House Cross Country

The Concord Annual Inter-House Cross Country event (2021-2022)

On the 13th of October at 2:15 pm, the much anticipated annual inter-house Cross Country went off with a bang. As students eagerly approached the start lines, preparing to run (or walk, depending on who you were), tensions were running high as we all wondered: Which house was going to win the much-coveted trophy this year?

Earlier in the day, as I was still trying to muster enough energy to get through my Wednesday lessons, Mr Arthur provided a much-needed wakeup call in the form of a rousing cheer. His energy and enthusiasm was certainly infectious, and was definitely a harbinger of good things to come. Around the school over the past few weeks, various other Heads of Houses were also trying to rouse up enthusiasm for the event, as participation was key to winning.

Finally, after a half day of lessons, the cross country race began with the Form 3s running at 2.15pm. With the 6.2 race beginning at 3.45pm, I had to admit that my heart was racing when I took my place at the starting line, palms sweating.

But as the race finally started, I found myself calming down as I took in the beautiful scenery of the hill we were running on. Yes, it is extremely weird to be looking at the scenery while dying in a long-distance race. However, it was a unique occasion in that it was the only time the land behind the school was open for the students to run in. And once I got past the stitches and all that panting (not a nice image, but then again that’s running for you), it was all in all a rather pleasant run in Concord in the autumn.

Like many others, I finally arrived at the finish line and immediately slumped on the grass. And the scene was like a battlefield: people slumped on the ground, utterly exhausted and some congratulating others like they had just been through a war. But it was something commendable. Everyone who crossed the finish line was contributing a little bit to their house, and one person running made all the difference.

And at 5pm, the big moment came: the points had been added, the runners all past the finish lines, and the trophies displayed. Which runners came in the top 3? But most importantly, which house won Cross Country overall? Was Gandhi going to extend their 6-year lead and win the trophy for a 7th year in a row? Well, Mr Arthur’s burst of enthusiasm this morning must have worked, as in a shocking twist of fate, Teresa won!!! (GO TERESA!) And as the House Captains lifted up the trophy, the year was looking bright indeed for last years champions.

Next up: House Arts!

Ethan – 6.1

Sports Day 2021

On the 2^nd June, Concord College had its annual Sports Day – an event that everyone had looked forward to, hoping to experience some of the missed normality from the pre-Covid times.

Training sessions had been organised during the weeks prior to the event and it’s safe to say that competition and spirit were fierce. Apart from the usual competitiveness, our Houses (Teresa, Gandhi, Mandela and Pankhurst) were also motivated by the fact that they had a very similar number of points, meaning that whoever won Sports Day would also win the House Cup. So, with the finish line in sight, our Houses were now pushing as hard they could.

I am truly proud of all our competitors and how hard everybody worked, considering that many had only recently finished exams and so were looking forward to some well-deserved rest. Jacob said before his 100-metre sprint: “I am confident, but it’s going to be a hard race with many strong opponents”. He then went on to beat the school men’s 100-metre record with a time of 11.34 seconds. However, people were not as impressed by this achievement as this year, breaking records was the norm. Our athletes broke around 27 records – hardly a modest number.

Our Lower School also shone this year, swiftly adapting to the Concordian competition – Bulut (Lower School Teresa House Captain in Form 5) came first with a distance of 10.87 metres in shotput to the delight of his House.

Although this year’s Sports Day was extremely busy, we missed the participation of the spectators who were not allowed to be here (outside of their yeargroup ‘bubbles’) this year due to Covid-19 safety. Mrs Johnson jokingly said that she was “actually scared when Duncan broke the sound barrier in his race” but also added “I miss the whole school being here and the support they bring. I want to see us appreciating each other like we did during the pre-Covid times.” We want to give a huge “thank you” to all the staff involved in organising the event whether it was training students, catering the athletes, organising and delivering the event, or tending to the wellbeing of the competitors.

– Sixth Form Marketing Team