Imagine being overtaken by a 9-year-old on the final stage of a gruelling multi-sport race.
That is the prospect facing Peak to Peak racers in Queenstown next month.
A group of seven primary school pupils, aged between 9 and 12 years old, are training for the 44km race from The Remarkables skifield to Coronet Peak skifield.
They will ski, mountain bike, kayak, run and road bike the stages as a team.
Organiser Geoff Hunt said: "I was a little surprised when I took the call from one of their mums. They'll be the first junior team to enter.
"But we thought about it, decided we could make it safe and enjoyable for them, so they started training.''
The 7 Torpedoes are all pupils at St Joseph's School.
Charlotte Muir will begin the race, skiing 2km down The Remarkables skifield.
Then, Harper Souness will mountain bike down the skifield access road before Georgia Thomson bikes from the bottom of The Remarkables to Frankton beach.
Zoe Bennetts will take on the 7km kayak stage on Lake Wakatipu.
She will pass over to runners Todd Vermeir and Phoebe O'Donnell, for the 9km run from Queenstown out to the bottom of Coronet Peak access road.
And finally, the youngest of them all, Samuel Muir (9), will cycle the lung-busting 9km up to the Coronet Peak skifield.
He is not worried though. The youngster has already ridden the Tour De Wakatipu and Contact Epic 35km race.
Team captain Todd Vermeir, who wants to be a professional runner when he is older, said: "We've been training for weeks at school.
"We're all really excited. It's going to be a challenge racing against adults. Phoebe's dad's got a team, so we'll try to beat them.''
The youngsters will race alongside adult chaperones.
Zoe's mother, Kerren Bennetts, said: "They're all so passionate about it and committed.‘‘It's been pretty special to see. They are all working really hard to prove themselves.''
