Nui students compete in Orienteering Champs

During the school holidays, Taupo Nui-a-Tia students attended the New Zealand Secondary School Orienteering Champs for the first time. This year the event was run by the Hawkes Bay Orienteering Club and was based at Splash Planet and at a nearby farm. The event had over 350 Year 7-13 students racing for three days, in a Sprint, Long, and Relay format. 

Splash Planet was a very difficult sprint map, with a large amount of detail to decipher in a short period of time. With a number of fences, gates, water features, and small buildings our team initially found it challenging to find a good route to follow. However, Samuel made light work of this and achieved a fantastic result on this course. The Whanawhana Road farm was a spectacular spot, with a number of rock features, small gullies, and streams.

This was a new experience for four students who predominantly Adventure Race and, it required them to develop new skills in map reading and orientation. All students stepped up and gave it a go, with some promising results and achievements. Orienteering is still a relatively new sport for our school and, with the support of the Taupo Orienteering Club, we continue to see steady growth. We look forward to taking a larger number of students next year!

A huge congratulations to Samuel Mackay, Julia Leusink, Ethan Staddon, and Finn Wigram.

Results:

Julia Leusink: In the sprint 41/60, Long (standard course) 1/14, Relay 33.01

Samuel Mackay: In the sprint 6/48, Long (championship course) 31/40, Relay 30.07

Ethan Staddon: In the sprint missed punched, Long (Standard course) 2/7, Relay missed punched

Finn Wigram: In the sprint missed punched, Long missed punched, Relay 41.52