After a brief hiatus, the College Dash was back this year, with a representative from each of the Houses sprinting around the Deane Yates and Alan Wilcock Vulindlela buildings at high speed.
The College Dash is based on The Great Court Run at Cambridge, which featured in the Academy Award-winning Chariots of Fire, where students attempted to run around the Great Court in the time it takes the clock to strike twelve times.
As St John’s College is built on a similar system of quads, Mr Martin Huysamer, Deputy Head: Student Affairs, was inspired to re-introduce the dash.
The College Dash existed years ago in a different format and along a different course. When reintroduced in the early 2000s, our young men ran through the three main quadrangles of the College building, starting and ending in the iconic David Quad. Despite padding the various walls and pillars with mattresses from the boarding Houses, the slate surfaces proved too slippery and led to some spectacular mishaps, which forced it to be moved to its current course.
The race requires nerves of steel as a representative from each House, sporting a bike or cricket helmet and any other padding they can find, hotfoot it around the course as they make their way to the finish line. The event is a great ‘fun-raiser’ as our young men take on this act of daring and physical commitment.
Taeg Mosehla, Head of School, proudly took the trophy back to Hill. On hand to share the fun was Dion Libera, Head of School in 1985, the last known Head of School to win the event in his heyday.
The College Dash is one of a number of quirky traditions alongside events such as Grobs, Gaudy Day, the making of pancakes in David Quad on Shrove Tuesdays, Night War Cries, our unique nomenclatures and awards such as the Golden Eagle, which contribute to the unique nature of St John's College.
Credit: Tom Dewar (UIV Hodgson)