GCS are proud to have won the 2017 Irish Life Health School’s Fitness Challenge’.

On Monday 29th January, the school was announced the overall winner of this National Competition in which 30,000 students took part this year. GCS also won the category for the ‘Best Mixed School’ and the ‘Most Improved School’

Over 172,000 students have now participated in the challenge, making this the third largest school fitness study in the world. The challenge analyses shuttle run performance, which is recognised as an excellent tool to screen youth fitness levels. The challenge measures cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) – low CRF increases the risk of developing cardiovasicular disease (CVD) while improving CRF is associated with is associated with a reduced risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, dementia and Alzheimer’s. Long time supporter of the School’s Fitness Challenge, Olympic 400m Hurdler, Thomas Barr says: ‘’ I think there has been incredible developments in the Irish mindset towards health and fitness in recent years- and the boosted numbers participating in the Challenge is evidence of this. A huge congratulations to everyone who took part. If you stuck with the six-week Challenge-you’re definitely a winner!