On Wednesday November 16th 30 Students from 1st to 5th year competed in the Blackrock College Cross Country Invitational. Schools from all over Dublin attended the event as a great way to open the school Cross Country season.
First up was the 1st years, with huge numbers racing in both the boys and girls events the John Scottus runners were well able to hold their own. Finn Reidy in particular putting in a great run coming home with a top half finish from a starting field of almost 130 students.
Next up was the Junior Boys and Girls races. Arguably the performance of the day by a JSS student came from the Junior Girls race where Julia Ivanova finished 9th in a race of almost 80 runners. Julia mixed it with the best from the start, after 1km of the race Julia found herself in 3rd position. The final 800m proved more difficult and in a very tight finish Julia finished a very impressive 9th.
The intermediate (u-17) events were a very big challenge for the JSS runners. With all our competitors in this event coming from 3rd year it meant that at 14 and 15 they were running against students far older. None the less James Woods put in another very impressive performance coming in the top half of his race. Jasmine Gallagher then ran a fantastic race coming home in 11th place. 
Ciarán Wakely was our sole competitor in the senior (u-19) race and as with our runners in the intermediate races, at 16 Ciarán was running against far more seasoned competitors travelling strongly and in a very good position Ciarán injured his leg and had to pull up 3km into what was a very gruelling race.
Well done to all students for their enthusiasm and interest.