On Saturday 21 September, nine BISP athletes traversed the dense Kanchanaburi forest in the ISB Thailand Cross Country Invitational, where Year 13 triathlete Oliver Trott successfully defended his 2018 title, beating a large field of international competitors.

BISP cross country runners

BISP’s Oliver Trott in third position during the ISB Thailand Cross Country Invitational 2019.

The athletes navigated a tough 5km course through the Sai Yok National Park. Oliver’s race-winning time was 17:55min. His BISP teammate Jack Heneberry was close behind in 5th place, while Hugo Matsui, Romeo Perthuis and Liam Egger all finished in the top 50 out of 79 male competitors.

Thailand Cross Country ISB BISP runners

Second from left: BISP’s Saniiat Amirgamzaeva

In the girls’ race, Saniiat Amirgamzaeva was the first BISP runner across the line, finishing in 18th place out of 72 runners with a time of 24:49min. Chiara Egger and Nurul (Qistina) Elyssa both finished in the top 40. After leading for much of the race, Year 12 student Malika Amirgamzaeva was unable to finish due to injury.

On Sunday, the athletes enjoyed a 10km fun run through the national park with the other 150 competitors who had travelled to the event from schools in Thailand, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Kuala Lumpur, Taiwan and Singapore.

Many of the BISP runners are part of the school’s triathlon programme. Triathlon Academy Head Coach, Zane Castro, said: “It was fantastic to see our athletes making strong decisions and positive steps early in the season. Several hard lessons were learnt, but overall these athletes are making progress.

“Oliver put absolutely everything into the race and ran the most comprehensive race I have ever seen him run while at BISP. We were extremely proud to see all our athletes supporting each other and showing great sportsmanship right until the end,” said Coach Zane.

For more information on the BISP Triathlon Academy, please contact [email protected].