Three hours sleep. A 2am ocean swim. A bike ride. A 55km walk. Three more hours sleep. A 44km walk. And then a brisk raft ride down the Motueka River.
They don’t call it adventure racing for nothing.
A team made up of Motueka High School students recently embarked on a fundraising mission for the World Vision 40 Hour Challenge.
At the start of the term, the adventure racing team headed over to the West Coast to undertake their highly physical challenge, which included a night-time swim at Little Wanganui Beach before biking to the start of the Wangapeka track.
From there, they would walk the Wangapeka/Leslie Karamea tracks, which is almost 100km in length, before paddling from the Pokororo Hall to Whakarewa Street, walking the last 6km to the Janie Seddon where they had one final ocean swim.
This team was made up of Year 12 and 13 students Nika Rayward, Tide Fa’avae, Grace Werner, Hannah Robrorgh, Isabelle Schwarzenbach, Leo Easton, Louie Burger, Beck Weber, Luka Johnson, and Sam Maley.
Year 13 student Nika Rayward says that the atmosphere within the team is always supportive and “super positive”.
Adventure racing is different to other sports in that a competitor can’t just sub out for a while if they need a break.
“We totally get to learn where each other’s limits are, and what each other is good at.”
Their plans to walk across the skyline to Pukeone had to change midway through the 40 Hour Challenge, due to windfall and rough tracks, but Nika reckons that the event was still very much a success.
She appreciated the crowd that had gathered to walk the home stretch with them, as they arrived at the Janie Seddon at 5pm.
“It was quite a cool atmosphere,” she says.
The team finished the event with sore muscles and bruised, blistered feet, but apart from the route adaptions that took place on the fly, the event was largely without drama.
“A couple of the boys did have a bit of a wrestle and fell into the water, but that was not due to the wild river,” she laughs.
In total, it took them 39 hours to conquer the 145 km route, which included climbing to more than 3000m in altitude.
The group planned their own route, and aside from a little parental help with transport, was self-led.
They have raised $4,800 towards the World Vision cause so far, and their fundraising page - World Vision New Zealand – will be open until the end of September for further donations.
This group races as an extra-curricular activity, and they will soon be stepping up their training for October’s Hillary Challenge at Tongariro.
The wider school squad will jump back into action in Term 4, with the inaugural Tasman Adventure Race on 30 November.
This event is a new initiative between Crazy Kea Adventure Racing and Motueka High School, with the profits going back into developing and creating opportunities for all adventure-minded students.
The Tasman Adventure Race will be also open to the public with four, eight and 12-hour options to cater to a range of participants, from beginners to seasoned adventure racers.
