Here are current and upcoming sports notices and events.

Welcome to MAC Sport for 2023! Term 1 is a busy term with lots of fun sports events on, so make sure you keep up to date with all of the information through the school newsletter and the daily notices. If you ever have any questions come and see Ignacio (Head of Sport) and Claire (Sports Co-ordinator) in the Sports Hub (at the entrance to the gym) anytime. You can also contact us via email at sport@mtaspiring.school.nz

COMING UP THIS WEEK:

We have another busy week of sport ahead of us:

● Good luck to our team of over 60 Year 7 and 8 athletes, who are representing MAC at the Upper Clutha Primary School Athletics Champs on Tuesday.

● We have over 40 Year 9-13 students who have been nominated by local sports clubs, to attend a Central Otago Students Coaching and Umpiring Workshop in Cromwell on Wednesday next week.

● The Mount Aspiring College Downhill Mountain Bike Champs are being held at Cardrona on Thursday 23 March. See the information below if you are still wanting to enter this event. Entries close on Tuesday 21 March.

● Good luck to our Senior Volleyball teams as they head into the final two weeks of the Central Otago Secondary Schools Competition.

● The awesome team from RAD Skate are coming to MAC on Friday 24 March at lunchtime. There will be a demo/session for those who can already skateboard, along with coaches who can teach people looking to try skateboarding or would like some help. Helmets, pads, and skateboards will be provided, along with some ramps and rails to use. Come along to the basketball courts and get involved!

Sports Calendar: Term 1, 2023

The term calendar is an overview of the sports events that are happening this 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 sport@mtaspiring.school.nz

Term 1

23 February-30 March: Central Otago Senior Volleyball competition - Thursday afternoon games (venues TBC)

21 March: Upper Clutha Athletics Champs Year 7 and 8 (Wānaka)

22 March: Central Otago Student Coach Workshop - ‘Empowering Coaches’

23 March: MAC Downhill Mountain Bike Champs (Cardrona)

26 March: Otago Primary Schools Swimming Champs Year 7 and 8 (Dunedin)

27 March-2 April: Maadi Cup Rowing (Cambridge)

29 March: Central Otago Primary Schools Athletics Champs (Alexandra)

30 March: NZSS Triathlon Champs (Glendhu)

30 March-1 April: SISS Mountain Bike Champs (Coronet Peak)

31 March-2 April: SISS Athletics Champs (Invercargill)

4 April: Top Bike - Year 7 and 8 (venue TBC)

5 April: MAC Cross Country Mountain Bike Champs (Deans Bank)

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.

MAC DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKE CHAMPS

The registrations for the MAC Downhill MTB champs are now open. This event is held at Cardrona on Thursday 23 March.

● Competitors must be able to ride at an intermediate level and be confident on both Blue and Black trails.

Information Link: Downhill MTB Champs Information

● Entry Link: Downhill MTB Entry Link

● Cost - $20 entry fee. All competitors must also have a lift ticket to race. A ‘local schools’ discounted $40 full-day pass is available to riders without a season pass.

BASKETBALL

The Central Otago Senior Basketball Competition takes place for six weeks in Term 2 and we are now taking registrations from any students in Years 11-13 who are keen to be involved. Games are on Thursdays and it involves travel to different schools - Cromwell, Dunstan, Roxburgh and Wakatipu. The transport is organised by the school and you usually travel in school vans. This competition has a great mix of social and more competitive teams, so if you’re keen to give it a go, please come and see us at the Sports Hub to sign up.

TRIATHLON

The New Zealand Secondary School Triathlon Championships are being held at Glendhu Bay Motor Camp on 30 and 31 March. Given that they are being held so close to Wānaka, it is a great opportunity for us to increase the entry numbers and get some more of our students competing. You don’t need to enter as an individual, you are able to make up teams and just compete in the one aspect that you feel most comfortable with. Please come and see us at the Sports Hub if you are interested in participating and we can help to put teams together. This event is open to all MAC students from Years 7-13.

Here is the entry link for more information: NZSS Triathlon Champs

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

Otago Secondary School Athletics Championships

What an excellent weekend for the Te Kura o Tititea Mount Aspiring College students attending the Otago Secondary Schools Athletics Championships on Saturday 11 March 2023 at the Caledonian track, Dunedin. With perfect weather conditions and a strong athlete turnout (especially in the younger grades), it was going to make for a terrific competition.

Our 12 MAC students all stepped up and competed very strongly in all of their events.

Special mention to:

● Cody Armstrong, who had a fast win in the 400m sprint final to take the MAC school record for this event. This record has been in place since 2007.

● Phoebe Laker, although not competing in her favoured 400m event for a ‘break,’ continued her excellent season’s form into the shorter sprints, comfortably winning both the 100m and 200m. Narrowly missing the 200m record (by 0.05s) she did, however, secure a new MAC record.

● Ryan Enoka, had a well fought win in the Boys U16 Shot Put, and then followed up with a 2nd in discus, taking the MAC discus record, with a big PB of 38.02m.

● Amaya East won the U15 Girls 800m race impressively, in a time of 2:25.27. Relays are always a much-enjoyed conclusion to the Otago Secondary Schools events and the MAC athletes continued to have excellent successes with their relay teams, with all three relay teams securing gold or silver positions. The girls, competing in the 16+ grade, won the 4x100m and 4x400m, while the boys, in the senior grade, came 2nd to OBHS, in a quick time of 47.72s.

The athletes look forward to even more successes and faster times at the South Island Secondary Schools Athletics competition, to be held in three weeks’ time, in Invercargill.

Team Manager Mandy Enoka was proud of the efforts of all the athletes who competed in Dunedin. "It was heartening seeing the more experienced athletes displaying tuakana-teina supporting the younger athletes, and the encouragement of the whole team for each other was wonderful to observe. Special thanks to the parents for their support and taking the time to drive the athletes to Dunedin for this event".

The full list of results is as follows:

• Cody Armstrong, Senior - 1st 400m final (MAC record), 2nd Triple Jump, 4th 100m 

• Matthew Botting, Senior - 1st Triple Jump, 2nd 100m, 2nd 200m

• Niamh Townsend, Senior - 2nd 100m, 2nd 200m

• Pippa Raffills, Senior - 2nd Triple Jump, 4th 200m, 3rd 400m

• Millie East, Senior - 3rd 100m

• Ryan Enoka, U16 - 1st Shot Put, 2nd Discus (MAC record), 4th Javelin, 7th 100m 

• Lachlan Hay, U16 - 5th 100m

• Chantel Thurston, U16 - 1st 800m

• Amaya East, U15 - 1st 800m

• Cory Enoka, U14 - 3rd Javelin

• Phoebe Laker, U14 - 1st100m, 1st 200m (MAC record)

• Lyndajayne Kitto - 4th High Jump, 6th Discus, 7th Shotput

• 1st Senior Girls 4x100m (C Thurston, M East, P Laker, N Townsend)

• 1st Senior Girls 4x400m (P Raffills, P Laker, A East, M East)

• 2nd Senior Boys 4x100m (L Hay, M Botting, R Enoka, C Armstrong).

South Island Secondary School Rowing Championships

Last weekend, twenty-three Mount Aspiring College rowers competed on Lake Ruataniwha at the South Island Secondary Schools Championships Regatta. Over a thousand competitors participated at this event, representing a total of 44 schools from all over the South Island.

It was quite a windy weekend, with the wind getting so bad on Saturday afternoon that our tent blew away and racing had to be postponed… our rowers handled these tough conditions like seasoned professionals, making it into 6 A finals and 6 B finals with no yellow, red or blue cards to report!

The highlight of the weekend was the heats of the Boys Under 18 Single Sculls, where the MAC rowers cleaned up, with Jem Curtis placing 1st and Anton Jones placing 2nd in the same heat, sending them both straight through to the A finals. Jem Curtis then joined Philip Massey in a double where they placed 1st in their heat and went on to place 5th in their A final. These results qualified all of the boys for Maadi Cup (the New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs) which is taking place on Lake Karāpiro at the end of this month.

Annie Wells and Abbey Pedersen also both had strong outings in their single sculls, with Annie placing an impressive 3rd in her B final and Abbey 6th in her heat. Shot girls, great results for your first ever single races!

The U17 Girls quads: Lola Ritchie, Annie Wells, Annika Massey, Kate Ritchie, and cox Caroline Smith placed 4th in their A final and Chloe Murray, Abbey Pedersen, Pieta Craig, and Jess Gould, coxed by Holly Brooks, came 7th in their heat. The U16 quad of Chloe Murray, Pieta Craig, Sophie Tuck, and Jess Gould, also coxed by Holly Brooks, gained a 5th place - just missing a chance for the B final.

Jess Gould and Sophie Tuck placed 7th in their doubles heat and Chloe Murray and Pieta Craig recovered from a blade which lodged itself under the double in the first 500m to place 8th in theirs. Annie Wells and Annika Massey completely annihilated the competition, placing 1st in their U17 doubles heat and landing a 5th in their close A final.

Our novice rowers had an impressive outing in their Octi, placing 2nd in their heat which gave them a direct ride to the A final. The niggly conditions thwarted their chance for a placing, but they still managed a 6th placing. In the U15 quad; Lucy Radford, Hana Jones, Nova Whiston, and Sienna Marsden, with cox Holly Brooks, placed a comfortable 7th in their B final. Fenella Millen, Lauren Bensemann, Neve Twiname, Catie Pascoe, and Caroline Smith gave it their all in their U15 quad heat to place 7th.

The novice doubles went tremendously well with Neve Twiname and Ellie Berry placing 6th in their heat. The U15 doubles then went up against each other in their B final, in which Nova Whiston and Sienna Marsden placed 2nd and Lucy Radford and Hana Jones secured a 7th.

This was a great regatta and we are extremely proud of all the efforts from our Mount Aspiring College rowers. We left knowing that we had tried our best and represented our school and club with enthusiasm and respect. A big thank you to all the coaches and parent helpers - we wouldn't have been able to do this without your endless support and encouragement - and also to the home chefs, because feeding 23 hungry rowers is not to be taken lightly! A huge thank you to all of our supporters too, the cheers from the team during the finishing stages of a 2000m race can make all the difference. Wishing good luck to all our rowers heading to Maadi; we know you’ll blitz it!

Report written by Lola Ritchie and Chloe Murray