After a two-year absence – thanks to that pesky and miserable virus – Friday, 11th March 2022 saw the much anticipated return of two popular events on our sporting calendar – the Inter-House Road Relay, and Sun Sports. Needless to say, both events were huge successes.
In the days leading to the events, there were the usual pleading and cajoling by teachers and House Captains seeking to encourage non-committed house members to volunteer to participate in the various events. However, this all changed on the morning of the events. It is possible that the warm and beautiful start to the day changed the mindset of the usually participation-shy naysayers but whatever it was, students started volunteering in droves. Before the start of the relay, all houses had their full contingent of runners for the various legs with some even having standby athletes.
The first event was the Road Relay. That event comprised seven legs – with some being a truly grueling trek along Dennery and Mabouya Valley roads.
- Leg 1 – The Mole Road School entrance to “Over-the-Bridge” at the foot of La Pointe
- Leg 2 – Up La Pointe to the Dennery Fire Station
- Leg 3 – Fire Station to the bus shelter in La Caye (Lumiere junction)
- Leg 4 – Into the Lumiere road, turn into the first left into La Caye then back to the highway at the La Caye standpipe and finally back to the Fond d’Or Park entrance
- Leg 5 – Fond d’Or Park entrance into Victoria Road and next to the Dennery Mothers & Fathers Hall (old pre-school north of the Dennery Football Field)
- Leg 6 – Mothers and Fathers hall along Victoria Road, Up Morne Jerell, along Hospital Road and back onto Mole Road near Carmelite’s Shop (near the Fish Fiesta spot)
- Leg 7 – Carmelite’s, along Mole Road back to the school’s compound
In a remarkable show of dominance, the Walcott House male relay team utterly destroyed the squads from Charles, Daniel, St. Omer and even a teachers team. Such was Walcott’s lead and class, that their last leg runner crossed the finish line at the school long before the second placed St. O team had made their final baton exchange – WOW! Following St. Omer was Daniel in third place then the Teachers’ team in fourth 😃 and Charles in fifth.
Having been obliterated – as all others were – in the males race, the St. O ladies made amends impressively to cross the finishing line first in the ladies race. This was largely due to a brilliant leg by Angelle Joseph in the Fond d’Or to Victoria Road (5th leg) who collected her baton in third place but amazingly had progressed to first before her baton exchange. The previous ladies race defending champions Charles came in a creditable second but were made to work hard by a chasing Daniel last leg runner. The Walcott ladies could not quite match their male housemates’ heroics and finished in fourth place.
After the road relay dust had settled, the Fun Events started. These comprised:
- A five-station obstacle course (tyre skip, crawl throw the tunnel, basketball free-throws, zig-zag run, a hurdle clearance then a sprint
- Filling the bottle
- Water balloon toss (and catch)
- Tug o’ War
The houses shared the honours in most of the events although from initial observations Charles House seemed to have had the most victories.
In the most anticipated event though, the male Tug ‘o War, there could have only been one winner – Charles. This team comprised some truly hefty dudes, one of whom who could be a heavyweight wrester, and they duly made light work of their opponents. It really was no contest and was over before the St. O boys had blinked. Before the Charles v St. O grand final, the Walcott ladies had dispatched the St. O rivals in clinical fashion.
It was an amazing and fun day and thankfully they were no incidents or injuries. Special thanks go out to the Officers at the Dennery Police Station for providing protection and guidance and the road to the runners. Dennery residents deserve praise also for supporting and encouraging the runners.
Full results will be provided later. Click here to view some photos from the event.
Looking forward to next year.