Wednesday 5 April 2017

GALA Day tomorrow!

Don't forget! It's happening rain or shine (the weather is forecast to clear tomorrow)

Monday 3 April 2017

Canterbury Duathlon

by Fran


On Monday the 24th of March the Canterbury Duathlon was held at Ruapuna raceway. The children who did the Duathlon at school were supposed to go to zones for another Duathlon but it was cancelled because of the rain. Everyone who was going to zones went to the Canterbury Duathlon.


At 7.00 it was raining heavily. It looked like it would be cancelled but it was still on anyway. When the children got to the racetrack, they rode their bikes to the bike stands.  All the schools had flags where they set up but Lincoln Primary didn't have a flag. It wasn't long before all the 10 year old contestants lined up in alphabetical order of their school. It took about 20 minutes before the martials started putting transponder straps around the students ankles so that the martials knew if they had done the full course.


All the children ran to the start of the racetrack. There were 157 children in the 10 year old boys race. The whistle blew and everyone sprinted at first to get in front. The best strategy was to keep the same pace throughout the running. The running was two kilometres long, but the biking was 9 kilometres. When the running was over the children jogged over to the bike stands to get there bikes. The children who found their bikes first got a big headstart.


The biking was the time to use up your energy because you could go so fast with so little energy. Most children had road bikes because the biking was on concrete and road bikes have thin wheels and they are lighter. There were big puddles on the track that were fun to go through but would slow you down. As the rain poured on the children, it felt exciting. The children had nearly finished the first lap out of two laps. On the second lap of the biking everyone rode faster. When the biking was over the children got off their bikes and parked them in the bike stands and there was still another kilometre of running.


After the biking, the children's legs would feel very stiff. As the tired children ran quickly, their shoes were full of water. It was almost the end of the duathlon and it was very exhausting. As the children crossed the finish line parents and relatives cheered them on.


Once the race had finished and the excitement was over the children who were now completely soaked drove back home and then back to school. The Canterbury Duathlon was an awesome event.