The Shirley Boys' High School – Rangi Ruru Girls' School Adventure Race team had a fantastic day at the Canterbury Region Hillary Outdoors Get2Go Challenge. This event took place on Monday 12th of September out at The Groynes and at Lake Rua with 18 other teams from around Canterbury. The event is for teams of eight Year 9 and 10 students that compete together in orienteering, mountain biking, water and problem solving activities throughout the day.

The combined Shirley Boys' – Rangi Ruru team of Tyler Lodge, Markus Jorgensen, Mac Smith, Lewis Monk, Juliet Freeman, Sophie Sara, Vesper Woodfield and Sophie Maxwell, all from Year 9 and 10, have only been running together since the beginning of winter 2022. With Violetta Dacre to fill in for an absent Sophie Maxwell on the day, the team worked exceptionally hard for a strong orienteering section, followed by the best mountain bike ride and water activities section out of all teams on the day. Their ability to work together and have a lot of fun saw them also have a strong problem solving section which took them to a 4th place out of 19 teams competing. A fantastic result, well done team.

Thank you to Jake Chalken (SBHS) and Trisha Hopcroft (Rangi Ruru) for supporting this team and for parents who were able to come out and help on the day. A huge thank you also to Violetta Dacre for filling in at short notice so the team could actually compete.

We have lots more adventure racing activities planned for the future, working into next year’s SISS Adventure Racing Champs and the Get 2 Go and Hillary Challenge events. If this sounds like something you might be into then get in touch and come and join us!!

Many thanks to Christina Freeman for writing this article and all her work getting the boys ready and taking them on many practice events.