Students clock fastest times to claim win

Winners of a virtual cross-country competition at Horsham College have been decided.

The college’s long-distance runners sought to break their personal best times for this year’s cross-country competition, which transitioned online to mitigate the risk of COVID-19.

Students were encouraged to run or walk in their own time and submit their best performances as part of an ‘opt-in’ virtual competition. A teacher set the time to beat at 10 minutes 30 seconds and student Logan Casey tried his best to match it, running 10 minutes and 58 seconds.

Sports co-ordinator Jason Revell said the virtual cross-country competition encouraged greater student engagement throughout the pandemic.

“It wasn’t mandatory to do, but the students who participated enjoyed it,” he said. “It was good to give them an opportunity to get involved at a time they couldn’t do much.”

The college was set to use the times to determine a team of students to represent the school at a regional cross-country event in Warrnambool, which was subsequently cancelled.

Primary and secondary boys and girls cross-country state championships, scheduled for July 16 in Bundoora, were also cancelled.

Mr Revell said students would now look to next year’s competition.

“These students won’t have the opportunity to progress from regional and through to state championships, but like other schools, everyone is in the same boat at the moment,” he said.