Tournament week saw 12 of our students compete in Rock Climbing. The men's team finished 5th! We had a really great time and scored lots of spot prizes.

After finishing the first day in 7th place we had an aim of getting up into 5th place for our 'semi competitive team'. Our male team came into day 2 with a steely determination to make it happen. This was no easy task and the lads pushed themselves right to the end. This was led by Year 9 Alex Evans, who has climbed with his family since a young age, racking up points all day that made a huge difference, he was an unstoppable machine. Once again Santi Montejo's skill and talent showed through on day 2, climbing numerous 24's all day to help the team. We would also like to mention Eli Watson and Nixon Parker, who climbed to their limits and never gave up - this made a huge difference. We finished on 667 points, 7 points behind 4th place Cashmere. Shirley Boys' won the overall competition with 721 points.

Secondly, I just wanted to mention our other two teams, The Mixed and the Girls teams. They both did an amazing job and showed the Hagley spirit and values throughout the competition. Their score didn't reflect how hard they tried and they were still trying their hardest right up to the last climb of the competition. Many of them climbed personal bests grades. The women's team consisted of Talina, Emily, Isla & Isla and the mixed team of Vanessa, Ellie, Oliver McTear & Jennifer.

Click here for photos of the day

Lastly, I just wanted to thank everyone for their support and to those who came down to watch. A special thanks to Emma, Abhijeet, Tony, and Jenni for your support with vans, gear, and relief, and to the PE/OED Departments for letting us borrow a van and everything you do 🙂

PS: Santi entered the NZ National Indoor Boulder Series on the Saturday after two crazy days of climbing. He finished 15th(ish) in the Open Men's division, placing higher than some of NZ's top climbers. He said he was very close to topping two 'Very Difficult' problems that would have pushed him into the top 6 shoot out. We are all looking forward to seeing him progress in the coming years.