Cross country

Yesterday was Isabelle's cross country run. In her year group, the children had to race around the nearby park four times.

Except for Isabelle, who went around five times.

The problem seemed to be that because they were going round and round the same course, many of the children were lapped, making it very hard to keep track of things. Isabelle completed her fourth lap running about third, but kept on going because the girls around her still had a lap to run.

Here she is in action:



So fast she's just a blur!






Here she is finishing the fifth lap:











And returning to her classroom, hugging her friend (understandably feeling a bit shattered!):





It was quite fun watching the children, most of whom seemed to be enjoying themselves. Hazel and Iris seemed to smile all the way around the course, as did H and K. It was fair to say though that for some, a cross country is a huge struggle. The looks of pain on some of the faces were hard to watch, and a couple of the children broke down completely. Thankfully, support was at hand.


The start of each race was an all-out sprint. Parents, armed with wisdom gained from hard-won experience, hoped the children would pace themselves. They were certainly moving a lot slower on the repeat lap!

We reminisced about our own cross country experiences from the sidelines.

It was fun cheering for the Playcentre alumni as they went past. They would turn in a slightly confused way to see who it was, then I'd get a small smile of recognition before they turned back to the serious matters at hand.

Next year I'll have two to cheer on.

Aidan is already looking forward to it.