PHILIPSBURG—St. Maarten Roadrunners can place another feather it its cap for the resounding success of the first Interscholastic Run held on the Walter Plantz Square, Philipsburg, on Saturday evening.
The event invited primary and secondary school teams from both sides of the island to run two separate distances, a 2.5K and a 5K respectively, on the Boardwalk. Teams were required to have a minimum of three runners and not more than five.
Excitement amongst all the young participants was very evident and cool, overcast conditions, luckily with no rain, produced some fast times. Parents and coaches were on the side lines encouraging their teams.
The primary school teams were the first to sprint away from the start line at 6:00pm and it was Lavar Pieters from the Methodist Agogic Center (MAC) who came in first under the finish banner, completing the required two laps with a turn-around at the Holland House Hotel.
With plenty of volunteers, bicycle escorts and the Red Cross on hand, all went smoothly.
Juan Pablo Piscione reminded that all team members had to finish for the school’s combined finishing time to be recorded.
As darkness fell it was the turn of the Secondary schools to take on the 5K distance, three laps (5,000 metres) of the Boardwalk. This time it was Anthony Seguin (16) from Cité Scolaire Premier who was the first to cross the finish line in 19:34.
Seguin, a star runner for the Avenir Sportif Club, recently competed in the Guardian Group 10K Run in Curacao, placing second in the 14-19 age category.
The Hillside Christian School team emerged the winner of the Primary Schools category with a finish time of 34:31, Learning Unlimited was second in 34:58, and MAC and Sister Borghia School came in third in a time of 35:41.
The latter two schools joined up as neither had enough runners to make a team on their own.
The Secondary Schools category was won by Cite Scolaire Premier in 1:03:24, CIA was second in 1:08:45 and third place went to Milton Peters College in 1:11:10.
The first three finishers in each team were awarded medals with the trophy presented to the winning school.
Additionally, the winning school in each category received a cheque of US$500 dollars from St. Maarten Roadrunners based on proceeds from last year’s November 11 Around-the-Island Relay Race and thanks to all the Relay sponsors.
The purpose of the cheque is to enhance the school’s sports programmes and to encourage the forming of running clubs.
