Lachie takes on AIMS
Spectators clung to the vertiginous hillside known as Killer Hill, where many runners competing in the cross-country event slowed to a lung-busting walk, as parents and coaches yelled Go, Go, Go!
One participant, 13-year-old Lachie Scott of Hawkes Bay, ran among them, determined to do well for his school as the only Havelock North Intermediate runner registered for the 2026 Zespri AIMS Games.
The annual AIMS Games are held in early September in Tauranga Moana, New Zealand. The week-long tournament attracts as many competitors as the Olympics (Paris 2024) and more than 23,400 visitors travel from outside the Bay of Plenty, according to tournament director Kelly Schischka.
Lachie competed in the Year 8 boys’ race at Waipuna Park on Sunday September 6 in his first AIMS event. He admited the race was “really hard… I was running steadily in second place the whole way”.
Lachie has only been running since January and his coach, Richard Potts, a two-time Commonwealth Games runner and Olympian, had Lachie training several times a week to prepare.
With 161 boys who participated in the Year 8 boys’ race this year, Lachie came just 15 seconds behind first place winner Johnson Li, who bet the previous course record set in 2022 by teen running sensation Sam Ruthe.
When asked how he was going to celebrate his win, Lachie said, “Tennis, I’m playing later this week for my school again”.
