Sandy Lake takes on the world in marathon, 1500 metre challenge

Submitted by Sandy Lake Running Club
Despite having to run on a cold and wet day in muddy conditions, Sandy Lake finished in 72 place out of 200 schools from around the world in the 2012 world marathon and 1,500 metre challenge.
The Sandy Lake Running Club participated for the second straight year, running in this world event. The competing runners were between the ages of 7 and 13.
The first run was the 7-11 age groups, doing the 1500 relay world challenge race. The students were up bright and early even with the inclement weather and muddy track conditions. The first run was extremely fast for the youngsters and everyone was cheering them on. The time result for the 1500 meter challenge for Sandy Lake was 5:34 minutes. As of today, Sandy Lake sits in 72 place out of 200 schools. The children say they had a lot of fun and would love to do it again.
The second race scheduled was the World Marathon Challenge consisting of 30 participants, each doing 7 laps of 200 meters. The race started off with the first lap being done by Jerry Clark in his rubber boots, just nudging past Titus Day at the finish/start line. The baton was then handed off to Rebecca Kakepetum who started the second round of 210 laps. The total time for the race was 3 hours, 18 minutes and 48 seconds. We even had one runner, Drake Meekis running so fast that he literally ran out of one of his shoes half way. But he kept on running with only one shoe: true dedication on his part.
Towards noon hour it became harder to complete the race. Most racers were thinking more about their stomachs, as they watched fellow classmates leave for lunch. However, the runners kept going and finished the race! The day ended with a much needed prepared lunch and the submission of the final results.
We are very proud of our runners for putting Sandy Lake, Ontario on the world map. We also want to congratulate all the competing runners from across the world; especially, Frenchman’s Head and Kasabonika for their great effort. The principal of Thomas Fiddler Memorial Elementary School and the Sandy Lake Running Club would also like to extend a challenge to all other neighbouring reserves to participate in the race next year.
On behalf of the Running Club of Sandy Lake
Kiitcha-megitch