A group of eight Mackenzie College students are set for an adventure of a lifetime when they take on schools from all around New Zealand in the 2024 Hillary Challenge Final.
Twelve teams from around the country will go head to head over five days of gruelling multisport action, in what is touted as the toughest adventure race in New Zealand for year 11-13 students.
To make the finals, Mackenzie College competed in the South Island regional final back in May and secured themselves fifth place, with the top six qualifying for the national final.
For the qualifier the students tackled a six-hour challenge that featured activities like running, biking, orienteering and several other mystery challenges, with the goal of getting to as many checkpoints as possible in the fastest time.
The final will be held in Tongariro National Park on October 7 over five days.
Mackenzie College sports coordinator Kim Jordan said the final would be a completely different challenge for the students.
‘‘On both Monday and Tuesday they do six one-hour mini challenges and then on Wednesday we ditch them and they get to go overnight tramping and navigating on their own.
‘‘They’ll have backpacks, tarps, tents and sleeping bags and they’ve got to navigate from one end of Tongariro to the other till Thursday night.
‘‘On Friday they’ll do another six-hour adventure race like they did to get here, so it’s going to be pretty full on.
‘‘They’ve done really well to get to the final, especially when some schools are picking from 300-400 kids and we’re picking from 60.
‘‘I’m pretty stoked.’’
Mackenzie College student Jack Cassie, who had competed two times previously, said the challenge was a great opportunity and he was very much looking forward to the final.
‘‘It’s great to do, it’s a good chance to have fun with your friends and of course you get to go running and biking.
‘‘It’s just good fun.
‘‘We’ll give the other schools there some good competition for sure.’’
The school had been taking part in the challenge for the last 10 years or more but had only reached the final on two other occasions, in 2015 and 2018.
Sam Cassie said he was very excited for the chance to compete against schools from all around the country.
‘‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us.’’
Bella Parke said she was proud of the team’s effort to make it so far, especially being from a small school.
‘‘It’s pretty cool that we have been able to do this because we’re such a small school with not many people, you wouldn’t have thought it would be possible.’’
To take part, the students will have to fundraise around $13,000 to cover travel and entry costs.
They will be using some of the funds raised from the Tekapo Ten mountainbike race, and are currently running a salami selling fundraiser.
A donation portal has also been set up for anyone wishing to support and help the team get to the final.
The link to donate can be found on the Mackenzie College Facebook page.
