Waimea College Adventure Racing

 

Students prepare for adventure challenge

Eight students, under the guidance of teacher and multisport athlete Jane Orbell, are representing the region in the Get2go Challenge against 11 schools in the five-day event at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre on the island.

The adventure racing challenge contains a mixture of problem-solving and physical challenges, featuring two days of group initiative activities and a two-and-a-half day long rogaine, where the teams must reach certain points and carry most of their gear.

The challenge is designed for year 9 and 10 students. Waimea entered last year, finishing fifth. The team was near the bottom after the two days of problem solving, before hauling themselves back into contention during the rogaine.
Jane said they were looking to get off to a good start to give themselves the best chance of success.

‘‘This year the idea is that we will be much better at the group initiative stuff in the first two days, so they finish that a lot higher up, and then hopefully in the last three days they can improve.’’

Ollie Mills was involved last year, and said teamwork would be the key to success, as well as giving clear instructions.

‘‘Last year some people didn’t know what they were doing during those things. Half the team were doing something and the other half weren’t doing anything at all.

‘‘So involving important.’’

He said everyone had improved a lot since last year, and would be more confident second time around.

Libby Malthus was taking part for the first time, after becoming interested during a power-point presentation at the start of the year.

She said it had been good fun and she was looking forward to the trip.

‘‘I’ve enjoyed the training; it has been fun. I have really enjoyed the rock climbing.’’

The team had been doing regular training, including running with packs, sailing, kayaking, rock climbing and teamwork

everyone

is skills, with teachers at members of

They were looking at having sessions with champion multisporters Richard Ussher and Nathan Fa’avae.

As well, they would receive nutritional advice from the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

Multisport and adventure racing is increasing in popularity with students around the country, and Waimea is no exception.

In recognition of the growing interest, the school is introducing an award to highlight the best exponent of the sport from 2012.

The cost of the trip is about $700 each, with Village Cycles and o2b Healthy offering financial help to the students. help the the from other school and wider community.

The Race Result

After a gruelling race Waimea College finished strong to secure second place for the 2011 Get2Go Adventure Race Challenge on Great Barrier Island.

Congratulations Waimea College for a superb race effort from the team at o2b Healthy.

Here’s the team highlights in their own words...




The best thing about Get2Go was the fighting spirit of our team and how we used our training to really dominate the competition. The whey protein was helpful because after a hard day of carrying peoples bags and towing people up hills I would take the protein and I would be ready to do it again in the morning – David.

I really enjoyed crossing the finish line and then seeing what we had achieved and all the effort we had put in. I also enjoyed seeing our team work really well together to complete the tasks that we were given – Shelley.

O2B Healthy’s whey protein was really good to have at the end of a hard day, because it really helped my body recover and be ready for the next day – Nathan.

The O2B products helped me a lot especially the protein powder, I took the powder at the end of the day once we had finished all of our challenges. I didn’t suffer from cramp and I felt fresh and ready to go again the next morning – Shelley.

One of my favourite parts of Get2Go would definitely be the fourth day during the ROGAINE when we came in with 90 seconds to spare, I enjoyed it because afterwards I felt I had given it 110% - Cambria.

I really enjoyed Get2Go and pushing myself. It was a fantastic experience. Which allowed us to improve and showcase our skills – Morgy.

I really enjoyed the Protein powder, I found that it really helped my recovery. Thanks to O2B Healthy – Cambria.

I didn’t notice much difference with using the whey protein during the first 2 days of the competition. However when it came to the main adventure race, where we were getting up at 6am and running and kayaking until 5pm. That’s  when I found the protein really started to help, as my muscles were recovering faster after the long days of exercise – Ollie.

The main thing about Get2Go that I enjoyed was the big ROGAINE on the forth day, where we had until 5 o’clock to get as many points as we could. We ended up getting back with 1 and a half minutes to go – Ollie.

The trip to Great Barrier Island was the highlight of my year, it was an amazing week. It was great fun but it also pushed me to my mental and physical limit. That is really good because I’ve never been in a race like that before. From all the training we’ve done, I’m probably the fittest I’ve ever been. Our team did really well through the whole race but the part I enjoyed the most was the 3 day Rogaine, that’s when the Waimea team really strived to do their best. Overall it was great, I fully enjoyed it. While training beforehand, taking the O2B protein pills kept my energy up so I could go harder for longer. Up at Great Barrier, when I was starting to run low on energy, taking a pill would boost me up and make me feel ready for the full day of activities ahead – Libby.

Great Barrier was a brilliant experience which I really enjoyed. We were a very competitive team this year finishing 2nd and winning a few different stages along the way. Probably my favourite part was winning the fast kayak back on the last day. We were one of the fittest and strongest teams and I think the protein powder did help us recover after each day but I wasn’t that keen on the taste – Lachlan.