High schoolers battle the Beast

Bream Bay College's Scott Crawley rinses off after his Under 19 division win in the 2017 Secondary Schools Bay of Islands Beast race. Photo/Michael Cunningham

Plenty of muddy young faces battled the Haruru Falls hills during the 2017 Secondary Schools Bay of Islands Beast.

The competition was fierce in what could be one of the better ways to end a school term.

Under 14 division runner Caleb Williamson led all runners home in an impressive time of 42:09 over the 5.5km course.

First home in the Under 19 male grouping was Scott Crawley in 43:22. The Bream Bay College student said it was one big challenge.

"We went to hell and back," he said.

"There was like a 10,000 foot hill. It didn't seem to ever end.

"We did six weeks of training for it in P.E. so that really helped."

Most of the combatants came home with a wet sail a bit short of oxygen but carrying plenty of mud back.

However the mud was no match for the high powered hoses, which showered the competitors post race.

Event organiser Azelia Parkinson was stoked with how the Beast panned out for the students, saying it was a good practice run for the main event.

Ten different classes of competitors raced on a windy morning.

DJ Jones and Caitlin Wilson were the comfortable top finishers in the male and female under 12 divisions respectively.

Williamson had a battle on his hands with Max Jordan in the under 14 male competition, but Williamson led off Jordan by a touch over one minute.

Bree Monaghan opened up a large lead in the female under 14 run, eventually winning by nearly seven minutes.

Blake Williamson was dominant in his male under 16 victory, racing home 12 and a half minutes ahead of second placed Chayse Parrish.

Trista Comer had a comfortable four minute win over Sheree Lange in the female under 16 division.

The under 19 competitions were claimed by Claire Graham and Crawley, while Paul Atkins was the quickest of the staff.