In their first outing at the recent three-day Gold Rush event based around Alexandra, Liam Vincent, Constantin Vogt and Harry Llewellyn (all 17) charged through 375km of high country in 19hr 7min 37sec to defeat their closest rivals, Southland Boys High School, by 16min.
On Saturday, their second multisport outing in a week, Liam and Harry teamed up with Luke Faulkner (16) and Pete Gilmour (17) to win the South Island Secondary Schools adventure race at Cromwell in 8hr 33min, beating the second-placed team, James Hargest Boys, by 20min.
The athletes said the Gold Rush was the perfect preparation for the "real deal" in Cromwell, where teams of four raced together for between eight and 13 hours without support crews over a course kept secret until the night before.
The race tested skills in mountain biking, trekking, abseiling, orienteering, kayaking and running.
"It was much longer. Each individual leg in the Gold Rush was so much harder than this, but in terms of what we had to think about - food consumption, things like that - it was harder," Liam explained.
The Gold Rush was intensely fought, with the MAC team in first place in the college competition after day one, only to fall 18 minutes behind SBHS on day two.
That led to some rigorous self-examination at the Tarras camp that night, with the team emerging the next morning with extra determination.
"We just thought about keeping as strong as possible," said Constantin, from Wuppertal, near Cologne, Germany.
Constantin, a strong runner with little road bike experience, focused on getting into a group of fast-moving cyclists during the first leg of the third day then gave his bib on to kayaker, Mt Maunganui life-saver Harry.
Harry powered his way down the Clutha River to steal back the time difference and then some, in an impressive 1hr 9min 36sec effort over 40km.
Liam, a New Zealand age-group swimmer from Auckland, kept up the pressure in the second 53km road bike, and Constantin finished strongly, in a 50min 45sec, 13km run.
The teams paid tribute to their teacher Chris Waugh and Wanaka athletes Andrew McLeod, Kelly Bailey and Roy Bailey, who helped with equipment, support and advice.
Results: South Island Secondary Schools Adventure Race.-Open: AWT Mt Aspiring College (1); James Hargest Boys (2); Cromwell College Apartments (3).
Mixed: DHS Dunstan High School Apartments (1); Propaganda Mt Aspiring (2); RGRC Mt Aspiring (3).
Girls: Ichibon Mt Aspiring (1); Lambs Mt Aspiring (2).
Gold Rush.-College male: Mt Aspiring College (1); SBHS Team 1 (2); SHBS Team 2 (3)College female: Central Southland College (1); The GETS (SHGS) (2); Aftershock (SHGS) (3)College mixed: Dunstan Dugongs (1); St Peters College (2); Menzies Machine (3).
