Virtual Cross Country

 

SSV Virtual Cross Country

It’s time to get thousands of feet moving across Victoria with students having the chance to have fun while getting active!

Primary and secondary students from Government, Independent and Catholic schools have the opportunity to participate in School Sport Victoria's Virtual Cross Country in 2022 as part of SSV Play.

SSV Play aims to engage less active students and those not currently participating in interschool sport, through a variety of sport and physical activities.

Virtual Cross Country encourages students to go for a walk, jog or run and record their results to earn virtual points for their school.

In 2022, SSV is encouraging students to go for at least one run, jog or walk a week over a 4 week period in either Terms 2 and or Term 3 to support more regular participation in being active.

Students can take part in their own time or participate in an organised school event.

The main aim is for students to give it a go and have fun or even achieve a personal best distance or time.

Students participating in the Virtual Cross Country will earn virtual points for their school, with awards provided to schools with the highest participation. Students can also choose to have their results made public, but that is not mandatory.

Virtual Cross Country is now open! Entries close on 16 September 2022.

Who participates in the virtual cross country?

In 2021, the SSV Virtual Cross Country engaged many students to participate in the program:

Getting started

Students must have parent/guardians’ permission before heading out for a run, jog or walk and registering their results online. Parents/guardians or friends can supervise by completing the activity with the student.

There are four simple steps for students to participate in the SSV Virtual Cross Country:

A. Find a suitable route and select the distance

B. Go for a run, jog or walk

C. Record the time and distance completed

D. Register the results

1.       Find a suitable route

Find a suitable park, recreation reserve, oval, athletics track, green space, trail, or even the footpaths in the neighbourhood where a student lives to make a circuit (consider safety if crossing streets). Students can or even use a treadmill if preferred.

Routes should be either 1km (1000m), 2km (2000m), 3km (3000m) or 5km (5000m) in distance . Students should choose a distance that they can comfortably complete.

There are many apps available that can help students track the distance they walk, jog or run. Google Maps, GPS, Strava etc could be used on a smartphone, tablet, smartwatch or personal computer to track distances. They could even go old school and use a trundle wheel or measure the distance using a bike computer or their parent’s car odometer. The idea is to be as accurate as possible using whatever devices students have access to. To accurately record the time it takes to walk, jog or run the distance, it can be as simple as using a clock, stopwatch or timing it on a watch or phone. The most important thing is for students to participate, get active and most of all have fun! For more detail on third-party apps see notes at the bottom of the page.

2.       Go for a run, jog or walk

Remember that students are to warm-up before participating to minimise the risk of injury and be sure they have the correct footwear, clothing and equipment. Consider if a hat, sunscreen, and water is needed for longer distances or when the UV is high.

Schools may also want to organise a school event, such as a run around the school grounds at lunch time or a cross country event.

SSV is not looking for the best performance, the longest distance, or the fastest time. The aim is for as many students as possible to just give it a go at their own pace, no matter what their fitness. This is a great activity for students who don’t usually participate in sport or aren’t very active, as the distance and pace can be tailored to their level.

Students are encouraged to complete at least one walk, jog or run a week over a four-week period. 

3.       Record the time and distance

Students need to keep their own record of activity including time and distance covered.
Any walk, jog or run the student completes and enters online contributes to the school’s overall result.

4.       Register the results

Once the walk, jog or run is completed students enter their results below. 

For a school organised event, such as a lunchtime run or cross country, teachers or coordinators complete the bulk entry form and submit the results SSV via email. ssv.play@education.vic .gov.au

Important information

The Virtual Cross Country offers distances of either 1km (1000m), 2km (2000m), 3km (3000m) or 5km (5000m).

The Virtual Cross Country will run in parallel to the normal SSV interschool sport cross country pathway. The Virtual Cross Country performances cannot be used to gain entry to the SSV interschool sport pathway for any sport and no medals will be awarded. 

Virtual points will be allocated to the student's school which will be added to the school ranking ladder. Students from Prep to Year 12, are encouraged to enter as many individual repeated results as they would like. 

The data collected is in accordance with the SSV Privacy Policy.

Schools are encouraged to promote this opportunity to all students in an effort to get them involved in recreational running.  It’s also a great way to get students moving and in training in the lead-up to the SSV interschool sport cross country season. 

Teachers play a huge part in students participating in virtual sport opportunities. Survey results from 2021 showed that most students heard about the SSV Virtual Cross Country through their teacher.

Entrants provide their personal information to SSV for the purposes of SSV conducting the Virtual Cross Country and awarding school points. Entrant's information will be used in accordance with SSV's Privacy Policy.