Rotorua: home to forests of giant redwood trees, sulphurous hot pools of mud and water … and, on Sunday 18 May 2025, also the North Island qualifying event for Hillary Challenge.
The Hillary Challenge qualifier is a 6-hour navigation-based outdoor team challenge on both foot and mountain bike. Teams of eight Y11-Y13 students represent their school(s). Details of the course are not released until the race briefing, half an hour before the event. There is generally a ‘rogaine’ element to the event to ensure all teams finish at approximately the same time, with a mix of optional and compulsory checkpoints. Points are scored for checkpoints visited and each team’s objective is to build the biggest score they can within the 6 hours.
Two Onslow-based teams headed to the event in Rotorua at the weekend. The first team, captained by Morag McLellan, was comprised of students from both Onslow College and Wellington Girls College (WGC). The second team, captained by Savannah Janssen, comprised solely Onslow College students.
The Saturday drive up to the event showcased the stunning natural beauty of the central North Island. Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe backlit by a blue sky day, trees gently shedding their autumnal-coloured leaves in the breeze, rich green pastures and rolling hills giving way to clouds of steam from geothermal vents after Taupo as they travelled the Thermal Explorer Highway. But by Sunday morning the temperatures had cooled as 22 teams from across the North Island gathered on the edge of the Whakarewarewa Mountain Bike Park at 8.30am for the race briefing. And as the teams set off at 9am spits of rain were falling – perfect for keeping cool during physical exertion.
This year involved a staggered foot-MTB-foot-MTB-foot-MTB-
It was near the start of the second MTB leg when the Onslow/WGC team came across a stricken Havelock North High School team. A broken bike chain and no chain tool meant HNHS were stuck in the forest. Showing true sportsmanship, Onslow/WGC came to the other team’s aid and offered up their chain tool and links so HNHS could fix the chain and carry on their race. But, demonstrating the essence of Murphy’s Law, shortly thereafter disaster struck: a broken chain on one of the Onslow/WGC bikes. Left with no chain tool and/or links to fix their own broken chain, the Onslow/WGC team dug deep to show true grit and determination – pushing/running their crippled bike through the rest of the two MTB legs.
Despite promising starts, both Onslow-based teams headed into the final foot rogaine with only an hour left to collect as many checkpoints as they could. Despite valiant efforts, it was a stretch too far to then finish as one of the top four finishers to qualify for Hillary Challenge Finals in 2025.
We are super-proud of the 16 athletes who took part in the qualifier event, their passion for multi-sport outdoor adventuring, and the way they demonstrated the vision and values of Onslow College whilst doing it.
Onslow College / WGC team: Morag McLellan (c), Sylvie Malcolm-Tait, Melina Hogg, Ryan Henshaw, Mitya Lark, Will Steward, Ruby McKenzie, Annelise Quigley
Onslow College team: Savannah Janssen (c), Zara Davey, Luca Eisenbach, Austin Inder, Belle Osborne, Francesca Barnes, Jack Thomson, Liko Heise.
Julie Kane
OC Adventure Racing Parent Committee
OC Adventure Racing Parent Committee
