Gibraltar schools DNA event ‘a big success’
26 May 2025

More than 200 young athletes from Gibraltar’s three high schools, known locally as comprehensive schools, competed on Thursday 22 May for national bragging rights in the country’s first DNA (Dynamic New Athletics) match at the Lathbury Sports Complex, the home of the hosts Gibraltar Athletics.

Under cloudless, late-spring skies with a gentle sea breeze blowing and a view across the Straights of Gibraltar to Morocco’s impressive Jebel Musa massif, Westside School’s well-practiced mixed 4x200m relay team capped the match for students aged 12 to 15, extending the 2.5 second head start built up by their teammates in the day’s first six disciplines to win the match-deciding Hunt and lift the coveted winner’s shield.

As one of the first inter-school DNA competitions anywhere, the event represents a major step in the rollout of European Athletics’ team athletics concept beyond the elite and top clubs levels to the grassroots of the sport.

Hailing the day as “a big success”, Gibraltar Athletics President Frank Carreras thanked his federation’s volunteer officials as well as the teachers leading each of the school teams for helping to deliver what was also the country’s first inter-school competition since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The kids loved it

Throughout the day, the desire of the young athletes to perform their best and maximise the points for their teams was evident. At least half a dozen competitors ended up flat out on the track surface after throwing themselves forward in last second lunges for the finish line.

Westside School physical education teacher Stephanie Gonzales said it was “lovely day” and that for her the evolving team score and DNA’s iconic feature, the Hunt, were both “really exciting.”

“All our kids were following the score update announcements to see if we were in the lead and our team would get a head start in the relay.”

Another highlight was seeing her students loudly cheering the athletes in each race and then congratulating their teammates as well as competitors from the other schools at the finish.

“Sometimes it’s a hard job to be a teacher but on a day like this, seeing the all fun, the team spirit and the real sportsmanship, I was thinking to myself this is why I do what I do,” she said.

Her Westside School colleague Kyran Barnett added: “The kids really loved everything about today. In our programme they get to practice a lot of athletics as individuals but meeting the other schools and competing as a team with this DNA format adds something extra, something special.”

“For sure we will be ready to take part again as soon as the next edition can be arranged,” she said.

Community interest

President Carreras said efforts had been made to promote the event in the local press and on social media and he was happy with the number of parents and spectators who turned up to watch. He was also pleased with the fact that the national broadcaster, GBC, sent a cameraman and commentator, who filmed throughout the match for a special report.

He added that as well as the Heads of the three competing schools, “many important people linked to sport in our country showed up to witness the event and the new DNA format, including the national Director of Education, the CEO of the Gibraltar Sport and Leisure Authority and the Head of the Gibraltar Institute of Sport.”

Organisational lessons

The Gibraltar Athletics project leader for the event, Avelino Baldachino, said that in addition to venue dressing, participation medals and event management, the federation’s contribution included supplying DNA-branded competition t-shirts in different colours for all athletes at the three schools: purple for Westside School, yellow for Prior Park School and blue for Bayside School.

He explained that the main challenge he and his crew had to work around was the sheer number of students who wanted to compete, which meant the three running disciplines (100m, 200m, 400m) had one heat for the boys and one for girls in each of the four year-groups and the three field events (shot, long jump and high jump) had the same number of sections.

“It was simply not possible to do just one discipline at a time, like you would expect in a showcase DNA event, so in some ways today looked similar to a traditional athletic meeting with different events happening simultaneously.”

“But with the awareness that the Hunt would decide the final result and the regular update announcements of the overall score, everyone in the stadium knew that above all this was a team event.”

“Our aim was to deliver the whole competition in two and a half hours. In the end it took two hours and forty minutes, so that’s not too bad,” he said.

A debriefing meeting of the competition officials and teachers from each school is planned for the coming weeks to see what organisational lessons can be learned.

“We will make refinements to ensure things flow well and we will try some new things next time,” said Mr Baldachino, “maybe a different timetable, maybe a different way of doing the field events, maybe a separate Hunt for each year-group.”

“I anticipate a multi-year evolution of what we can do as everyone gets more used to the DNA concept.”

Vision for the future

Roy Torres, a member of the Gibraltar Athletics Council, said he thinks the day’s event will have a positive long-term impact on the performance level in the country after a period that has been negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and delays in the construction of the country’s track facility.

“Many of our coaches were at the competition and they saw kids competing with desire and raw, but real, talent, particularly in the high jump,” he said.

“I am sure they will be approaching the teachers to invite a number of kids to join one of our clubs in the future.”

President Carreras also sees long-term potential for the sport.

“All three schools have already texted me to thank the federation and say how much the kids and teachers liked the event, one calling it a fantastic spectacle and another asking about the next time it will be staged,” he said.

“From an organisational point of view, today went pretty smoothly and it will help us build on the momentum of hosting last year’s Championships of the Small States of Europe. But we have just scratched the surface of what DNA can do for the grassroots level of the sport.”

“For example, I believe we can bring our schools together like this a couple of times per year and I am thinking we can use this format to engage with the Spanish schools just over the border, as we know the federation there is already well advanced in implementing DNA at various levels.”

“For now, though, I am happy with today’s event. It was clear the athletes enjoyed it, the parents enjoyed it, the teachers enjoyed it and that’s what is important.”

“And, of course, we, the organisers, enjoyed seeing everybody else enjoy themselves.”