Cross Country Thailand Invitational 19-20

From September 19 to 22, the AISG Cross Country team was in Thailand for the annual invitational, which was held by ISB (International School of Bangkok). We competed against international schools located all around Asia, including SASPX (Shanghai American International School of Puxi), HKIS (Hong Kong International School) and many more. The Thailand invitational takes place during the middle of our season, which is why it’s a great way for the team to get to know where we are at.

Although the race was on Saturday, we arrived on Thursday to get enough time to recover for the race. Once we arrived to the hotel, we went for a light 3k run and then took the rest of the day to recover. The next day, we made our way to the resort, which was near the race course. We walked the course to get a good feel of what the race would be like. As one of the only runners on our team who participated in this race last year, I was looking forward to the race, as the course wasn’t as muddy and slippery this year. In the previous year, more than half of the course was very muddy due to the rain, which resulted in many runners having to walk certain sections of the course.

We made sure to fuel up with carbs and get an early night rest for the race. The morning of the race, we made our way to the course at 6:15. The race was scheduled to start at 7:30 for the girls and 8:15 for the boys. The race was an all out battle, with there being 68 girl runners and 80 boy runners. The results for the race can be seen here.

Although the results didn’t turn out like we wanted, the race was still really successful. This race serves as a learning point for many of our runners, as they now know what to expect for our final race. Freshmen Elia P. stated, “I am really proud of how our team performed. We know where we have to be by October for APAC and we plan to train hard to get there.” As a captain, I am really proud of how everyone pushed through and ran the fastest they possibly could. They left it all on the course, which is all you can do in the end of the day.