Here are current and upcoming sports notices and events.

REVIEW OF TERM 1

Congratulations everyone - we’ve made it through the busiest term of school sport! It has been fabulous to see large numbers of students getting involved in the huge array of activities which have been on offer to them this term - both social and competitive. The teamwork, sportsmanship, enjoyment, hard work and awesome attitudes that we have seen from the students this term has been outstanding and we can’t wait to watch everyone grow and take on new challenges over the rest of the year.

Living in a location like Wānaka, we’re always going to be blessed with great outdoor activities on our doorstep, but for many sports, our location means lots of travel and for the support that our students get from their coaches, managers, teachers and parents, we are truly grateful.

Sports Calendar: Term 2,  2023

The term calendar is an overview of the sports events that are happening next term. If you have any questions about any upcoming events, please come and see Ignacio and Claire at the Sports Hub or email us at sports@mtaspiring.school.nz

Term 2

3 May:  MAC Cross Country Mountain Bike Champs - Deans Bank

28 May:  Otago Secondary Schools Swimming Champs - Dunedin

28 May:  Central Lakes Netball Tournament - Year 9 and 10’s

30 May:  Central Otago Rippa Rugby Champs - Queenstown

11/12 June:  Otago Secondary School Netball Champs - Dunedin

20 June:  Upper Clutha Swimming Champs - Wānaka

27 June:  Central Otago Primary School Swimming Champs - Wānaka

3-5 July:  SISS Junior Netball Championships - Christchurch

Extra Info: The following websites / pages have detailed information regarding sport and competition the latest updates regarding school sport:

http://www.osssa.org.nz/ (Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association Inc.)

https://www.schoolsportnz.org.nz/ (School Sport New Zealand)

https://sportnz.org.nz/ (Sport New Zealand)

SPORTS NOTICES

There are lots of exciting events coming up in our sporting calendar. Entries are now open for many of these events and we are also taking registrations of interest for some events later in the year too. Please read below and get in touch with us if you have any questions.

Road Cycling

The Otago/Southland Secondary Schools Road Cycling Championships are being held in Invercargill on Tuesday 30 May. The events involved are: Road Race, Individual Time Trial and Team Time Trial (four in a team for team time trial). If you are interested in participating in this event, please come and see us at the Sports Hub for more information.

Hillary Challenge

2023 marks the 23rd year of the Hillary Challenge for Year 11-13 students. The South Island Hillary Challenge event is a 6 hour long, navigation-based challenge that requires the students to traverse the course on foot and mountain bikes. The South Island Challenge is being held in the Geraldine area on 21 May.

No prior experience is necessary, as these challenges are designed to attract students of all levels, so you don’t need a high level of skill and experience to join in and have an awesome time. Teams can choose to be as social, or as competitive as they like. Some basic skills, a little fitness and a 'give it a go' attitude is really all that is needed.

For those students who are more competitive, there is the chance to earn one of the places to compete in the National Hillary Challenge Final later in the year. Here is a video from last years final showing what it is all about 2022 Final.

More info about the 6 hour challenges can be found HERE. If you are keen and interested to be involved in a MAC team this year, please come and see us at the Sports Hub.

SPORTS RESULTS

South Island Mountain Bike Championships

Last week our MAC Mountain Bike team took on the South Island’s best at the Skoda South Island School Championships at Coronet Peak. Weather conditions were challenging, with the event being delayed a day due to too much snow on the mountain! Despite constantly changing conditions and track updates, our team persevered and came away with some outstanding results.

Three of our riders received overall championship awards (from their combined results in all three disciplines). Congratulations - these are fantastic results!

• Paige Boomsma - 1st U13 Girls

• Eva Small - 1st U14 Girls

• Arnaud Mackenzie - 4th U15 Boys

Top 15 finishes in individual events were awarded to:

Thomas Benson - 3rd U20 Boys Enduro

Paige Boomsma - 1st U13 Girls Downhill, 1st U13 Girls Enduro, 3rd U13 Girls Cross Country

Fern Goodwin - 4th U13 Girls Cross Country

Ryan Hartnell - 4th U15 Boys Downhill, 4th U15 Boys Enduro

Toby Hartnell - 10th U13 Boys Downhill, 6th U13 Boys Enduro

Arnaud Mackenzie - 10th U15 Boys Cross Country, 11th U15 Boys Downhill, 5th U15 Boys Enduro

Sam Beale - 14th U17 Boys Enduro, 14th U17 Boys Downhill

Toby Breslin - 14th U20 Boys Enduro

Jasper Lambert - 14th U13 Boys Enduro

Frank McSweeney - 8th U13 Boys Downhill

Emily Schmidt - 7th U20 Girls Enduro

Jack Sides - 7th U16 Boys Cross Country

Tom Sides -7th U20 Boys Cross Country

Eva Small - 2nd U14 Girls Cross Country, 2nd U14 Girls Downhill, 2nd U14 Girls Enduro

Ruby Smith - 6th U16 Girls Downhill

Cross Country U16 mixed team (Eva Small, Paige Boomsma, Jack Sides) - 4th place

Max Bagley also deserves a mention as he never made it onto the race track, having broken his arm in the practice run. We wish you a speedy recovery Max.

A massive thank you to Shane Mackenzie for taking on the Team Manager role - a huge job and you were awesome at it. Also thank you to all of the parents who helped with marshalling, transporting, feeding and supporting the students - events like this cannot happen without parents like you!

MAADI Cup Rowing Regatta

Last week Mount Aspiring College sent a crew of 12 rowers and one coxswain up to Lake Karapiro to compete at MAADI cup. MAADI is the epitome of Secondary School rowing, with over 2,500 of New Zealand’s strongest rowers competing in the week long regatta. We had an amazing week. MAC absolutely excelled, making it into four A finals and four B finals out of the 11 events we entered.

Highlights of the week were:

• The girls U15 quad consisting of Lucy Radford, Hana Jones, Nova Whiston, Sienna Marsden and coxswain Caroline Smith, had an absolute blinder and came first in their heat to qualify straight for the A final. They finished up this event as 8th in New Zealand.

• The girls U17 quad made up of Lola Ritchie, Annie Wells, Annika Massey, Kate Ritchie and coxswain Caroline Smith went from heats, to reps and made it into B final. They smashed it out in the B final and won by a decent 2 second lead with a great PB of 7 mins 36 secs. They came 9th overall.

• Although having harsh rain and wind, the U17 single containing Kate Ritchie managed to place 6th in her heat.

• Lola and Lucy had only rowed together once before MAADI and almost made it straight to semis in their first race (they only missed out by 0.2 of a second!). Despite having very windy conditions in their repecharges and semis, they made it through to a B Final and ended up placing 16th in NZ.

• The girls N18 double with Sienna Marsden and Fenella Millen also put in the mahi to place second in heats, which got them straight through to semis. They then placed second in the semis to come 5th overall in the A final.

• In the boys U17 double, Philip Massey and Anton Jones rowed through the tough weather conditions to manage a 5th place in their heat which qualified them for the repechage, where they scratched 26 seconds off their time!

• In the boys U18 X2 with Jem Curtis and Philip Massey, they pushed it through and took out a third place in their heat, overall standing at 11th!

• Annie Wells and Annika Massey made up our G U17 2X and they made it through heats, repechages, semis and A finals and came out with a very close 4th in the country!

Final Results:

4th G U17 2X - Annie, Anika

5th G N18 2X - Sienna, Fenella

8th G U15 4X+ - Lucy, Hana, Nova, Sienna + Caroline

8th G U15 2X - Nova, Hana

9th G U17 4X+- Lola, Annie, Annika, Kate + Caroline

11th B U18 2X - Jem, Philip

15th B U18 1X - Jem

16th G U16 2X - Lola, Lucy

Aside from competing, we had a busy week getting involved in the many MAADI Cup traditions. We walked through Cambridge in the rowing parade proudly holding our school banner, we met our NZ rowing idols including Emma Twigg, we participated in the uniform swap along with 2500 others and we also ate more bananas than we have ever eaten before!

We need to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped us this season. From parents to coaches - you’re all amazing. But we also need to say extra special thanks to everyone who helped us last week - our coaches Matt Rickard and Chris Brooks, Will Radford for towing the boats the 4000km up and back to Lake Karapiro, and to our mums for the week - Jo Jones and Angela Rickard - THANK YOU!

Written by Lucy Radford, Hana Jones and Nova Whiston

Senior Volleyball

Over the past six weeks, two mixed Senior Volleyball teams have been competing in a round robin tournament across Central Otago. Roxburgh Area School, Cromwell College, Dunstan High School and Mount Aspiring College played games on a Thursday night with a mix of both home and away games.

MAC Black (Hunter Wilton, Sam Caumette, Thomas Wallington, Mila Culpitt, Zara Weatherly and Kaitlin Van Staden) lost early on against Cromwell at home in a tight 5 setter. They went on to win in 5 sets against RAS A, then in 3 sets against Dunstan, MAC Yellow and RAS B. This put them in second place coming into the finals. MAC Black took out the final in a nail biting 4 sets where the team played the best they’d done all season. It was a wonderful show of teamwork and perseverance.

MAC Yellow (Thomas Benson, Bradley Gendall, Jem Curtis, Kate Watson, Lucy Laker, Sophia Tuck, Lola Ritchie and Izzy Foskett) took a win first up against Dunstan in 4 sets, after dropping the first. They went on to win against RAS B in 4 sets, had to default against RAS A and then lost to MAC Black before winning in 4 sets against Cromwell.

Both teams grew in both skill and confidence across the season and it was a phenomenal final to watch on the big court in Cromwell against their home side. A massive thanks to all players for the effort and commitment, but also to Ignacio Sande for helping me get two teams to the right places each week and supporting me.

Written by Mrs Brown

Central Otago Primary School Athletics Champs

The Central Otago Primary School Athletics Champs were held in Alexandra on Friday 31 March. We took a large team of Year 7 and 8 athletes who qualified for this event after their strong performances at the Upper Clutha Athletics Championships. After being postponed due to weather, we had a picture perfect day at the track. The students joined forces with Wānaka Primary, Te Kura O Take Kārara, Holy Family and Hawea Flat to represent the Upper Clutha area with pride.

MAC recorded many top 6 finishes and some students managed to break some Central Otago records in the process!

Top six finishes in individual events were awarded to:

Sprints

Year 7 Boys - Harper Norman 5th

Year 8 Boys - Lachlan Roy 2nd

Year 7 Girls - Bianca Soares 1st, Sophia McClintock 2nd

Year 8 Girls - Zoe Fahy 4th, Vienna Harley 6th

800m

Year 7 Girls - Hana Carnie 1st -RECORD 2:48.58

Hurdles

Year 8 Boys - Jake Edwards 3rd

Year 8 Girls - Vienna Harley 4th

High Jump

Year 8 Boys - Jake Edwards 1st - RECORD 144cm

Year 8 Girls - Sammy Watkins 2nd

Long Jump

Year 7 Boys - Harry Dickson 4th

Year 8 Boys - Jake Edwards 1st - RECORD 4.80cm,Lachlan Roy 3rd

Year 7 Girls - Lily Lake 3rd, Bianca Soares 5th

Year 8 Girls - Vienna Harley 3rd, Zoe Fahy 5th

Discus

Year 7 Boys - Mason Wiseby 2nd

Year 8 Boys - Duncan Turner 3rd

Year 7 Girls - Sophia McClintock 2nd

Year 8 Girls - Bess Wilson 3rd, Laia Mactaggart 5th, Stella Harper 6th

Shot Put

Year 7 Boys - Harry Dickson 4th, Jacob Veasey 5th

Year 8 Boys - Duncan Turner 6th

Relays

Year 7 Boys - 2nd - Dean Coll, Blake Lindner, Harry Dickson, John Quirke

Year 8 Boys - 2nd - Deacon Gwilliam Browne, Jake Edwards, George Murray, Lachlan Roy

Year 7 Girls - 1st - RECORD 1:01.20 - Sophia McClintock, Lily Lake, Hana Carnie, Bianca Soares

Year 7 Girls - 6th - Ally Gray, Paige Lunny, Elliot Lovelock, Paige Boomsma

Year 8 Girls - 3rd - Laia Mactaggart, Charlotte Sheppard, Olivia Noble-Kirkbride, Vienna Harley

New Zealand Secondary School Triathlon Championships

Last week the New Zealand Secondary School Triathlon Championships were held at Glendhu Bay Motor Camp. A number of our students took the opportunity to compete against the country's best school age triathletes on our home turf. The weather was beautiful, but very fresh as it fell on the day of our very first frost for the season! The students braved the lake in their togs or wetsuits, raced along the road on their bikes and ran laps around the campground to finish off the event. Frozen hands and feet couldn’t stop our 20 athletes who competed in both the team and individual events and we came away with some podium finishes - absolutely outstanding!

Individual results:

U12 Male - 10th Max McClean

U12 Female - 5th Ally Gray, 10th Holly Radford

U13 Female - 14th Ila Duncan

U14 Male - 10th Marshall Watson

U14 Female - 11th Fleur Jansen

U16 Male - 15th Tarn Currie, 23rd Jack Sides

U19 Male - 7th Josh Moody, 12th Tom Sides

U19 Male Aquathon - 5th Josh Moody

Team Results:

U13 Female Team -1st - Scarlet Henshall, Ivy Craig, Brooke McLachlan

U13 Male Team - 3rd - Shannon Tisch-Wickes, Leo Cliff, Matthew Jurczyluk

U14 Female Team - 2nd - Liv Fairmaid, Sybella Pepper, Georgia Murray

Top Bike

On Tuesday, two Year 7 and 8 teams competed in the annual Top Bike Competition in Alexandra. Teams of six (three girls and three boys) competed in three disciplines - a skills course, grass track racing and a mountain bike team time trial. It was a beautiful day and the students enjoyed the day out competing against other central otago schools.

South Island Secondary School Athletics Championships

Eleven MAC students headed to Invercargill last weekend to take on the tough competition at the South Island Secondary School Athletics Championships. Mandy Enoka was once again our amazing volunteer Team Manager and she ran a slick operation preparing all of the athletes for their events - thank you Mandy!

There were some fabulous results from this experienced team and you should all be really proud of your end of season performances.

Individual results:

Cody Armstrong - 4th Senior Triple Jump, 3rd Senior 400m Run

Matthew Botting - 5th Senior Triple Jump

Amaya East - 3rd U15 800m Run

Millie East - 5th Senior 100m Sprint

Cory Enoka - 11th U14 Javelin Throw

Ryan Enoka - 6th U16 Discus Throw, 5th U16 Shot Put

Phoebe Laker - 1st U14 100m Sprint, 1st U14 400m Sprint

Pippa Raffills - 5th Senior Triple Jump, 5th Senior 400m Run

Chantel Thurston - 3rd U16 800m Run

Niamh Townsend - 4th Senior 100m Sprint

Relay results:

4th - Senior Boy’s 4x100 Relay - Lachlan Hay, Matt Botting, Ryan Enoka, Cody Armstrong

1st - Senior Girl’s 4x100 Relay - Chantel Thurston, Millie East, Phoebe Laker, Niamh Townsend

1st - U19 Girl’s 4x400 Relay - Phoebe Laker, Chantel Thurston, Amaya East, Millie East