Kaikoura Adventure Race
Kaikoura Adventure Race Attracts a Big Entry
Press Release / 26.04.2023
Over 700 competitors, parents and supporters descended on the Kaikoura last weekend for the 4th Chapter of the Kaikoura Adventure race. This edition featured round 1 of the NZ Adventure 1 Series and incorporated the South Island Secondary Schools Adventure Racing Champs.
NZ A1 Series, Event 1 (24hr)
24 teams started at Waiau township (1hr inland from Kaikoura) at 6:30am on Saturday morning in cool, slightly misty conditions. Fear Youth, Top of the South, Nelson Vets, Vertigoats and the two all-female teams “Compulsory Kit” and “a Cupped team” established positions at the front of the field early on in the Waiau river. The high river conditions meant for a fast trip down, but made for a tricky exit and trek to TA. Several teams crossed into a paddock in the confusion and earned themselves a 30min penalty. Top of the South took the lead coming over the range to Race HQ at Conway Flat, with Fear Youth just behind in hot pursuit. The lead had extended to 15mins by the next TA and after Fear Youth served their penalty, they were able to leave 45mins in arrears. From there Top of the South just kept on extending their lead to finish in just 18.5 hours.
Nelson Vets took the initiative on the final Rogaine and quickly made their way around this stage to finish about 2 hours after Top of the South. Unfortunately, it was later determined that they had missed a checkpoint on the Rogaine, taking them out of the running. Fear Youth came charging in at 4am in a boisterous mood, determined to not lose out in a sprint finish once again. The two-person team “Mixed Nuts” caught them at the final transition and pushed them to the end, but Fear Youth got there with 6 seconds to spare. “Compulsory kit” collected all the checkpoints to win the battle of the female teams and Local team winners Boomtown Battlers also finished just in time to complete the full course.
12, 6 and 3hr races
Across the 12, 6 and 3hr races approximately 70 school teams and another 200+ school age athletes raced, with some of the youngest competitors aged just 7, 8 and 9! The school categories are divided into “Championship” teams consisting of 4 team members all from one school. “Non-championship” or “open Schools” teams are made up of members from different schools and sometimes less than 4 team members. The “Open” grades also featured some school kids, but these were mainly primary school kids, or kids racing alongside their parents.
South Island Secondary Schools AR Champs (SISSARC)
In the 12hour Senior grade, Waimea College “Waimea Mixed” dominated the competition, finishing 1.5 hours ahead of 2nd place Motueka High School “Maley and the Motueka Minions” and the podium rounded out by “Rangi Ruru Kahurangi” (all girls team)
The 6 hour intermediate competition was again dominated by Cashmere High School “Cashmere FASP”, winning by almost 1.5hrs. The battle for second and third was much tighter with Marlborough Boys College “MBC” just a couple of minutes ahead of Cashmere High School “Shut up and Run”.
The 3 hour junior section was a hotly contested event with just 10 minutes separating Tasman School “Tasman” and Christchurch South Karamata “Imagine Losing” and Darfield High School “Blazing Rockets” a further 45 minutes back.
Non-Championship Open Schools
While it wasn’t a close competition in the Championship grade Waimea College had a neck and neck battle with the non-championship composite team of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. Both teams featured some of New Zealand’s top junior orienteers and at the end of the day after a sprint finish 14 seconds separated them with “Goldilocks” crossing the line just ahead. Just like these two teams 2nd place in the non-championship grade was “Stingray lickin dog chickens”, fighting it out with Motueka High School. Nelson area showed its strength with yet another Motueka High School “Motueka Muppets” team finishing third.
The 6hr was won convincingly by the Middle Jon-sens finishing in 5.5hours. “No sense of direction” found their way into 2nd followed by team Phobe&Anna in 3rd place
In the 3hr event the “Rebels” finished bang on the 3hr mark, closely followed by team “TBC” 11 minutes behind and Darfield team “The Rebels” just another 9 minutes behind them.
Open Event 12hr, 6hr and 3hr
While this category is open to all comers, there was many school aged kids competing alongside their parents, it also included a former All Black Captain Kieran Reid back for his second year, and newly minted Coast to Coast Champion Sam Manson.
In the 12 hour is was won by “The Plodders” featuring Sam Manson himself, finishing in just under 10 hours. Team “BAAH” was 35 mins behind, followed by “CBS”. The first Mixed open team finished in 11 hours and 18 minutes Merrell NZ
The 6hr competition was dominated by the father and son team of “Team Gearshop & Grom”. The Battle for 2nd and 3rd was tight between “Dave and the better-looking brother” (containing the race director's brother, hence the team name) just edging out another father son team “The lad and dad” by 3 seconds.
While it was Fathers and Sons in the 6 hour competition it was Mothers and Sons in the 3hr race that dominated. This was also possibly the closest fought battle of any grade with just 4 mins separating 1 through to 3rd. The Winners were “Mama catch tama in 2 hrs 40 minutes, followed by "Just For Laughs", and “Not again” in third.
From the smiles at the finish, it appeared everyone had a good day out, the weather was perfect for racing. Unfortunately there had been a lot of rain in the weeks and days leading up to the event which resulted in very muddy conditions! This resulted in at least 5 broken derailleurs on mountain bikes and some very muddy finishers. It was very cool to see all those kids of all ages out there pushing through, having great adventures and loads of fun a the same time. Very inspiring!
Full results can be found here: https://www.rogaine-results.com/
Huge thanks to all the Competitors, the Landowners, the many Volunteers and Sponsors for making it such a great event. See you in 2024, entries open 1st of September 2023.
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