Last week, 16 boys and girls from Primay 6 & 7 represented St Therese of Lisieux PS at the Belfast Primary Schools North Belfast heats at the Grove playing fields.
On what turned out to be a very cold and windy Wednesday morning, the children tackled a 1200 metre course that tested their fitness and also their ability to run in difficult underfoot conditions. After a pre race track walk, the children had a good idea of what were going to be the best lines to run in their race with up to 40 competitors in each race.
In the girls' race, after a sprint start the field started to separate before the second bend just as the children disappeared out of sight. Finishing in groups that saw some shoulder rubbing, our girls put in a magnificent performance with 3 girls finishing in the top 10 (3rd, 4th and 6th) to qualify for the finals day in the individual competition.
In the boys race, another sprint start saw the boys field break up quite quickly into small groups even before the boys disappeared at the far end of the course. In a photo finish 1st and 2nd could only be separated by a foot length. As with the girls, the boys also saw 3 qualify for the finals day (2nd, 4th and 10th) for the individual competition.
After two fiercely contested races, 6 boys and girls qualified for the indiviuals finals and both teams secured 2nd place overall to qualify or the teams finals in March at Mallusk playing fields. Well done to all of the boys and girls who took place on the day. Well done!!
