32 teaching and non-teaching staff from the St Chris Infant and Junior schools at the Saar campus joined forces to run the 46km Marathon relay on October 29th. Forming two teams led by myself and Mrs Rees, hopes were high of success. Ridiculously high as it turned out!

Facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles (including strategically placed ice-cream vans and a laissez-faire attitude towards training), the two teams were determined to...to..to..I'm at a loss for words here. Well, whatever they did, they were going to do it with a smile on their faces.

For many of the runners, it was their first experiences of racing at all. Indeed for some, it seemed as if it was their first experience of running. But...perseverance and resilience are the words they use to motivate the children and now the teachers, teaching assistants and some of the office staff had a chance to put those words into action.

Last minute illness struck one of the team and it looked likely that the first reserve, Tom the Cat, would be drafted in. Unfortunately, he suffered a last minute freak injury caused by stepping on an opened tuna can. A real shame as, in training, he had been setting the pace. All the runners were offered the chance to run 2 stages to cover the abscence although this seemed to provoke hysterical mirth in the staffroom. And, in a few cases, mutiny.

Still, a solution was found. At this point, I'd love to say how, against all the odds, we won the race, set a new record and then spent the evening watching 'Chariots of Fire'. But we didn't do any of those things. However, there were personal triumphs - Mr Stephenson running 3k in under 15 mins, Mrs Lee running a blistering stage and surprising herself, Miss McLeod who not only ran fast but grinned the whole way - I could go on. If they gave out medals for spirit, we'd have needed a truck to bring them all home!

We didn't win the race but we won our race.

There's always next year - Tom should be fit by then so we have high hopes...

Rob van der Eyken