Spring Trackfest 4th vs 5th Grade

On Thursday, May 17th, beginning at 10:30, our 4th and 5th grades will be competing against one another in our annual Spring Trackfest.

This event has really blossomed into an enjoyable yet pretty intense competition.  The kids train for 3 weeks. On Trackfest day, they go up against one another in the 50 meter dash, 100m, 400m, 50m hurdles and the 4x100m relay.  They also compete in the running long jump, shot put, discus throw and javelin throw (plastic, not real. don't worry, nobody's getting impaled).  Kids select their track events a couple of weeks ahead of time.  We then time them in the events they want to compete in.  The times then go into the computer and are sorted into heats of 4 or 5 runners based on their time.  So, fastest people run against fastest people etc...  Although it may seem "unfair" for 4th graders to compete against 5th graders, it's all based on their times.  This in turn creates many, many competitive races where each runner has a real shot at winning their race.  The kids are allowed to compete in as many of the track events that they would like.  Most will sign up for at least 2, many will do 3 some have done 4. (One did 5 once.  The 400 about near killed him.  It was quite a site.)   For the field events (throwing/jumping) they can only do one as they all occur simultaneously. 

A score is not kept as the size of the classes could make it an unfair competition (i.e. 2011 5th grade: 40 kids.  4th grade: 54 kids).  However, kids do receive place ribbons for their particular race or races.  The more races that they do, the more ribbons they get!! 

Feel free to come and watch.  A letter will be sent home with a schedule of the order of events on it. 

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