In the last week of the holidays, 27 students from years 7-13 travelled to the Hawkes Bay to represent Baradene at the NZ Secondary Schools Orienteering Champs. This is a 3-day event with different races each day – sprint, long distance and a team relay.  This year there were over 350 competitors from more than 60 schools from around New Zealand.  

We had fantastic individual results and were named the Top Girl’s Year 7/8 team AND the Top Girl’s Secondary School team. These are awarded to the team with the most points across all grades. This award really is a team effort, you need a committed group to accumulate points – it is highly contested, and we are very proud of this achievement.  We also won the “Premier School Competition” trophy for girls which is awarded to the school which has the best performance by their top competitor in each grade at Championship level.   So not only did we show talent, we also showed depth in our talent. This is the first time that Baradene has won all three of the premier awards at Nationals.

At the prizegiving, a special mention was also made for Alicia McGivern who halted her race to help an injured competitor from another school. Alicia’s team was in first place when she showed great humility in stopping and helping another in need. Her team ended up in 4th place, being overtaken while she assisted and comforted an older student from a South Island school. We are proud of Alicia and her teammates, Gigi Moaveni and Georgia Lindroos for their sportsmanship and compassion in this instance.

We had long days racing and supporting one another. Aside from our podium winners we had many achieve a personal best and we have all taken away some lessons and new skills.   Most importantly, we have created some great memories, made new friends and have some new stories to share. The students showed great team spirit; supporting, mentoring and cheering each other on.  

Special thanks to our community of supporters, all those who have assisted coaching throughout the year, the management and coaching team (Laurian O’Dea, Rachael Donovan, Clodagh Hoare, Llewellyn McGivern and Anthony McGivern) and our wonderful team of students who all combined made this trip so successful and enjoyable. A huge thank you also to Rachel Buyck for her superb organisation and support of the team throughout the Champs.

Here are our top ten place-getters, and we especially congratulate our many medal winners:

Sprint Event:
Year 7/8 - 6th Orla Hoare, 7th Niamh Hoare
Junior (Y9) - 5th Kate Robinson
Intermediate (Y10/11) - 3rd Isabelle McDonnell, 9th Alicia McGivern
Senior (Y12/13) - 2nd Penelope Salmon
Long Event:
Year 7/8 standard division - 1st Amy Towers, 2nd Ruby Smith
Year 7/8 championship division - 2nd Niamh Hoare, 4th Annabelle Holdcroft, 5th Orla Hoare, 10th Dora Slavich
Year 9 championship division - 4th Kate Robinson, 5th Harriet Johnston
Intermediate championship division - 7th Isabelle McDonnell, 9th Alicia McGivern
Senior standard division – 2nd Laura Oei, 4th Alex McLauchlan
Senior championship division – 1st Penelope Salmon
Relay Event:
Year 7/8 – 1st ( Annabelle Holdcroft, Niamh Hoare, Orla Hoare), 2nd (Amelie Chisholm, Emily Fippard-Peacock, Dora Slavich), 3rd (Amy Towers, Emma Gowen, Lily Sanderson), 5th (Ruby Smith, Tigerlilly McIntosh, Stella Valerio)
Junior – 2nd (Kate Robinson, Josephine Stickley, Harriet Johnston)
Intermediate – 2nd (Ciara Swan, Sophie Lawrence, Solenn Jordan), 4th (Georgia Lindroos, Gigi Moaveni, Alicia McGivern)
Senior – 1st (Aliana Henderson, Isabelle McDonnell, Penelope Salmon), 8th (Laura Oei, Alex McLauchlan, Ciara Hoare)