House Cross Country 2021

This being the first House event of this year was very exciting for everyone. The track was 2.9km so it was no easy feat in the autumnal weather and everyone who participated should be proud. Luckily it wasn’t a rainy day, so the track wasn’t particularly muddy which made it easier to run for most people.

The first bit of the race wasn’t too difficult, but the time when we had to run uphill was very challenging. It felt like running up a never-ending mountain. However, after enduring that part of the course, we only had to run downwards after that back into the College. I think that this was the best part of the race because there were lots of people who stayed and supported you and your House. Seeing all forms come together and supporting each other was very exhilarating.

Last year, we didn’t have the chance to get all forms and year groups together so being able to support and take pictures with one another made for very nice moments. Teresa won, Gandhi came second followed by Mandela and then Pankhurst. All in all, it was an amazing day where everyone had fun and gave it all.

Adil – Form 5

2020 House Cross Country

House Cross Country is a tradition at Concord College where the four houses all try their best in a local run and compete with each other to win the first place! Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many fun house events have been cancelled which made this year’s cross country even more special, since it was the very first full house event in this academic year! Many students participated in this vital school event and finished the competition even though the weather was freezing cold and the road was muddy! All houses did really well and of course, a huge congratulations to Gandhi who won the overall competition! Now, let’s hear about some reflections from teachers, monitors and students…

Reflections

House Cross Country is unique among the House Sports events as it does not rely on the House having a few star performers, but rather counts the effort of everyone in the House and so is my favourite event.  It is also beautifully simple; turn up on a sunny afternoon in October, Mr Canney starts everyone off, students and some staff make their way around the course, results are recorded and Dr Outram’s spreadsheet announces that Gandhi are the winners, again. Much excitement ensues, I skip around the Gandhi form rooms for a few days praising the students telling them how proud I am and allowing them a few moments with their trophy.

Mr Weaver (Head of Gandhi)

Hello everyone, I am the Mandela House Captain for this year. We just had our first event, which was the House Cross Country competition. Of course, we didn’t achieve victory, neither 2nd nor 3rd place, but this is just the start. I have big ambitions for our house, and I believe we can do it! Also, it was quite a unique and interesting experience as this was my first event as a House Captain. I can say that I was delighted when I saw all the Mandelians take over their opponents in the last second and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who participated. It was a brilliant event and we have reflected from it. And now, it’s time for us to look forward to the future events and we are determined to do better!

Bee (House Captain of Mandela)

The feeling of being in such place as Concord College is very exciting! I didn’t understand clearly when everybody told me about the house events, yet when the first house event “Cross Country” began, I felt a critical feeling of excitement. As a new student, nobody knew how I felt, everyone had done a house event before, unlike the other new students. Although my house captain wasn’t there to ‘up the atmosphere’ to everyone in Teresa, I had to show that I was willing to try my best at helping to bring victory to my house. I came first from the boys F5 race and second of the overall F5 (good job to Beth, who came the first!). But, although we came 3rd overall, I knew we could have done better. But still, we did a great job and I’m really proud of my house!

Noam (Form 5 student in Teresa)

Concord’s first ‘Inter-School Cross Country’ event

On 17th May 2018, the cross country team competed in the ‘Shropshire Young Athlete – Cross Country’ competition. Sushant and Mark ran in the U15 3km race, Jasper in the U19 5km race and Liza, Wing Hin and myself in the U17 4km race, as a team. As it was Concord’s first ever inter-school cross country event, we were proud to represent the school and show off our running ability to the others. Personally, as I hadn’t run further than 150m since June, my goal was simple – not to walk the whole race. After doing some warm-up activities and stretching, we were ready to race.

In the beginning of the U17 competition, I ran alongside Liza and Wing Hin. I was feeling quite good and the weather was perfect for a run. I paced myself and was enjoying it but unfortunately, it didn’t last long. I started to get a stitch on the left side of my waist after running 1.5km. So, I slowed my pace and controlled my breathing. I had hoped I could run through it for the duration of the race, but it was so painful that I had to walk at times. Looking at the competitors passing by and running further and further wasn’t a nice scene to look at… But, despite the awful pain I was experiencing, I crossed the finish line having jogged and walked my way round in around 24 minutes.

After some empathy from teachers and friends, and comfort from Liza’s jokes, the stitch started to fade away. Then we got up and cheered for the boys. They appeared to have an enjoyable race as they were running with smiles on their faces. At the end, they also had the stamina to sprint and complete the race with impressive results.

Overall, the whole cross-country team had a delightful experience. For me, having a stitch during a race wasn’t fun and stopped me running to my best potential. However, hopefully, I will have another opportunity to run with my teammates and enjoy the racing again sometime soon.

Jennifer Lam – F4