The sun shone brightly on the 2025 South End Cross Country Run at Forest Grove Elementary School on Thursday, May 15.
Hosted every year in Forest Grove, the run sees members of all of the South Cariboo's elementary schools come out to see who among each grade group is the fastest and has the most endurance. This year, 100 Mile Elementary School, Horse Lake Elementary School, Mile 108 Elementary School, Eliza Archie Memorial School, Lac La Hache Elementary School and GROW Online Learning joined students from Forest Grove to compete. Ty Lytton, Forest Grove Elementary's principal, said he and his students are happy to host the event each year.
"We bring all the South End elementary schools to compete. It's been a great day, every year it's been good," Lytton remarked.
Lytton explained that students from Grade 2 to Grade 7 compete with each age group running progressively further distances. The Grade 2 and 3s run a kilometre, Grade 4 and 5s run a kilometre and a half and the Grade 6 and 7s run two and a half kilometres. The track winds around Forest Grove's field and playground, with Lytton noting the Forest Grove Community Hall is nice enough to allow them to use their field as well.
This year, Lytton said around 300 students raced in the cross-country run. Before the run, he noted each school held tryouts to select their runners.
During the runs themselves, the students' classmates would cheer them on and offer words of encouragement. Several of the older students would even run alongside younger members to give them that extra boost to reach the finish line. Watching that kind of sportsmanship is great, Lytton remarked.
"We're happy to see the sportsmanship. That's the number one thing we encourage. It's not about winning, it's about supporting each other and it's good to see that they're having fun," Lytton remarked.
