I had such an amazing time at this year’s Donkin Cup! I had my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t rain like last year when the race got postponed twice due to bad weather, which was really frustrating. Thankfully, the weather held up, but I was so excited the night before that I could barely sleep. Not only was I buzzing to race, but I was also heading off to Spain with my school later that same day, so it was a double thrill!
I went into the race feeling really confident. After all, I’d won it last year and I’ve been training hard, especially with the Habs Dash runs on Mondays and Thursdays, where I recently got a personal best of 13:41. As soon as the race started, I took an early lead and did everything I could to stretch it further throughout the race. My main goals were to avoid tripping up and to finish with a strong time. My Dad told me that the best time for Year 5 last year was 11:57, and I was determined to beat that and win by a good margin.
I was absolutely thrilled when I crossed the finish line with a time of 10:36. Not only did I win, but I did it by quite a comfortable distance, which felt amazing. It was also a great moment for my school house, as I finished first for them. I was even happier when another boy from my house came second! On top of that, one of my friends from Year 6, who I train with at my running club, won his race too, which was brilliant.
The only downside to the day was that my school house didn’t win overall, which was a bit disappointing. But I’m really hopeful that next year we’ll come out on top and lift that trophy – I’d love to see us as the winners!
Overall, it was such a fun and memorable day, and I’m already looking forward to the next Donkin Cup. I’ll be running the same distance again next year, and I’m definitely going to be pushing myself to beat this year’s time!
