Westlake Girls and Westlake Boys united to compete in the Junior Get 2 Go Auckland Adventure Racing qualifier for the National Final in December, and they flew past their opposition in the endurance disciplines to win overall. The young 8-person team of four girls and four boys included Year 10 students Stella Beale, Cayleigh Blackburn, Sasha Bosch, and Talia Hoskings, who braved the elements to compete in mountain biking, kayaking, paddleboarding and orienteering challenges against 22 other Auckland teams of Year 9 and 10 students.
Team Westlake won the orienteering challenge with 420 points, 60 points more than their closest rival and then dominated the Kayaking/Paddleboarding event by completing 24 laps of the course, 2 more than the next place getter. The mountain bike event resulted in a much closer race with Westlake finishing 2nd, but the team had secured 291 points by then to win the overall event and qualify for the National Final. St Kentigern fended off a challenge from another combined team of Rosmini & Epsom Girls to take 2nd place with 269 points, 8 points ahead of Rosmini/Epsom.
Westlake’s victory cements their place in the Hillary Outdoors event and will soon be busy preparing to meet successful qualifiers from Queenstown to Whangarei in the National Get2Go Adventure Racing Junior Final in December. The 5-day national event will feature a 2-day overnight expedition, problem solving activities, and familiar team challenges on Great Barrier Island.
