The growth of multisport at secondary school level has seen the Coast to Coast officially sanctioned by the NZ Secondary School Sports Council.
The NZ Secondary Schools Sports Council (NZSSSC) co-ordinates, promotes and protects secondary school sport for all students, with a focus on schools, various sporting codes and events all best meeting the needs of students in a safe environment.
Executive Director of the NZSSSC Garry Carnachan said the sanctioning of the Coast to Coast reflected the rapidly growing popularity of adventure racing and multisport at secondary school level in New Zealand.
“We were more than happy to sanction such a high quality event,” Carnachan said. “Kids love the opportunity to pull on their school colours in their chosen sport and there’s no doubt multisport is featuring more and more as a growing sport of choice at secondary schools level so the Coast to Coast was an obvious event to sanction.”
The Coast to Coast had to ensure costs to schools, students and their families were fair and reasonable and that the timing of the event and its health and safety procedures all met the needs of the students.
Coast to Coast Race Director Richard Ussher said the NZSSSC’s sanctioning of the event was about ‘growing the future of multisport.’ “We are really keen to grow participation from schools and younger aged competitors so getting endorsement from the NZSSSC really helps with that,” he said.
“We want to reach kids as they choose their sporting pathways in life. Coast to Coast athletes make the event part of their lifestyle so if they experience the event young there’s every chance they will go on to compete in it for many years and will reap all the benefits and rewards of being fit and active over a lifetime.”
The official schools two-day three-person teams category consists of one cyclist, one runner and one kayaker with the minimum age being lowered to 14 to compete.
Ussher said the event has also heavily reduced entry fees for the official schools category to $750 for a team of three, making it very affordable for school aged competitors. There are also discounts for school students across all the other sections.
Competitors still need to be 18 for the one-day Longest Day World Championship event and there were different age restrictions for other categories in the two day event.
