Alongside those mentioned individually below, there was no less than 38 students (approximately half the house) who ran the race in under an hour and who will be awarded half house colours. We also had four students who ran under 50mins and who will be award full colours. There was a fantastic turnout from the School House girls and a new record set in this race by Renee Zhang (Year 12) who recorded a time of 51mins 34sec to better her own record set in 2022.
The individual race was won in a very fast time of 46min 45sec by Matthew Chitty (Year 13) & Ben Donaldson (Year 9). This is a particularly impressive result for Ben as a Year 9 student. We had no fewer than 9 students complete the return race this year and for many of these young men it was their first ever half marathon distance run.
The ‘There and back again’ cup was won by Nic Withers (Year 12) & Matthew Chitty in a time of 1 hour and 49mins. Of the nine young men who completed the ‘There and back again’ seven have gained full colours for running under 2 hours. Finally, the calculations for the top dorm prize. The ‘top dorm shield’ is presented at house supper and goes to the dorm with the fastest average time. For the past three races our current Year 13 dorm has held a stranglehold on the shield but this year their dynasty was finally ended by a clearly determined and spirited Year 9 dorm. Congratulations to the Year 9 dorm on this achievement and to the Year 12 dorm who came in a close second.
Such a successful event would not be possible without the support of our parent supporters and marshals, and I want to say a massive thanks to all those who were able to find time to support the event this year.
Finally, this year I opened the event up to College staff for the first time and it was great to see five College staff members join us for the run. For some this was a great first insight into why boarding is so special to King’s College and sits at the heart of our school.
Robert Paterson - School House Housemaster
