News

Each year, students in the JPA Running Club train to take part in the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon and 10 km race. Runners from all over the world participate, raising money to support landmine victims and for Angkor Hospital for Children and Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Siem Reap.

It is a marvelous day with tens of thousands of people coming together at the World Heritage site of Angkor Wat to celebrate the race and support their worthy causes. Our school has serious competitors in the 10 km and 21 km races with some of the younger students joining the 5 km fun run. In the 10 km race Vanny ’20 crossed the finish line in just over 54 minutes.

Khemara ’22 came out on top in his first attempt at the 21 km half marathon distance and was elated and surprised with a time nearly 40 minutes under his target time – 1 h 52 m, 54 seconds. He said, “It was my first time running the 21k and the night before the race, I couldn't sleep. The next morning, the race started early, at 5:30 a.m. Thankfully the weather was unusually chilly, this was good as I prefer running in the cold, fresh air. I kept a constant pace and was able to finish the race without stopping and I didn’t feel tired at all. At the finish I was surprised how quick the time passed, it felt like time flew by. I beat my goal time by over half an hour which was amazing. I would like to say a big thank you to all running club teachers for training us so well for the event over the first half of this school year.”

Thanks to Mr. Kahan and the running club organizers for donating their time every day after school, training the students to participate in this great event. Well done to all the participants and thank you to all of the supporters who came out to cheer for team JPA.