CHB school set to blaze running trail
Principal excited to have whole school participating
It’s not often you get almost an entire school signing upto do a running event together, but that’s exactly what Tikokino School has done— registeringmore than 70 students and parents to run the Peak Trail Blazer this Sunday.
Fifty junior and senior students from the small Central Hawke’s Bay school will tackle the 12.8km Te Mata Peak and 3.5km Tainui trails.
Tikokino principal Hamish Natusch says participating in the Te Mata Peak Trail Blazer is awin-win situation for his students.
“It’s not only a great physical and mental challenge, hopefully it inspires students to keep doing events like this and challenging themselves in all areas of life.
“I’m really excited to havemore than 70 students, siblings, parents and grandparents participating in the different events, for a school of 50 it’s a great effort. Every yearweaim to enter one big event as a school and school community.”
Natusch says most students are excited, but there aresomenerves amongthe seniorswhoare competing in the 12.8km run.
“Life is all about dealing with challenges, I knowthatmanyof our students will find it tough on Sunday but hopefully they will grind it out and grow as individuals and as a school community.”
The Peak Trail Blazer’snewrace director CatherineWeddsays she was thrilledwhenHamish got in touch last weekand said he was going
to bring his entire schoolup to run the event.
“It’s great to see this strong community spirit from Tikokino School and I can’t wait to see the kids out there on Sunday tackling Te Mata Peak with their families.”
Despite a challenging year for events, MsWeddsays entries for the Peak Trail Blazer have exceeded expectations.
“There is a real appetite out there for running events andwehave had
ahuge amount of entries in this final week. I think in these uncertain times people are leaving their entries until the last minute, which makes it a little morestressful and challenging for event organisers.”
The Peak Trail Blazer donates60 per cent of the funds raised to Havelock North Primary and the remaining 40 per cent is split between two community charities.
This yearsome of the funds raised will go towards Big Brothers Big
Sisters of Hawke’s Bay and Te Oranga Pumanawa, both charities which provide life-changing opportunities to youth.
“It’s been a challenging year for a lot of charities and fundraising has been a lot harder, so we’re pleased to be able to raisemoneyfor our local school and these amazing charities,” saysMsWedd.
The Peak Trail Blazer attractssome ofNewZealand’s best runners as they attempt to get into the sub60 minute
Hall of Flames and sub50 minute Scorchers club. The top athletes also hotly contest the $500 cash for the fastest dash, which is awarded to the King and Queenof the Peak and there is over $3000 cash prizesup for grabs as well as $7000 spot prizes and finisher medals for all participants. i
The event will be held on Sunday, November 22. To enter visit www. peaktrailblazer.co.nz