Gibraltar Schools Set for Another DNA Showdown
18th May 2026

Dynamic New Athletics will return to Gibraltar as the territory’s three main comprehensive schools prepare to contest the second edition of their inter-school DNA competition at the Lathbury Sports Complex on Thursday 21 May.

Organisers are expecting around 200 high-school aged students to take part in the mixed-gender team-athletics format event developed by European Athletics, with each school entering two teams.

In the words of Gibraltar Athletics President Frank Carreras, the inaugural DNA competition in 2025 proved “a big success” and created a strong demand for the event to become a permanent fixture.
“After the positive feedback we received from the students, teachers and parents on the day and in the months since, there was no question about staging a second edition,” said Carreras, who is also a member of the European Athletics Council and one of DNA’s strongest advocates.

This week’s event has been widely promoted through the local press and television, and alongside a large contingent of parents and teachers, Carreras expects a number of VIP guests, including government officials and sponsor representatives, to attend in person.

Explaining that his federation’s competition officials have made slight adjustments to the programme and timetable, aiming to complete the event within a two-hour-and-30-minute window, he said, “last year we weren’t bad at all as we had the final result inside two hours and forty minutes but we think it is a strong selling point that a DNA match doesn’t take all day so we want to keep it as tight as possible.”

“The compact timetable plus the fact that the competition is always building towards the final disciple climax of the Hunt relay, which determines the team result, make it exciting for the athletes and quite attractive for spectators.”

For Gibraltar Athletics, however, the competition is about more than a single afternoon of school rivalry and sporting entertainment, as DNA has become a central element of the federation’s strategy to connect with young people and identify future talent.

Carreras sees Thursday’s event as a natural complement to the federation’s successful Youth Track League, which serves those youngsters already involved in club athletics and recently attracted a full house of spectators for its season final.

“This DNA competition is aimed at schools with the aim of demonstrating to a new group of kids the kind of fun they can have and the other benefits of athletics,” he explained, adding, “all our federation’s coaches will be present looking for signs of talent they can recruit.”

“If the response to the first edition is anything to go by, this year’s event promises to help increase the membership of our clubs and be another strong statement of DNA’s growing impact at the grassroots level of our sport.”