Hillary Challenge 6 Hour Adventure Race
Posted on July 01, 2016
On Sunday 26 June eight Macleans College athletes participated in the Hillary Challenge 6 hour Adventure race.
Braving the cold temperatures of Taupo and heavy down pours, the team raced against 25 other schools. Going up against a lot of hardened teams with veterans of the adventure race world our eight battled against the rain and other teams to rank in the top 15. This was the first time participating at such an event, and it was a big step up from the short competitions.
The team consisting of Zachary Wong (Batten House), Esme Du Plessis (Hillary), Emily Gillion (Snell), Lang Cuihua (Kupe), Gemma Black (Upham), Oli Roberts-Swain (Hillary), Isabelle Wang (Batten) and Ciaran Stuart (Kupe) did amazingly well for their first adventure race where very few had participated in a rogaine before, and a few were new to mountain biking.
The course covered over forty kilometres, and had a two hour mountain biking section, and a four hour foot race. The conditions were brutal but the team held with all members fighting to the finish. This provided the team with valuable experience and knowledge for future events, and the development of the team. Their result in the final stage of a three hour rogaine was very impressive and showed the quality of the tactical choices on ground.
Their manager Mr Hey was very proud of their achievements and looks forward to the development of this sport further.
