The Wild Night Run

4 Staff and 14 students headed into the woods on Saturday evening to take part in the latest leg of the Wild Night Run Series at Stover Country Park.

Night runs are the new fad to hit the cross country world. They take place in fabulous country side locations on often very difficult tracks. The races are open to all ages with different categories and levels of difficulty.  These races are a real challenge but offer a unique experience because of the added difficulty of running at night.

When we entered our team of students we hoped that they would at least be able to complete the race. We knew we had some great runners but we were well aware of just what a challenge this could be especially as the temperature was hitting 0 degrees.

We were amazed at how well some of the students did with many of them coming in the top ten for their age and gender and this was despite the fact that some of them faced difficulties including falling down and some minor collisions.

The 5km route took in sections of woodland, canal path and the Templar Way. (Some of the student had earlier hiked the upper sections of this stone tramway at Haytor as part of their DofE training) Our students and staff did an excellent job of Globalising this local event, and were sterling ambassadors of the School and their nations.

They all put in superb efforts and enjoyed the challenge of off road running at night with only a head torch to guide you through the terrain.

They all received a bespoke wooden medal, and the top performers were podium finishers receiving special medals and sponsor prizes.  The Podium finishers were Ida, Alexia, and  Marcela, along with Jacobo.

Cross country is something we have always done in this school and it is something that is really taking of with our students many of whom have never taken part in anything like this before.

Each year we enter students into the regional finals which are coming up but with the kind of performances we had on the night run and the enthusiastic participation we have in our weekly cross country club which goes out no matter what the English weather throws at them makes us really excited about our chances of getting lots of students through to the national final.