Between Monday 12th October and Friday 13th November, North Somerset schools were invited to take part in the NSSPEA Virtual Cross Country Challenge. At a time when we would ordinarily be running our annual school cross country championships (in non Covid times), we wanted to offer schools the opportunity to get outdoors and get active, whilst contributing to a shared objective of seeing how far we could collectively travel.
Pupils were challenged with running their age appropriate distance, with the emphasis on trying to achieve their own personal best. We highlighted the School Games values of ‘determination’, ‘self-belief’ and ‘passion’, with all of these on display across the many school events that took place.
In total, 40 schools from across North Somerset and North Bristol took up the challenge, with an incredible 8,074 pupils running their age appropriate courses. Pupils from across the full age range 4-18 participated.
Together, the participating schools in North Somerset and North Bristol covered a cumulative distance of: 6,078.4 miles
| North Somerset | 7,468 pupils | 9,217,747 m | 5,726.78 miles |
| North Bristol | 606 pupils | 565,710 m | 351.62 miles |
| TOTALS | 8,074 pupils | 9,783,457 m | 6,078.4 miles |
Through working together, each school/pupil that has participated in the NSSPEA Virtual Cross Country has contributed to the shared cumulative distance of 6,078.4 miles. This would take us from Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier to Bangkok in Thailand. This is an absolutely fantastic achievement, well done Everyone!
Often, adults have very negative memories of cross country running at school, but this challenge appears to have been really well received and brought lots of smiles to faces whilst completing the metres and miles. The focus on a personal best challenge as opposed to a traditional competition has enabled all pupils to participate at their own level and also feel like they are contributing to a wider collective goal.
A number of schools have decided to revisit the challenge across the year, encouraging pupils to build stamina and fitness, whilst looking to improve their personal best.
Well done TEAM North Somerset!