This year a group of nine students and two adults travelled to Dunedin, for the Secondary Schools Mountain Bike Championships. We had three fun banter filled days in Dunedin as well as two days for travel.The team stayed at the Otago Boys' Hostel which also supplied food for every meal of the day. I thought it was really nice there especially the food, I can vouch for everyone that the Sunday roast was good.

On the second day we headed to Forester park to do some practice laps of the Cross Country course which we would be racing on in a couple of days. Once we had that track dialed we went to Signal Hill which has the Super D and the Downhill. We did shuttles there for four hours which was really fun. The first day of riding was the best in my opinion. Because of how fun the riding was and you're riding with your friends all day, it doesn't get much better than that.

Race day, we were all up at 7am to the sound of Indian Summer courtesy of Hamish. After breakfast, we loaded up the trailer, packed into the van and drove off to Signal Hill. Only when we got there did I know how big this event was, there were so many people registering. The Downhill race went well for our team, no crashes that I can recall. Here are the results-

U20 Male National

• 17th Ethan Fry
  
• 19th Hamish Bennett
  

U17 Male National

• 4th Liam Goodwin
  
• 19th Kelan Thomson
  

U16 Male National

• 20th Jacob Crampton
  

U15 Male National

• 8th Indy Hawthorne
  
• 11th Leon Murray
  

U20 Male South Island

• 14th Ethan Fry
  
• 15th Hamish Bennett
  

U17 Male South Island

• 3rd Liam Goodwin
  
• 17th Kealan Thomson
  

U15 Male South Island

• 7th Indy Hawthorne
  
• 10th Leon Murray
  

Straight after the Downhill race the Super D was underway.This was my favorite race simply because of the terrain we were riding. It had a lot of corners and long mellow straights but still had some downhill jumps. I was so relieved that I didn’t get any injuries that day. Anyway here are the results-

U20 Male National

• 8th Hamish Bennett
  
• 11th Ethan Fry
  

U17 Male National

• 7th Liam Goodwin
  
• 9th Kealan Thomson
  

U16 Male National

• DNF Jacob Crampton
  

U15 Male National

• 6th Indy Hawthorne
  
• 11th Leon Murray
  
• 18th Falco Cope
  

That night the team were all tired so just a game of hacky sack, showers, then bed.

Sunday was the Cross Country race and again we’re all up at 7am to the sound of Indian Summer. We all knew this race was going to be physically hard but we all had to do it. For the Under-15 riders we had a 12.25km track, the Under-16/17 had a 16.25km track, and Under-20 had a 20.25km track. Here are the results:

U20 Male National

• 8th Hamish Bennett
  
• 10th Ethan Fry
  

U17 Male National

• 12th Kealan Thomson
  
• 16th Liam Goodwin
  

U15 Male National

• 9th Indy Hawthorne
  
• 13th Leon Murray
  
• DNF Falco Cope
  

U20 Male South Island

• 5th Hamish Bennett
  
• 7th Ethan Fry
  

U17 Male South Island

• 10th Kealan Thomson
  
• 14th Liam Goodwin
  

U15 Male South Island

• 8th Indy Hawthorne
  
• 12th Leon Murray
  

It was a very long prize giving because they also had to award the best overall. All the race results get put together and the best person wins. Here are the results:

U20 Male National

• 9th Hamish Bennett
  
• 10th Ethan Fry
  

U17 Male National

• 6th Liam Goodwin
  
• 9th Kealan Thomson
  

U15 Male National

• 4th Indy Hawthorne
  
• 6th Leon Murray
  

U20 Male South Island

• 5th Hamish Bennett
  
• 7th Ethan Fry
  

U17 Male South Island

• 4th Liam Goodwin
  
• 7th Kealan Thomson
  

U15 Male South Island

• 3rd Indy Hawthorne
  
• 5th Leon Murray
  

All these results added up to Shirley Boys' coming in 3rd school overall. Our best result to date!

To sum up the trip I would say it was a recipe for fun. A bunch of mates, some bikes, with a pinch of banter on a road trip. Just put them together for five days and you’ve got a good time.