At the beginning of the Term 1 holidays...

...members of the newly established Year 9-10 Adventure Racing Team headed south to take part in the Geraldine Adventure Race. It was a stunningly beautiful day weatherwise and the race organisers had set a challenging and very hilly course. For many of the team this was their first adventure race and, understandably, both energy and apprehension levels were high as they stood with the hundreds of other competitors at the start line. This was heightened by the fact that the school’s category is for anyone in Year 9-13, and this was not a schools-only event, with the majority of entrants being adults.

The race organiser had given permission for school teams to have an adult ‘shadow’ them during the race to help with any mechanical issues, remind them to eat and drink, and ensure they were safe. This gave me a wonderful opportunity to see the teams at work. All of the students involved were amazing in terms of their effort, teamwork, perseverance, and sportsmanship. It was also fantastic to see them using some of the skills and techniques we had been working on during our training sessions leading up to the event and give their absolute best.

Like many adventure races the final results are not instantly available, but once they were published it was great to see that the fantastic effort our teams had put in was matched by very impressive finishing results.

• The Year 10 Boys' team of Sam Burgess and Brody Campell finished 2nd in the student category, and 4th overall.
• The Year 9 Boys’ team of Micah Pomare, Charlie Smart, Jack Lowe & Zach Prince finished 4th in the student category, and 9th overall.
• The Year 9-10 Girls team of Emma Bird & Izzy Sloane finished 6th in the student category, and 21st overall.

The team is now focusing on preparing for the Canterbury Adventure Race on 28th August. This event is run by Middleton Grange as a fund-raiser and last year had almost 400 entrants. Entries are open and you can find out all about it at www.crazykeaevents.nz. It would be great to have lots of student, family (must have at least two generations), and adult teams from our school community taking part like we did last year. You’ve got plenty of time to train before 28th August! The race will take place near the city, and the start and finish areas will be within 30 minutes’ drive-time from Christchurch.

We would love to hear from anyone who could help with organising this event. We’ll need marshals, crew to run mystery activities, a medical team, start and finish line officials and a catering team. Please email Rod Thompson if you’d like to help. r.thompson@middleton.school.nz.

We would also greatly appreciate your prayers for the organisation, entries, weather, and safety on the day.

Mr Nick Pomare