The Sacred Heart Distance Running programme continues throughout the year from Week 1 until Week 40, and prepares students for the disciplines of Road Racing and Cross-Country. Many of the members of our Distance Running team also run middle-distance track during the Athletics season.
Years 9-13 Athletes
A new initiative starting Term 4 is the addition of a specialised "Runners Strengthening" programme that will be integrated into Monday afternoon track sessions, here at school.
This programme is designed for boys from Years 9-13 who are interested in building up the foundations of their running conditioning with a programmed session in the Cross-Fit/Training centre that will be run by an outside strength and conditioning coach. It is designed especially for our runners and will target those in Years 9-11, although others are welcome to attend. The aim is to provide a strength base as well as helping to minimise the potential for future injuries.
Monday sessions will start at 3.25pm on the grass track on the bottom field at school, where we will focus on running form and drills to improve movement mechanics for 20 min. This will then be followed by a very short and sharp training set which will go through till 4.00pm. At 4pm we will then move into the "Cross-fit/training room in the gym" for around 30-40 min. The session will be finished by 4.45pm.
We will also have a more traditional track training session on Wednesdays from 3.25pm- 4.30pm, again on the school track.
Tuesday and Thursday morning squad runs will also continue, although these will tend to be a little shorter and less intense in nature for the first part of the term. Sessions will run from 7am-8am every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
All four sessions will continue right through the Term.
Year 7 & 8 Athletes
Term 4 also sees the start of the Year 7 & 8 programme for boys interested in any form of middle-distance and/or distance running. Tuesday's session with senior students Jackson and Jack will continue. Meet outside the Year 7 & 8 office as usual. On Wednesdays, Year 7 & 8 boys are also invited to join the older students for the track sessions. These sessions are for those who like to focus a bit more on their athletics and give you a taste of track training sessions. You can come as often as you like, it does not have to be a commitment to come every week. Meet on the bottom field after school. The session runs till about 4.30pm
For more details on any of these sessions, contact Mr Taucher.
Cross-Country and Road Racing are team events with the results for most races decided on points, based on finishing positions of the runners in the team. For this reason, runners are still able to be part of medal-winning teams even though they may not yet be individually top finishers. This was epitomised in 2015 when our Senior Boys 6-man Cross-Country team WON the National Championship for the first time. From this result the team were selected to travel to Hungary for the World Championship in April 2016 where they placed 2nd in the World. We have a structure that works if students are prepared to train hard.
This sport is one of personal goals and challenges where, more often than not, the runner is competing against themselves rather than against other runners. The qualities of persistence and perseverance that are well trained in distance running, go on to serve the students in many other areas of their lives. Running is truly a sport for life. Our aim, as well as competing with other schools, is to give the students confidence to continue in the sport into adulthood, to take new and varied challenges and to develop a fitness for life, and for living.
Uniform
Round-necked singlet is available from the Uniform Shop
