Adventure racing: Bickering bolsters resolve

Taradale junior adventure racing team Danielle Pilcher (left), Caitlin Menzies, Danika Brown, Jaimee Wilson, Connor Craig, Finn Durrant, Ben Smyth and Dom Collins. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

THEY are the second best in the country for their age group but the Taradale High School junior adventure racing team will tell you it wasn't always pretty.

They had to snap and snarl within their ranks, at times, on the final day of the five-day nationals at Great Barrier Island, on the east coast of Auckland, to attain such a high standard.

The crunch came during a road game where there were a few compulsory checkpoints but the rest were for the teams to use at their discretion to pave their own routes to make it back in 7.5 hours.

Captain Finn Durant was the main map reader last Friday at an event that started on Monday last week.

"I guess when you're tired and stuffed you tend to get more stressed out so there was a bit of fighting and stuff on the last day," says Connor Craig.

So everyone eventually went with what the skipper said when there were differences in opinion, right?

"Yeah, they did but everyone has their own views," says the 15-year-old.

If Durrant or a team member got something wrong someone, no doubt, others couldn't help but dwell on it and that had stirred things up a little.

But the Taradale team know that from all that bickering they were sponging some essential life skills.

What did they learn?

"Well, if Finn's our main map reader then he knows best," says Craig.

That lack of cohesiveness cost them a fair whack of time on the last day, adding to the other shortcomings from previous days.

"I'm sure all the other teams did, too [bicker] because map reading was quite hard."

Craig says the Whangarei High School team handled the final day with aplomb.

"They smashed it because they had one student who couldn't compete that day so they got like a 15 per cent point penalty."

The eight-member teams were split into four males and females each.

Taradale, including Danielle Pilcher, Caitlin Menzies, Danika Brown, Jaimee Wilson, Ben Smyth and Dom Collins, had been training and competing throughout the year in minor races in the hope of peaking for the nationals.

A composite New Plymouth Boys' High and Girls' High schools side won the race comprehensively.

"It was quite a bit, actually," says Craig, who suspects their all-round excellence in the end prove to be the difference.

Overall, the Taradale team came away satisfied, having had fun in great weather on an island.

Teacher Pauline Edwards was one of their two instructors with a parent, Hamish Durrant, leading into the nationals.

The advice from Edwards at the start of each race was to listen to each other but once lethargy kicked in everything went out of the window.

"But I think she was quite impressed with us because it was the best any Taradale team has ever done."

On day one, on Monday, they got off the ferry about midday and competed in a nifty two-hour race just to get things rolling.

The following two days involved "initiatives", such as rope course and transporting water, in which New Plymouth excelled.

"Yeah, more practice," says Craig, disclosing the following two days, Thursday and Friday, involved "expedition", which was mostly kayaking and running.

It took them six hours to compete on a terrain "that's like a big hill".

Taradale pupils did running training throughout the year but one kayaking session for the last few weeks as well as some initiatives.

Would Te Mata Peak have been an ideal place to train here?

"I guess so," says Craig who will be back as a senior with the other seven members who all will be in year 11 next year for some much-needed continuity for the next three years.