It was a wonderful day at Bishopscourt on Tuesday as Columba College held its annual Cross Country and House Festival.

Students across Years 4 -13 braved the conditions and dressed in their vibrant house colours, competing in exciting rivalry against their peers for the fan-favourite, Cross Country.

After the past couple of years, when students ran in sub-zero conditions, we were blessed with a sunny day which, despite the wind, made for a fabulous day of friendly house competition. The Junior School arrived amped about the challenge ahead, and quickly got into the spirit, proudly displaying their house colours and uniting as teams behind their house flags. The Year 4 girl and boy races got away first with wonderful sideline support from parents, teachers, and classmates. The Year 5 and 6 races were next, followed by an awesome prizegiving to celebrate our students for the achievement of completing the race. We acknowledged our Top 3 with a few spot prizes and everyone enjoyed a number of sweet treats courtesy of our house leaders.

Around 11.00 am, a colourful sea of Senior School students arrived en masse at Bishopscourt, loudly singing their house chants and trying their best to stir up an inter-house competitive vibe. Many great races took place with a number of students tackling the 2.4km challenge, all full of smiles throughout.

We are extremely proud of all our students who participated yesterday, clearly giving all they could out on the field. In particular, we would like to extend a big congratulations to the following students who achieved top three placings in their age group races:

Year 4 Girls:

1st = Caitlyn; 2nd = Georgie; 3rd = Claudia

Year 4 Boys:

1st = Hugh; 2nd = George; 3rd = Sammy

Year 5 Girls:

1st = Emerson; 2nd = Charlotte; 3rd = Georgie

Year 5 Boys:

1st = Samuel; 2nd = Jett; 3rd = Edward

Year 6 Girls:

1st = Abrielle; 2nd = Matilda; 3rd = Méabh

Year 6 Boys:

1st = Samuel; 2nd = Henry; 3rd = Hugh

Year 7 Girls:

1st = Poppy; 2nd = Sophie; 3rd = Anabelle

Year 8 Girls:

1st = Anna; 2nd = Isabella; 3rd = Elodie

Year 9 Girls:

1st = Harlow; 2nd = Sadye; 3rd = Scarlett

Year 10 Girls:

1st =Shanti; 2nd = Hannah; 3rd = Ruby

Year 11 Girls:

1st = Lila; 2nd = Melanie; 3rd = Annie

Year 12 Girls:

1st = Anya; 2nd = Alexa ; 3rd = Zara

Year 13 Girls:

1st = Faith; 2nd = Millie; 3rd = Holly

The overall winner for house points in our Cross Country was:

• 1st GIRTON -1,379
• 2nd BRAEMAR - 1,252
• 3rd SOLWAY - 1,107
• 4th IONA - 1,033

By lunch break, we were re-joined by our entire Junior School to welcome the full school down to Bishopscourt. The Senior A Netball kicked off the afternoon with a sausage sizzle fundraiser and we had the pleasure of hosting three food trucks, which proved immensely popular again. It was time to begin our House Festival and what better way to start this than with everyone's favourite: Jump Jam!!

Completing a number of songs with our junior students, we progressed into our six 10-minute activity stations, mixing the year levels to form groups competing against other houses. For the wheelbarrow, egg and spoon, chariot, 3-legged, 4-way soccer and rob-the-nest, groups were paired up (Year 12+1, Year 11+2, Year 10+3, Year 9+4, Year 8+5 and Year 7+6) creating strong camaraderie throughout the full school.

It was time to split the groups and say farewell to our Junior School while the Middle and Senior School Students competed in the tightly contested 'Tug of War' for ultimate bragging rights! The strongest house on the day was Solway, followed by Iona then Braemar, and finally Girton.

The overall winner for house points in our House Festival was:

• 1st GIRTON -1,047
• 2nd SOLWAY - 1,012
• 3rd BRAEMAR - 982
• 4th IONA - 943

Last on the agenda was the highly anticipated Staff vs Students Tug of War Challenge. In a best-of-three series, after some quality advice was presented by Mr Sparrow to the fellow staff, it was our team of Prefects who were crowned the champions in a 2-1 victory and everyone had plenty of laughs to conclude the event.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in our fantastic full-school extravaganza! Thank you to all the teaching and support staff for your assistance in helping to make the day run smoothly. A big thank you again to the parents and friends of Columba who came out to support all of our runners from the sideline. Your attendance and encouragement shown to every student out on the running track did not go unnoticed! What a great day! We are looking forward to next year's cross-country already.

A big thanks to Caitlin B. for being such an awesome student photographer for the day!