On Friday, 26 July, the whole College from Grade 000 to Matric gathered in the Samukele Khumalo Arena for an assembly before the annual running of The Dash. Our Principal and Deputy Principal spoke about the history of our remarkable College, including the badge changes over the decades. Following on from the official cutting of the birthday cake, by Head Boy, Nicholas Oldfield, and a 1000-strong rendition of the school song, the school moved up to Harwin Road for the annual running of The Dash.

There were four races this year, the curtain raiser being a Grade 12 dash, where all the keen seniors took to the road for the last time. A highlight was seeing injured pupil, Darren Oellermann, being pushed in his wheelchair by his best friends along Harwin Road. He didn’t win the Dash trophy, but he certainly won the hearts and respect of all his peers and the Saints community… St Charles College boys never give up!

The Prep were first to race and Chidi Okoli, representing O’Meara took off like a Springbok winger, and never looked back. Although Geoffrey Pedley and Alex O’Neill chased hard, Chidi led from start to finish and won in a time of 1:33,68. The Middle School race was tightly contested, with Agape Nyawo, also from O’Meara, managing to just win it by 7 one hundredths of a second from Andrew Marshall, with Kai Naidoo coming third. The Upper School race had O’Meara star athlete and Dash record holder, Jesse Mwesigwa lining up, in what was anticipated to be his third title. The other competitors were not standing back, however, and Jesse was challenged the entire race by the awesome efforts of Olivier Mukaz and a late surge down the home straight by speedster, Rowen Rajah. The winning time was 1:16,80, slightly off the record set in 2023, but still the second fastest Dash of all time! Happy 149th Birthday, St Charles College! – Mr Rowan Irons (Director of Sport).

Photo credits: Saysha Baker