With their hearts pumping and blood racing, runners stand at the starting line waiting to hear the starter gun. All the training and hard work comes down to this race.
“No half times, no timeouts, no substitutions. It must be the only true sport,” Kaho A. (12), girl’s co-captain said.
This year, the runners ran on a true cross-country course with hills and turns. The course even has some grassy off the road  paths. To add to the pain, there is a gradual climb for about 1.5km before descending.
On Friday, the runners woke up at the crack of dawn to prepare themselves, both mentally and physically, for their first IASAS 2012 race to take place at 8am. This 5km race, along with a 3km race on Saturday, are the only two races determine final result.
“They ran fast times on a very difficult course,” said Mr Anderson, girls cross country coach. Though other IASAS teams from TAS were very close to medalling, girls cross-country was the only team that did, coming in third after SAS and ISB. The boys cross country team pushed as hard as they could, but unfortunately, didn’t medal.
Paul E. Richardson, author of the book Running is Flying, tells runners to not look at it as a 5km run, but instead as 3.5km of flying, because when you walk, one foot is always on the ground, while when running, 76 percent of the time is spent airborne.
Gary H. (12), who has run in IASAS races for four year and known for being one of the fastest students at TAS, finished the race in fifth place. As for the girls teams, Sophia E. from SAS completed both races in first place and was the fastest girl runner at IASAS. Florence L. (10), legendary runner from last year’s IASAS, finished in eight place in the 5km race and seventh in the 3km race.
For many runners, this is their final first season IASAS. Josephine K. (12), co-captain of the girls team, was flushed with confidence. “The team has grown so much stronger this year,” she said.