The winter school sport season and truly kicked off with several National and Island events taking place.  Last weekend 7th May, the North Island Hillary Challenge ‘6 hour’ race took place in Rotorua.  The Hillary Challenge is a navigation-based outdoor team challenge on both foot and mountain bike. There is generally a ‘rogaine’ element to ensure all teams finish at approximately the same time. There were also mystery team challenges along the way that earnt teams bonus points.  This year 23, 8 person teams completed the adventure race.  Congratulations to the following schools who qualified for the National event at the end of the year. 

• 1^st - Francis Douglas Memorial College/Sacred Heart Girls’ College
• 2^nd – Whakatane High School
• 3^rd – Onslow College

The South Island event takes place in Geraldine on 21^st May.

The weekend also saw the NZSS Inline Hockey Cup hosted in Hamilton with ten teams competing.   Inline hockey is an all-inclusive sport involving speed and skill which looks like Ice Hockey (without the ice). It is a team sport played on a wooden or concrete surface, where players use inline skates to move around the court.   This year teams will be travelling from Northland, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty and Auckland to attend the tournament which has two grades allowing composite teams to attend.  

A mainstay on the School Sport NZ Calendar has been the NISS Horse Trials Event.  This event has been running for 40 years and this will take place in Taupō, on 20th and 21st May.  The equestrian event involves 3 disciplines – Showing Jumping, Cross Country and Dressage, attracting school teams from right across the North Island.  This year the event is at capacity reflecting the popularity of this event on the equestrian calendar.

To finish off the month, the NZSS Rhythmical Gymnastic Championship will take place in Auckland from 26^th and 28^th May. This is the last of the NZ Gymnastic events this year with tumbling, trampolining and aerobics all having taken place.  Please check our calendar here with events coming up in term 2.

School Sport New Zealand would like to wish all those taking part in school events over the next few weeks all the best and safe travels to your destinations. 

Article added: Monday 15 May 2023