Canterbury Adventure Race

The 2023 Canterbury Adventure Race was held in the Whiterock/Okuku Pass area, in the foothills north of Rangiora on Saturday 19th August. We are very grateful to Paul Spark for giving us access to his farm, and to Matariki Forests for allowing us to bike on their forestry roads. The 3, 6 and 9-hour courses were fairly challenging with lots of hills to ride, run or walk up.

A team of 40 volunteers (parents, students and school staff) helped prior, during and after the event to ensure that it ran smoothly. This was our biggest event to date, with 420 competitors, so the catering team were kept very busy feeding hungry competitors after they had finished.

You can view more race photos at www.flickr.com. Search for Crazy Kea Events to find our seven albums of great photos. Thanks to our team of photographers who were out and about on the course and avoiding the mud as best they could.

The school will receive over $20,000 from this event, our major fundraiser for the year. The money will be used to directly support curriculum delivery – providing resources and/or programmes that will help our students with their learning.

A few highlights for me were the teamwork, camaraderie and fellowship within our school community, the number of MGS students and families taking part, and the large number of family teams who entered this year. It’s great to see Mum or Dad and sons/daughters and friends enjoying our great outdoor environment, testing their fitness, and working together on a tough challenge.

My thanks to Tim Farrant and Scott Smith for their mapping, coursework, and our website.

Hope to see you there on 24th August 2024!

Rod Thompson (Race Manager)