The Habersham County middle and high school cross country programs recently hosted the 7th annual Raider Relay.
Each elementary school coach chose a team of ten 4th-grade runners and a team of ten 5th-grade runners to compete in the event. The coaches worked with the runners throughout the month of September to condition them for the race. The race was a relay-style event with each runner running just over half a mile and tagging the next runner.
Coach Jarrod Bingham says the event offers a fun, competitive experience to the upper elementary students in the county.
“Athletics and other extracurricular activities also create a sense of belonging and ownership in the overall culture of the school, so I think that it is great that we, the cross country coaches who organized the event and the PE coaches who worked hard to train their teams, were able to offer this experience to some of our upper elementary school students.”
The Raider Relay also serves as a potential recruiting tool for younger students who may wish to join the school system’s cross country program in 6th grade.
“A lot of younger students have never heard of cross country and even more of them have never experienced competitive distance running,” explains Coach Bingham.
“When I first started coaching, it was common for most of the 6th-grade students to excitedly tell me that they had been Raider Relay runners. They joined the team because of their Raider Relay experience. Many of those runners are now running with Coach Kimzey in our JV and varsity programs.”
The 2021 Raider Relay was held on Friday, October 1, at Willbanks Middle School in Demorest. Here are the results:
4th Grade:
1st place – Fairview Elementary School
2nd place – Level Grove Elementary School
3rd – Demorest Elementary School
5th Grade:
1st place – Level Grove Elementary School
2nd place – Hazel Grove Elementary School
3rd – Demorest Elementary School
