New Plymouth teams win Hillary Challenge Final

The combined New Plymouth Boys’ High School / New Plymouth Girls’ High School teams are the 2019 Hillary Challenge Final winners.

The combined New Plymouth team fought it out all week with the second placed finishers, the combined Whangarei Boys’ High School / Whangarei Girls’ High School team.

From the Hillary Challenge Facebook page:
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“What an amazing battle they had all week with second placed Whangarei Girls and Boys. Whangarei led after day two by 200 points, but a super strong rogaine expedition saw New Plymouth claw that back to be just a handful of points in front going into the final multi-sport race.
 
“The two teams raced head-to-head all day over the final 50km of paddling, trail running and mountain biking with New Plymouth edging further ahead with a 12 minute win. At the end of the 5 days they were separated by a mere 31 points, making this one of the closest finishes in Hillary Challenge history.
 
“Motueka High School, competing in the final for the very first time moved from 8th to 3rd place with a very strong final 3 days of racing. A very impressive effort!
 
This was the 19th running of the event, held at the Hillary Outdoors Tongariro Centre from 29 April – 3 May.
 
The event is only open to a total of 12 teams, each consisting of eight students from Years 12 or 13.  The teams are scored on their skill, speed and endurance during a 5-day series of outdoor adventure challenges, including a 2-day rogaine style wilderness expedition and a multisport race on the final day. In true adventure racing tradition, the exact details of all challenges will be kept secret until the event.

Final results below: