Cross Country

6th November, 2020 by Justin C. (G.11)

Cross Country KISAC happened in front of KISJ middle school for international school students is GEC on October 23rd. Students from middle school to high school have attended the competition to win the champion title and honor for themselves and their school. Due to the seriousness of Covid-19, there were no international schools out of Jeju joining the competition, and the audiences were required to wear their masks.

The competition started at 10:00 am with the middle school cross country. The course started in GEC from middle school through Daejung and back to middle school, which is approximately about 5 kilometers. Not only the runners from the KISJ but also SJA, BHA, and NLCS have put in their full effort to win the medal. As the result, KISJ has won a bronze medal for the middle school boys cross country and another bronze medal for the middle school girls cross country. Everyone was exhausted but ran until the goal.

After lunchtime, the high school cross country has started at 2:00 pm. First, for the boys High School Cross Country, a total of 48 runners have attended the competition. The course was the same as middle school Cross Country except for the way the runners ran was the opposite. The first place for the boy’s high school cross country was Jack Z., a freshman from KISJ. It is his first year being on KISJ and KISJ cross country team. While there are huge competitors such as Mike L., the captain, and Minsoo K., the junior who was in the team for 2 years, Jack Z. absolutely dominated the race among other runners. Also, another freshman from KISJ, Jioh P. has won a bronze medal. Eventually, by this record, the champion title for High School boys cross country was given to KISJ. From the interview, Jack Z. said “It was a tough race even I was the one who won the 1st place. Keeping my pace for the whole race is not an easy thing for everyone, but I think the effort I have made throughout the season allowed me to have such a result.” This shows that Jack has reached the goal he set for the whole season. However, different from Jack, there are others who had different goals than just winning the competition. Eric K. from grade 10 had a goal of finishing the race not actually winning the medal and a title since he had a knee injury. He fell down 3 times during the race but he didn’t give up and eventually reached the goal. This shows how not only Jack, Jioh, and Eric but every other runner from different schools set their goal and tried hard to reach it.

The last race was high school girls’ cross country. It started right after the boy’s race. There were a total of 10 girls who attended the race. Runners from KISJ ended up being 4th, 5th and 10th place in the race. Eventually, the champion title went to BHA but 3 runners have run as hard as the boy’s team till the end. Olivia J., a Senior said “It was a long endless race and I thought numerous times of giving up but I couldn’t because of the people who would be waiting for me and I didn’t because I wanted to challenge myself till the end. Eventually, I didn’t win a medal but I am glad that I haven’t given up. The effort of Olivia and all other racers from KISJ conveys how much they have challenged themselves and tried hard through the race.

Other than the cross country racers, students from KISJ athletic council also helped to progress the race. Some were letting the cars know that the race is in progress and to slow downs. Others were leading the racers and taking care of them from start to finish. They all worked hard to support the race even it was not an easy thing to do with the COVID-19 going on. Han C. from G11 said, “It was a long long day with a huge amount of works to do, but I don’t think that it is worthless and unnecessary since we were able to help and support the racers, not directly but leading them and enabling racers to safely finish the race.”

Boys and girls cross country that happened in GEC was a total success and everyone is looking forward to future competition. All people from different schools and different grades have equally tried hard and put enormous effort into the race. It is celebrating news that KISJ has won the champion title for high school boy’s cross country. We should all be thankful for everyone who was related to the race, running hard, and helping out even there are increasing cases of COVID-19.