Females prove to be the best at XRACE
A Hawera mother-daughter duo took out line honours at Sunday’s NZHL XRACE, held under overcast skies at TSB Stadium in Hawera.
At a speedy time of 39.46, Ella and Bridget Carver-Vitens tackled 10 challenges including creating a paper house, painting toenails pink, a three-legged race and a swimming pool challenge where parents had to run six laps of a pool holding their child on their back.
Ella’s brother Jack and father Peter crossed the finish line a mere five minutes later, with this the family’s fifth year competing.
Carver-Vitens said she and Ella are planning to go to Sydney later in the year to compete at an Australian XRACE. ‘‘If we could travel everywhere and do XRACE all over the world, we would,’’ she said. ‘‘We just love it.’’
The Hawera stopover was the ninth event in the national series of XRACE events. An XRACE is a mystery adventure race made up of a parent and child, racing together against other family teams to complete 10 mystery challenges.
XRACE Series creator Shane Hooks said the challenges were a mixture of fun like the dance challenge, but carry life skills as well.
This year, teams were told in advance that one challenge would be sewing a button on a shirt which proved tricky for many dads.
‘‘It was a superb race, an absolute bonding experience for all the families involved and just a whole lot of fun all around.’’
Story and photos by Poppy Wortman