For twenty Raroa students the long awaited four day trip to the AIMS Games became reality.

On 5 September the 20 students and our one and only John (Mr Cope) and Mr Tilley drove up to Tauranga to compete in these Games.

The AIMS Games is a national event where 120 schools from all over New Zealand and some from Australia compete in 16 different sports. This year was the first year Raroa had ever competed so it was a pretty big thing. We only entered into the cross country as our team is very strong this year.

On the 6 September we made our way to the course and the day was a go. The Year 7 girls began and The AIMS games had officially started. Jemma Catherwood jetted off and was winning for the first 200m! Amanda Parlane kept up the front for majority of the race and managed to finish 12th out of 132 runners. Second for Raroa was Carly Smith coming 14th and next was Becs Jenkins coming 35th. These three runners managed to get enough points to get a gold team medal. The Year 7 girls ran amazingly well and did the best they could have done.

The Year 7 boys already had a disadvantage as Jayden Gilchrist had to pull out due to an injury. But without doubt the boys did amazingly and managed to get amazing placings. Henry Sinclair got 32nd out of 131 runners. Malachi Smith came in 56th and Danny Sneyd-Utting came 73rd. Last off Aaron Keegan came 74th.

The Year 8 girls race was a great race, with Emma Douglass getting a well-deserved bronze medal. It was an incredible run from a superstar runner. Her tears at the finishing line exemplified how much the medal meant. Libby Browne came close behind getting 10th and Jess Jenkins getting 33rd. Also doing an amazing run was Eleanor White coming 73rd.

Last but not least were the Year 8 boys. Barker Carroll managed to come out with 23rd even with a bad heel injury. Next was Dominic Rajan coming 35th out of 138 runners. Then Toby Jurke with 59th and close behind Liam Coleman with 79th. Last off was an amazing run by Alex Urlich with 85th.

We were tremendously lucky to have an incredible group of parents with us on the journey. A huge thank you to all of them for contributing to lifelong memories for our entire team. Thank you to all of the parents that offered and came along for the journey. It couldn’t have been done without them.

Overall this trip was unreal and many memories were made. I know we will all remember the conversations, singing and laughs we all had during this unreal experience.