With Covid-19 event restrictions still in place, Sport Otago ran their immensely popular 'virtual triathlon' this year and on Monday 28 March, Columba College entered five teams to compete for bragging rights under the glass dome of Forsyth Barr Stadium!

Competing in teams of two or three, 12 Columba students (Years 9 -13) bussed down to the stadium midday on Monday to participate in this fantastic event. The goal of the virtual triathlon was to complete a 1.5km row, 3km cycle and 1.5km run in as fast a time as possible. The unique vibe of being under the stadium roof with the sun beaming through and music blasting to ramp up energy levels was fantastic for the students to experience.

Competing against the clock, and against the other Columba teams during our time slot at the stadium, the Year 13 'Old Guns' trio of Madison Sullivan, Phoebe Wellstead and Jaime Reid came away with a blistering time of 16.1mins to be crowned as the winning Columba team on the day. Taking top honours and beating their younger Columba counterparts, it was a great achievement to see this team also take out the top spot across all schools in the Year 11-13 category (see attached result sheet). Congratulations also goes to our Columba 'Niners' and 'Young Ones' for achieving 2nd and 3rd place respectively in the Year 9-10 teams category.

What a privilege it was to see the girls giving it their absolute best, competing with pride and passion, and most importantly, encouraging and supporting each other. The highlight being when our exhausted students, after completing their legs, took turns to shadow run with our final participant to lift her energy and get her over the finish line in an impressive time. It was a great display of Columba camaraderie.  

What a fabulous event and a superb way to blow out the cobwebs in an otherwise restricted world of pandemic sport. Congratulations Columba!