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Mackenzie College sports coordinator Kim Jordan, left, with students Hamish Ryall, Jack Cassie and Luke Jordan. They all finished first in their category at the Coast to Coast competition.
It took only two days to make Mackenzie College principal Sam Nelson even prouder than he already was of the small South Island school he headed.
The school has been participating for many years in the Coast to Coast, but after this year’s event, it held a special assembly to celebrate the achievements of two teams.
Students Hamish Ryall, Jack Cassie and Luke Jordan won the Secondary School boys division with a finish time of 13:21:57 and sports coordinator Kim Jordan won the Veteran Women’s division with a finish time of 16:07:37.
“Our school felt a real sense of pride to have our boys’ team and our sports coordinator victorious in the Coast to Coast. We are small but we are mighty,” Nelson said.
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The whole school gathered on Monday morning and performed a haka to celebrate the winners, who also received some medals.
Ryall, Cassie and Jordan won the boys’ category ahead of four other schools, sharing the running, cycling and paddling.
They finished up eighth in the two-day C2C three persons team category, behind some veteran and mixed teams.
Mackenzie College had around 170 students, Nelson said, and the second all-male team from a secondary school classified had almost “10 times more boys” than the school in Fairlie.
Nelson said he travelled to Christchurch to be at the finish line and see them reach the very end of the competition in New Brighton.
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Cassie, Jordan and Ryall won the all-male school category in the three persons team two-day Coast to Coast.
Sports coordinator Jordan has been the major driver in these competitions, he said.
She ran in the two-day C2C individual category and came home first for women between the age of 40 and 49. Overall, she finished 130th.
Last year, the organisers cancelled the competition due to Covid, but students from Mackenzie College did it anyway, Nelson said.
“Part of the school character is that we make things happen even if there is some barrier and last year was a classic example of that,” he said.
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