Eastern Zones Cross Country 2022

Ella: The rain dripped down my back as I waited in line. The starter pistol blasted off. I could hear people people falling over behind me. I just kept running. I tried to keep up with the people in front of me. They worked as a great wind shield. We got to a hill. I thought it was be really slippery and I would fall on my face but it wasn't wet or slippery at all. After the first lap and a half, I started to realise that I was in the top ten. I kept pushing myself harder. we ran through a really big puddle. It splashed up all over my legs and I could feel it seeping through my shoes. We were nearing the finish line now. I could hear the crowd cheering. I started sprinting. I went past 1 person, then 2 people, then 3 people. I was crossing the finish line. I was sixth.

Charlotte: On the 1st of June some students qualified for Eastern Zones. There were lots of other schools competing too. Year 4 boys raced first, then year 4 girls and so on, until year 6. Once the hooter had gone for my race I ran for it, then finally I reached the hills. Once I had passed the hills, I slipped over but just kept going. I was finally onto my second lap, then at the hills, finally speeding down the last one. I could hear footsteps thundering up behind me, but before she could catch up, I got across the finish line in 5th place and making it to Inter Zones with Ella and Lisa who also got in the top ten.

Marlon: We were getting ready. The sun was still shining outside. Our teacher, Hayley was doing the roll when it started raining, to pouring to utter pouring,*sigh* phew the bus was here... but it was going trouble getting on.We dashed outside into the rain everyone started to complain that it was too wet. When we got to the road it had turned into a river, we ran as fast as we could across the river/road. Our shoes got soaked but we didn’t mind. We got in to the bus. It was warm and dry in there. I was with my bus partner, Leo. When we got to the outer gates of Scots College, it was a swimming pool. We went inside. I watched as a miniature size wave rolled down the footpath. The bus stopped waiting for the passengers to hop off. A mini car came into the swimming pool but it had to back out otherwise the water would have got inside the bonnet of the car. "Hurry up" came Hayley's voice from the front. Me and Leo hopped off (not really hopped, just jumped) the bus.What we saw was not a field, it was more of a ditch. We had to walk straight through the ditch to get to the indoor sports centre. When we got there, we had a snack and a drink then waited for our race to come… 2 hours later … YEAR 5 BOYS got shouted out on a microphone. We lined up 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th from our cross country I was 3rd. Bang! The starting gun went, we were in race. I went as paced as I could predict that would get me in a good place. People were all slipping and face planting in the mud. In a few tens of seconds, mud splattered all of our t - shirts. Splash! A few people stumbled into a puddle. First lap done, half to go. Sweat beaded my forehead, luckily I had not have to face a stitch yet. The last strip I run my heart pounding as fast as a cheetah on a bike. I got place 43 THAT WAS FUN!

Locky: Boom! The shot fired. I ran so fast. I looked beside me and I saw multiple people fall. I didn't want that to be me, so I ran up to the hill. I was in front of a lot of people. Me and Arthur were next to each other. I gave him a boost and he said thanks. We were coming to the first lap and we past it. Arthur was going to stop but I told him "let's keep going." We ran up the hill a second time and we were coming to the end. I started sprinting and passed somebody. We both sprinted in and I made it 35th. Arthur made it 34th. I had to dial up perseverance.

Amber: Our bus zoomed past the flooded entry to Scots College and the water sprayed up on the bus. My shoes were already soaked and so were my socks. Each step was a big “squelch”. We made it inside a safe shelter and decided to have a snack. I saw lots of people I knew from different schools. Soon it was time for the Year Fours to go. Me and Marcia were racing to get into line and then we slipped “whoosh” and landed on our butts, we got SO muddy before the race had even started. HA HA! 3,2,1 “Bang” the race began. We ran and ran until we got to a steep hill where I overtook lots of people. I ran past the finish line and saw my mum cheering me on. “Onto my second lap” I thought to myself. I overtook more people on my second lap. I sprinted to the finish line and got . . . 26th place!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!! Soon it was downpour raining hard enough you could shower in it but it would be a VERY cold shower, like an ice shower. After three hours of staying there we went to the bus both of my socks were SUPER soaked and my shoes even more muddy and wet. We came to school and got dressed. I changed shoes but had to borrow Tui’s socks.

Rézi: One morning I woke up quite early, because we were going to go to Eastern Zones Cross Country. We got to school. We did the roll for the kids getting on the bus, and at 9:00 we left school in the pouring rain. When we were almost on the bus, we just had to cross the road when everybody's feet got wet, because the hill had a road on it and the water came pouring down and the rain made it worse, because it made the water bigger and faster while we were trying to cross the road. Once we got on the bus, every single part of us was soaked with water. When we got to Scots College, there was honestly a big flood happening which drenched us even more. We were almost the first school to get to the Eastern Zones cross country, where about 15 schools were doing it with us. It was amazing. The whole course was wet grass. Year 4 boys went first, second was year 4 girls and so on. Everybody was cheering for us, the year 4 girls! We were cheering everybody on who was either before us or after us. The course was really big, and we had to run in water going into our shoes from the ground, but our heads were also really wet because it was dripping as well. Almost all of us were either 40th place, or 20th place. The year 5 boys came after us, once we had gotten off the track. It was the best day ever!