A GIRLS team from Bridgetown Primary School out-ran 668 girls from 86 schools at the State Primary Cross Country Schools Championships last Tuesday.
The team won the years 5-7 title by almost 100 points.
In all the championships attracted 1433 students from more than 100 schools.
All the Bridgetown Primary School runners, girls and boys, belong to the school's running club.
The club is the brainwave of parents Trish Davies and Sash Van Diemen, who last year approached deputy principal Chris Mott offering their expertise to help improve the running abilities of interested students.
Since then other parents, families, staff, community members and local businesses have supported the group, with many students now committed to training before and after school.
This fantastic support has ensured more than 90 per cent of the students in the running club set personal best times in the state championships.
All the Bridgetown students ran well, most of them finishing in the top half of their fields.
With a strong interest in running and a lot of determination and in preparation for the event, the students increased their out-of-school training sessions to three times a week over the past two months.
Last year was the first time the school sent a team to the championships, which has the largest participation rate of any WA primary school sports event. This year's course for year 5 students was 1500 metres, year 6 2000m, while year 7 students had to tackle 2500m.
The boys team had a tougher challenge, having to compete against 740 runners from more than 100 schools. Although all the boys from Bridgetown set personal bests, the standard of times by students from other schools combined with the inclement weather proved too great a challenge.
All the students are still keen to continue training and again tackle the event next year, as well as challenging themselves with other races until then.
The group is in preparation for events later this year, the Nannup Springtime Fun Run, late next month, and the Bunbury Surf to Surf on October 13.