More than 1,000 local student athletes have taken over the hills of Mount St. Louis Moonstone today to compete in the Simcoe East Area Cross Country Running Meet.
Nicole Lynch Marwick, a Grade 7 Notre Dame Catholic School teacher, was one of the organizers of Wednesday’s races, which includes students from Orillia and area schools. She says it’s her favourite sporting event of the year.
“There’s just so many people,” she said. “It’s all-inclusive and it has such a positive atmosphere.”
Students begin training for the event during the second week of the school calendar.
“Every school trains at least three days a week for this,” Lynch Marwick explained. “There’s hill training, flat training, and basic distance training as well.”
While the top 20 from each age group will advance to the Simcoe County championship next Wednesday, Lynch Marwick says the event's overall goal is for athletes to improve their skills.
“At the beginning, they set a goal for themselves, and they just try to improve throughout the year,” she explained. “It’s really great.”
For the Grade 4 students racing today, it’s their first experience with school sports.
“For some kids, it’s their first time ever trying a sport,” Lynch Marwick said. “Everybody is excited to be here and hopefully it will encourage them to try other sports, too.”
Lynch Marwick says the energy at today’s races is sky-high.
“Everyone is cheering, and everyone is positive,” she said. “Everyone is yelling and cheering which creates quite the spectacle.”
Despite the chill in the air and the threat of showers, the athletes were cheered on by their peers, family members and teachers crowded around various points of the course and at the finish line in front of the resort's chalet.
“It’s the biggest confidence booster there is,” Lynch Marwick said. “Whether you finish first or you finish later in the race while linking arms with a teammate, everyone feels like they are a part of something special.”
The first Grade 4 student to cross the finish line today was Lilly Edgerton. The Rama Central Public School student says Mount St. Louis Moonstone makes for a tough course.
"There are lots of big hills," she said. "It's a long course."
Edgerton said she was prepared for the tough environment on Wednesday morning.
"I've been training for this for one year," she said. "I ran my block two times twice a day."
Edgerton says it was her goal to finish first, but she didn't expect such a result.
"It felt really good when I crossed the finish line," she said. "When I lined up at the starting line, I realized how many girls are here. I began to think I was going to finish last."
