For the second year in a row the Nayland College Active Pedagogies/Institute of Sport class and a group of their teachers entered in the ‘Wairua Warrior’ obstacle racing event.

The event is a combination of Cross Country running and negotiating a range of challenging obstacles. There are various obstacles to negotiate, including monkey bars to swing across, water holes to rope climb out of, a two-metre wall to clear, tyres to drag and a river to swim across. One of the exciting aspects of this event is that our Naycol teams not only compete against each other, but also encourage one another, and assist each other over the various obstacles.

For the 2020 event we had five student teams and one staff team race over the 6 kilometre course, and four students and one staff member compete in the Open division 6km and 12 kilometre events. The most outstanding individual result was Lois Breukel winning the 6km Open division overall. Lois beat the second-place women by nineteen minutes and narrowly beat Seth Siebelink, who placed first male in the open division. Jayden Siebelink finished a minute later placing fourth overall and third male. Jane Townsend (Deputy Principal) placed 1st women in the 12 km Open event and 2nd overall. 

The student teams featured strongly and represented our school with pride in the way they worked together to overcome obstacles, supported not only each other, but also the teams around them.

Our staff team consisting of Courtney Gravett, Mark Lewers, Andrew Walker and Brennan Geddes modelled the Nayland College SOAR values by winning their heat and recording the third fastest time out of the 130 teams entered.

The Wairua Warrior event was a wonderful way for both staff and students to work together, utilise each other’s strengths and problem solve in an authentic context within our community. The day was topped off with a swim at Cable Bay to wash off some of the mud before the prize giving.