Another season opens...who will be crowned champs?
SEPTEMBER 11—For the second successive year, a fall tradition will kick off in Virgin Gorda.
The 18th season of the Highland Spring College Classic Series will begin its 2013 edition at 7 a.m. in Virgin Gorda on Saturday. Registration will commence at 6:30 a.m. at the HLSCC Campus in the Valley.
“The nice thing about this series is that there’s always a great anticipation for the event from the community,” race director Stephanie Russ Penn noted. “I’m always looking forward to seeing the community coming out and this year is no different.”
The race director said she’s hoping to see an increase number of participants in the Primary Schools session this year after there has been a fall off in recent years.
“Probably part of it is getting into the school and hyping and motivating,” she said. “It’s always a challenge if you don’t have a key person there to round the kids up, ensure that they come out and see the benefits of coming out and using it as conditioning or just using it as an event where their houses can do something as a team. That’s probably the thing that’s lacking right now—that internal drive.”
Saturday’s race will take participants to the Valley Recreation Grounds and return. Other races on Virgin Gorda are scheduled for Oct 5 and 19.
The Tortola leg begins a week later on September 21, with other races scheduled for: Oct 12 and 26 and Nov 16.
“I’m looking forward to all the persons that have been calling and anticipating the races,” Russ Penn said. “As usual, I’m hopeful that the numbers will continue to grow in both Tortola and Virgin Gorda.”
Rivalries will be renewed and no other will be bigger than that of the service clubs. The Rotary Club of Tortola won its eight successive Cross Country title last season, keeping the Rotary Club of Road Town, Rotary Sunrise and the Rotaract Club at bay.
“My little bird is telling me there will be some competition among the clubs,” Russ Penn said. “It’s always an interesting category to watch as well as the other rivalries that go on in between. It will also be interesting to see who will be the overall male and female winners as well as in the U9 category.”