St Joseph's athletics carnival

St Joseph’s Primary

Athletics Carnival

The track was ready and the sun was out, a recipe for a great day ahead. With a prompt start we leapt straight into the long-distance events. The Junior, 11 Years and Seniors all ran 800m around full-sized athletics track with the infants powering their little legs one full lap of 400m.

Into the sprints with all students participating in every event it was great to see a full ten race program of six lanes for the age groups. It did, however, keep the time keepers on their toes as some age groups had to combine boys and girls in one race. A big thank you to those parents who jumped willingly onto stopwatches to help the track events run smoothly.

A short break for morning tea led us into the War Cry competition with all the house captains doing a fabulous job in preparing and presenting their cheers! We had a panel of grandparents, one from each house who had to choose the winner. A job I am not envious of at all and what a crowd of parents we had for the students to perform to.

Straight into the field events. We divided into four groups determined by the age groups and numbers of students in the age groups. With four rotations of Discus, Shot Put, High Jump and Long Jump.

A big thank you to Ash Lowe and the Central School for the loan of the High Jump equipment. Without this we would not have been able to run the event. Likewise, the Long Jump pit

Andrew Fletcher donating his time and resources to ensure we had access to an appropriate pit. The Discus limitation of having the appropriate netting facilities was quickly rectified by Hart Rural donating 4 by 3m length posts to ensure we met the requirements.

Finally, to the students. You all participated with energy and comradery. One of my favourite moments is when a student went to check on another student in the middle of a race. That’s when I thought, wow what amazing community of parents, staff and students we have here in Barraba. Congratulations to all those students who achieved results in their events but also congratulations to all students who participated in all the events throughout the day.

You should all be very proud of your attitudes and results towards the day! Here’s to many more fun carnivals ahead!

Thank you to all the parents, grandparents and friends who attended the carnival and supported the children. Without parent participation this carnival would not have been the success it was.

With a team of 14 children heading off to the Diocesan athletics carnival on Friday 18 August we wish them all the best of luck.   The winning house for the day was Gleeson, Lucas T house captain with the trophy.