It has been a busy and exciting year for Multisport at Columba, with many students participating in various events.

Our season began in February, with the Challenge Wanaka Secondary Schools event and the Oamaru SISS Duathlon and Triathlon. Four teams competed in Wanaka, as well as individual athletes Anya Rhodes and Melanie Button. The U14 and U16 teams finished strong, both placing 2nd. In Oamaru, the intermediate team of Kayla Millar, Emma Morton and Faith Courtney placed 1st, whilst individual Melanie Button placed 3rd in Junior Girls.

In April, 24 Junior and Middle School students competed in the Otago Primary Schools Triathlon, after qualifying earlier that year. There was a dazzling array of top ten placings, with special mention going to the Yr 6 team who placed 2nd, and the Yr 8 team who came in 3rd.

In May, three teams travelled to Christchurch to compete in the Macpac South Island Hillary Challenge Adventure Race. Columba's Senior Team qualified for the National 5-day Final, held in October at the Tongariro National Park. After five gruelling, blizzardous days of pushing the limits, the team came home in 8th place.

In September, two teams, comprised of Yr 9 and Yr 10 students, competed in the Dunedin Torpedo 7 Get2Go Challenge. One team was all girls, whilst the other was a mixed team with boys from John McGlashan College. The all-girls team placed 9th, with 227 points. The mixed team placed 2nd with 281 points, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the National final. This is a strong result for both teams and is very promising for the years to come! It was good to see everyone having so much fun in the great weather.

For us, the Hillary Challenge and the Get2Go were particularly meaningful this year as, in previous years, we had struggled to even enter one team. To see three teams entered into the Hillary Challenge and two teams in the Get2Go is super exciting to see!

Also in September, many Columba students were entered into the Peak to Peak multisport race in Queenstown. Sadly, this event could not go ahead, due to COVID, for the second year in a row. Well done to everyone, though, for their resilience.

This year, Caitlin O'Brien was selected to represent NZ in duathlon at the ITU World Multisport Festival. Unfortunately, due to COVID, this could also not go ahead for age group athletes.

Well done to all of the students who got involved with Multisport at Columba this year! We look forward to seeing you continue to have fun in a sport that offers so many different opportunities.

Emily Prout and Caitlin O'Brien.