St. Anthony's School recently played host to an exhilarating Interschools Secondary Cross-country competition on Tuesday, February 13th, where athletes from a record entry of 10 International schools from across the Costa del Sol gathered to test their endurance and skill on a challenging course. The event promised excitement and fierce competition, but the recent rains added an extra layer of difficulty, turning the race into a true test of determination and resilience.
The weather leading up to the event had been unpredictable, with heavy rain threatening to affect the race as it did last year. However, the weather Gods looked favourably upon us and the day dawned with clear skies and sunshine. The course itself had been redesigned and the 1km loop provided a variety of twists and turns, steep inclines and sharp descents and a mixture of terrain underfoot. The word “brutal” was used by a number of our students to describe the course in the aftermath of the competition!
The level of competition was extremely high and with almost 60 participants in each race the challenge for our athletes was to do their best. Cross-country is a team competition and each athlete’s placing earns points for the team. However, the team with the lowest points score wins, so each position was vital! We are incredibly proud of how each of our athletes performed, and a special mention must go to Fernando, Year 7 and Maria, Year 9 for their podium finishes.
We are a small school in comparison with some of the others on the coast and this presents a challenge when competing in sporting events. However, we are incredibly lucky as a department to have so much curriculum time with our students to develop the talent that our students possess. The team effort enabled us to achieve third place overall behind winners Sotogrande and second place Aloha College.
Congratulations and thank you to Alfonso and the team from St. Anthony’s for hosting an incredibly successful competition. We are already looking forward to next year’s event!
PE Department
