Yesterday saw the second SoGo competition take place; the venue was the Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Bradford. Two schools representing Barrie and Bradford competed in a head to head clash that saw plenty of close action.

Each school entered 4 teams - 2 girls teams (A & B) and 2 boys teams (A & B). The scores were combined for the overall prize results with Holy Trinity B team winning the event with 770 points, closely followed by Holy Trinity A team who were just 8 points behind with 762. Saint Joseph’s A team came in 3^rd with 756 and Saint Joseph’s B team 4^th with 746 points.

In the Boys competition, the results mirrored the overall results with the teams finishing in the same order. But, in the girls competition, it was a different story: St Josephs A team won the event with 386 points; their B team was 2^nd with 382; and Holy trinity girls A and B team tied for joint 3^rd place, both with 374 points.

It's perhaps not surprising that the Bradford team came out top overall. Craig McLaughlin from Holy Trinity, who helped organize this event, has been involved with IFTA programs for more than 4 years. Craig is an Athletics Ontario coach who runs a comprehensive x-country program and has a full set of Fun in Athletics competition equipment. He regularly uses this equipment to run elementary schools competitions in his local region.

The SoGo sponsorship has been great news for this program, allowing expansion into the 13+ age group. Yesterday's event made the most of this opportunity by combining the towns of Barrie and Bradford to spread the word. Bradford has a history of these competitions with many of their competitors having experienced the Fun in Athletics program at a younger age. Barrie, on the other hand is relatively new to the program and they are looking to replicate Craig’s success in their own area. Michelle May, who is a teacher from St Josephs, is very enthusiastic about the SoGo program and is hoping to secure a full set of competition equipment and organize their own regional SoGo competitions. In fact, the next SoGo competition will take place at her school on May 21^st where yesterday’s competitors and other older students will organize and facilitate a SoGo competition for younger students from as many as six schools.

IFTA development officer Sean Carrington said he noticed a difference in yesterday’s competition. “It was different for sure, we don’t normally organize these head to head events; with just two schools taking part it made the competition much more intense - I really feel these kids pushed each other to the limit. It was also very good to see these students take on much of the organization and responsibilities of their team management. Each team selected their own coach to organized them and it will be interesting to work with these students again at the next SoGo event at St Joseph’s school. I’m looking forward to it”

Sean also noted that the noise from the gym generated lots of interest from other students in the school. Many came by the gym to check out the excitement, asking if they could take part. These students knew the program from their elementary years and were keen to have another go. Sean's answer to them: “Sign up for SoGo and start organizing in your own area!”

Results from the SoGo Competition 28^th April 2010

Team	Color	Boys		Girls		Overall
Saint Josephs - A	Blue	374	3rd	382	2nd	756	3rd
Holy Trinity –A-	Green	388	2nd	374	3rd	762	2nd
Saint Josephs –B-	Red	360	4th	386	1st	746	4th
Holy Trinity –B-	Yellow	396	1st	374	3rd	770	1st

Congratulations to all our competitors and teachers. The next SoGo competition is planned for later this month in Barrie at St Josephs Catholic School. Competitors from today’s event will be organizing and administrating a competition for younger children.

Want to get involved? SoGo sign up www.sogoactive.com

IFTA are supported by The Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion, The Ontario Trillium Foundation and have a close working partnership with Athletics Ontario