Youngsters relish adventure racing
Bohally students, from left, Ethan Spencer, Jack Cutts, Finnbar Duncan and Ewan Parley. Photo supplied.
Four Bohally students produced a memorable effort at the recent Kaikoura Adventure Race.
Ethan Spencer, Jack Cutts, Finnbar Duncan and Ewan Parley combined forces across a variety of disciplines to finish second in the South Island Schools Championship race and first champion boys’ team in the three-hour race.
They had to rogaine 10 checkpoints, play disc golf, mountain bike, trek, bike again and navigate a huge slip and slide down the side of the hill then bike into the finish line.
The Bohally crew completed the course, which covered 17.09km, with an elevation of 849m, in three hours 13 minutes and 20 seconds, taking maximum points in the rogaine.
They finished fifth overall out of 67 teams and second in the Championship.
The 3 Amigos - a combined team of Bohally and Renwick School students (Hugo Feather, Sam Murphy and Oliver Brown) finished fourth in the three-hour open schools’ section.
The Bohally Compass Crushers (Skyla-Rose Large, Poppy Stocker, Honor Mckenzie and Chloe Vallely) finished second in the junior girls’ three-hour championship.
Sixty-seven teams competed in the three-hour race field.
In the schools’ section, where athletes compete for South Island Secondary Schools Adventure Racing championship titles, there were three, six and 12-hour options.
The MBC Falcons also entered a four-man team and came fifth in the 12-hour race, being pipped at the post when four teams came in together. The team comprised: James Parley, Hugh Bradley, Lachy Noble and James Crowe. They started on the beach at 7am in the dark and finished in the dark way up the inland Kaikoura Rd, covering 48.87km and climbing to an elevation of 3264m.
The Kaikoura Adventure Race is a traditional adventure race that encompasses multiple disciplines in the stunning terrain of the Kaikoura District with its mountains to sea, hill country, rivers and an abundance of native bush. Every year the courses change as the race shifts round the district. The exact location and course details are revealed just prior to the event.