costley in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

A race for women runners started in 1955 and they competed for the Christchurch Ladies Pioneer Harrier Club Williams Trophy, the first woman home being G. Williams. Did she donate the trophy? In 1962 Anne Kennedy then of the above club but now a member of Christchurch Avon and still running today, won the race and in 1974 Lorraine Moller, a four times Olympic Games representative took out the trophy. Another of our Olympic Games representatives, Mary O’Connor won several times in the nineteen eighties and many will remember her clambering between the rails as the hurdles were too high for her diminutive stature. Melisa Moon, two times World Mountain Running Champion, took the cup back to Wellington in 1995 and from 1996 to 2003 Dunedin athletes, Leanne Durry, Brooke Eddy and Shireen Crumpton kept the trophy down south like their male counterparts in the earliest years of the Kennett Cup. Latterly Rebekah Greene also from Dunedin continued the tradition in 2018.

In the last decade the Kennett Cup has also incorporated the South Island Cross Country Championship mirroring the North Island Cross Country Championships held at Taupo. Out of town attendance has not been great and hence the Kennett Cup and individual winners have come mostly from local clubs. It is the aim of Christchurch Avon to re-vitalise this championship and return the event to its rightful place as one of the most prestigious races on the winter calendar.