NZ Secondary School Championships Wrap-up

31 July 2011

The results of the sprint and long distance are up on Dunedin Orienteering Club website Also the results are up on winsplits: Relay, Sprint, Long.

Jean Cory-Wright and Jan Harrison organized for a group of students from Redcliffs and Cashmere to take part in the events. Many of them had little orienteering experience. But this didn't seem to matter as Redcliffs went home with the Schools trophy!

The following are snippets of their experience:

Thanks Jean, fantastic event! Thank you for taking my two down,the training and getting them to this standard. They have really enjoyed it.

Make sure you hear a beep before continuing on.

Listen to dad when he says "Don't travel in a ford transit they always break down. He told me and Robbies mum at the budget rental car before travelling to Dunedin" We didn't listen and we broke down on the motorway, so I had to hitch a ride with a random orienteering family.

I loved doing this event as I met many different schools and made friends. I was nervous at first but once we got there, it was cool! I wanna do more!

After  taking ages explaining how relay gaffling works to all the new
people and  emphasizing not to follow anyone, we later realised that all the white courses were the same!!!  So this meant that year 7,8 and 9 boys and girls were all running the same course!

The chocolate factory was cool and we all took some raw cocoa
beans to eat before the relay to give us extra speed and focus!!!

I had a Fantastic time, I loved staying with my team at the backpackers, we were just like a big family.

Remember I should do my shoes up tighter... After the muddy bog swallowed my shoe, I ended up running half the course in just a sock. When I crossed the finish line, Dougal asked if I had hurt my leg, as he thought I was running with a limp! I told him to look down" we laughed and laughed. Now I have spent the last 12hrs getting over 23 splinters out of my foot....ha ha

I thought the event was cool, I met some havelock north & Taupo boys and got to know many people. I really enjoyed myself. I was unsure what to expect, but it was sooooo cool!