It looks like Barrhead Elementary School will have a little friendly competition from an area school at the Running Room Indoor Games from Feb. 19 to March 16 at the University of Alberta’s Butterdome.
The Games have been taking place in one form or another for 41 years. They allow Grades 3-12 athletes the opportunity to experience the thrill of competing against hundreds of other schools from across the province.
BES has competed for more than 20 of those years, the majority being in the 8x200 metre relay events.
Last year, the BES girls finished fourth, while the boys finished third in the consolation final and many years the school has come home with multiple medals.
This year, Dunstable School will be sending a contingent to the games to compete in the elementary school boys, girls, and mixed 8x200 metre relay events.
“Actually this will be our second year,” said Grade 3/4 teacher Derek Dachyshyn during a break at the Barrhead Agrena’s walking track on Feb. 13, noting last year they only competed in the mixed relay.
However, this year Dachyshyn is hopeful that they will be able to improve on last year’s result where they placed 43 out of 89 teams.
Although he knows they will be in tough, as they will be competing against schools that are much larger and have access to more resources, he is confident they will perform well.
The 24-member team is split between 12 boys and 12 girls in Grades 4 to 6 who started practicing after Christmas mostly by running in the school’s gym.
The practice at the Agrena was the first time and only time the team had the opportunity to train at the full relay distance before they go to the University of Alberta’s Butterdome to compete in a qualifying meet on Feb. 20 in order to have a chance to move on to the final day of competition in early March.
