Schools' Cup teams take to running miles with no matches to play

Curtis Ewing of Regent House School was one of the many rugby players who swapped their boots for running shoes for the challenge

In any other year the rugby team from Regent House School in Newtownards, County Down, would be battling to make the Schools' Cup final.

Instead they have run over 1,200km (745 miles) in a week to win a challenge set by Ulster Rugby.

The showpiece of the schools' game usually takes place at Ulster's Kingspan Stadium on St Patrick's Day.

But coronavirus restrictions mean that no games or training sessions have been able to take place this year.

So the boys from Regent House and other school rugby squads have been pounding the roads instead.

The event was the brainchild of John Andrews, the head of rugby and physical education at Ballymena Academy.

He challenged schools' senior rugby squads - and their teachers - to run as far as they could between 27 January and 3 February.

And, after stiff competition, the Regent House boys ran an incredible 1,230km (764 miles) to win the challenge.

'Sense of team spirit'

Year 13 pupil Glen Smyth ran more than 100km (62 miles) in a week on his own to help the team take the prize.

"I am really missing rugby at the minute and this competition allowed me the opportunity to be competitive again," he told BBC News NI.

Glen Smyth reached a century of kilometres to push his school to the top of the table

"I found it difficult to run some days because the weather was so bad but I really wanted our school to win."

The team also used social media to check on how many miles each of them were putting in, according to Michael Lyttle who ran over 80km (50 miles).

"With the rugby season being cancelled there was no sign of any competition this year," he said.

"The challenge gave us all a sense of team spirit and acted as a really good motivator for the whole team to get back out again.

"It felt like a proper rugby competition without the rugby!"

Team captain Hasan Kaymak is in year 14 so has had to face the disappointment of not getting to lead Regent House in the Schools' Cup.

As it is his last year in school he will not get the chance if the competition takes place next year.

"I've been dying to get back out on the pitch with the boys and play a match in what seems like forever but the running competition helped fill the void," he said.

Hasan ran 60km (37 miles) over the week and said it helped him both mentally and physically.

"I know personally that it was hard to stay motivated, to keep moving and stay fit as no-one had any idea when we would be playing again," he said.

Hasan Kaymak clocked up 37 miles to add to Regent House School's tally

"Running offered the rare chance of competition that had been absent for a while.

"To come out on top makes us all proud to be Regent House rugby players."

'Hard work shining through'

The head of rugby at Regent, Budge Pountney, is no stranger to going the extra mile having captained Scotland and won a European Cup with Northampton Saints.

He was hugely impressed with his squad's efforts.

"The boys really got stuck into this challenge and as the week went on their spirit and hard work started to shine through," he said.

"Without any competitive rugby this was a chance for the players to relish some sort of competition as a virtual squad.

"It brought the camaraderie and togetherness we have all been missing over the last few weeks.

"We're a young squad with only Hasan Kaymak, Sam Corbett and Jacob Adams in the upper sixth so this will galvanise them and give them some idea of how hard you have to work to achieve your goals."

Dalriada School in Ballymoney, County Antrim, and Grosvenor Grammar School in Belfast were the best of the rest behind Regent House in the running challenge.

So that non-rugby squad members could also catch the running bug, the school also launched a running challenge for other pupils over the week.

More than 100 took part, jointly running over 2,500 km (1,552 miles) - further than the distance from Belfast to Moscow.