During a telephone interview with Public Relations Officer for the association, Evris Huggins explained to MiyVue.com that the objective of re-introducing the cross country run is to remind athletes that event still exist.

“Most persons would have heard about a cross country, while others may have witness one and since 2006 we (SKNAAA) have not held one in the federation. With the hosting of Saturday’s event we hope to get persons to embrace a new genre of the sport outside of track and field,” the PRO explained.

To date, registration has been going well for the event, according to Huggins.

“Already we have a number of schools and clubs that have registered and as the week progresses we are anticipating that the numbers will increase,” he said.

Cross-country running is an event in which runners and their teams compete to gain first place on a course over open or rough terrain. The courses used at these events may include grass, mud, woodlands, hills, flat ground and water.

It is one of the sports which, along with track and field, road running, and race walking, make up the umbrella sport of athletics. The foremost elite competition is the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

However, at the high school level, cross country races are 5 km (3.1 miles). Saturday’s event will commence 3:30 pm on the Kim Collins high way and will make its way through the cane fields of Ponds and Needsmust and back to the Kim Collins highway where a prize giving ceremony will be held.