Every race is an adventure

ALL-ROUND TALENT: Taradale High School adventure racing team from front: Zayne Jennings,back (from left) Abby Macredie, Klayten Betts, Bailey Trower, Tom Webb, Dylan Sherwood, and Caitlin Morrison.

It's a special breed of athlete who chooses to enter a race that can last up to 12 hours with no idea what the course will look like.

But that's how some Taradale High School students like it.

They will be taking part in the Bay Urban Adventure Race this Sunday.

The three-hour race with a "mystery" course combines two or more endurance disciplines, including orienteering, running, mountain biking, paddling and climbing.

Ten Taradale High School teams will be at the starting line on Sunday.
It has been a year of resounding success for the school's adventure racing team, coach Pauline Edwards said.

The school won the senior mixed, senior girls' and junior girls' titles and was second in the senior boys' and junior boys' races at the National Secondary Schools.

Students also competed in the Australasian championships last week, finishing fifth among the top 12 senior teams from Australia and New Zealand.

The students train hard, including running with 18kg packs filled with stones three mornings a week, Ms Edwards said.

Some students will train at a high-performance training camp in Australia next week and compete against some top teams.

The team held dinners, car washes and sold firewood to fundraise for the trip.