DATES FOR SPARC GET2GO 2008

DATE	REGION	LOCATION
5 Aug	Northland	Whangarei
7 Aug	Waitakere/North Harbour	Auckland/North Shore
12 Aug	Auckland	Auckland/North Shore
14 Aug	Counties Manukau	Counties Manukau
19 Aug	Bay of Plenty	Rotorua
21 Aug	Waikato	Hamilton
26 Aug	Taranaki	New Plymouth
28 Aug	Hawkes Bay/Eastland	Napier
2 Sept	Manawatu/Wanganui	Palmerston North
3 Sept	Wellington/Wairarapa	Wellington
5 Sept	Tasman/Westport and Reefton	Nelson
8 Sept	Canterbury / Northern Aoraki	Christchurch
10 Sept	Otago/Southland/Southern Aoraki	Dunedin

8-12 Dec	Grand Final	OPC Great Barrier

Calling All Adventurers...

Your school is invited to take part in the 2008 SPARC Get2Go Challenge - an adventure challenge team event for Year 9 and 10 students run by The Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre Of New Zealand.

After the huge success of the Get2Go Challenge pilot series in 2006 and the North Island Get2Go Challenge held in 2007, SPARC is once again supporting the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre of New Zealand (OPC) to bring you this exciting outdoor adventure team challenge. This year the Get2Go Challenge will be bigger and better, with the expansion of the event to three new regions in the South Island.

Various regional Get2Go 1-day challenges will be held throughout New Zealand. Get2Go has been designed to encourage participation in outdoor pursuit activities, and involves a series of activities such as rock climbing, mountain biking, orienteering and kayaking. A few mental twists might also be thrown in along the way.

Teams will be required to work together, using important team skills such as communication, problem solving, planning and decision making, to maximise their score in each task. The team with the top score from each region will be invited to participate in the Get2Go Grand Final Challenge, held at OPC Great Barrier during the last week of term four.

The Get2Go Challenge provides opportunities for students who haven’t previously taken part in outdoor recreation activities and also provide students with positive experiences in the following areas:

Teamwork
Leadership
Outdoor recreation skills
Competition
Physical activity

It’s all about encouraging students to get out there and experience physical activity and recreation in New Zealand ’s great outdoors.

Get2Go also helps students, teachers, sport coordinators and parents to develop important links with local outdoor sport and recreation clubs. To do this we will be coordinating with outdoor clubs/operators in each region to run the one-day Get 2 Go challenges.

The Regional Challenges

As we have a limited capacity of 24 teams at each regional challenge, each school within the region can enter one team of 8 students. If extra places are available they will be offered to schools who have indicated they would like to enter more than one team.

Teams should be made up of 50% year 9 students and 50% year 10 students. No team member may be involved in more than one sanctioned sport per season, i.e. summer/winter. For a list of sanctioned sports see the NZSSSC calendar of events.

School staff and/or parents will be responsible for getting the team to the start line and then transporting them around on the day to the various venues where the challenge tasks take place.

The entry fee for the day has been kept as low as possible, at only $10 per student. Each participant will be given a certificate for completing the Get2Go regional challenge.

The Grand Final

The top scoring team from each regional event will receive an invitation to attend the Get 2 Go Challenge five-day grand final event, which will be held on Great Barrier Island from 8 – 12 December 2008. The entry fee for the five-day grand final event is $250 per participant.

OPC will provide:

boat transport to/from Great Barrier Island
all food for the five days
accommodation
transport on the island
instruction
equipment
certificates for each participant
a t-shirt for each participant
a locally designed trophy for the winning team
an experience of a lifetime!

What To Do Now!

Get your team organised then fill in the registration form and send it in with the entry fee as soon as possible. Please make cheques payable to ‘OPC.’ Remember there are only 24 places available in the regional Get 2 Go Challenge and entries will be taken on a first in, first served basis. An email will be sent out to you to confirm your entry once it has been processed.

The registration form is on page 4 of the Get2Go Flyer

Don’t forget to book your school van for the day. Check out the dates and additional information included in the brochure and poster enclosed. If you have any questions contact Shelly at OPC – shelly@opc.org.nz

See you at Get 2 Go 2008!

Information For Registered Teams

Team Information - everything your team needs to know to be ready for the day.
Medical Form - each team member needs to fill this out .

Past Get2Go Events

Press Releases

Check out what Hon Trevor Mallard, Sport and Recreation Minister; and Nick Hill, SPARC Chief Executive think about the Get2Go Challenge!

SPARC Get2Go Press Release 2007

SPARC Get2Go Press Release 2006

Trevor Mallard Press Release

2007 Get2Go Final

What a tremendous effort by everybody involved with this event. From the regionals in September, through to the Grand Final in December, the 2007 SPARC Get2Go series was a superb display of energy, determination and sportsmanship - by competitors, teachers and organisers alike. Awesome!!

Results

1	Havelock North High School
2	Whangarei Girls High School
3	Western Heights High School (Rotorua)
4	New Plymouth Boys and New Plymouth Girls High School
5	Auckland Grammar
6	Elim Christian College (Auckland)
7	Rathkeale College (Masterton)
8	St Paul's Collegiate (Hamilton)
9	Nga Tawa College (Marton)

Well done Havelock North!

Again - big ups to all competitors who participated in the the regionals and grand final, and their dedicated schools and supporters.

Bring on the 2008 Get2Go! Stay tuned...

2006 Get2Go Challenge Final

The inaugural Get2Go Challenge took place on the 11-15 th of December 06, with 5 days of intense competition between 10 teams of young adventure racers representing secondary schools from Auckland and North regions.

The competition took place in perfect conditions at OPC Great Barrier, located at Karaka Bay on Great Barrier Island. Apart from a few bumps, bruises and scratches, all 80 students crossed the finish line between 9 and 10.30am on Friday morning. The students were completely exhausted but full of smiles and there was a definite feeling of incredible pride at their achievement.

The final started with two intensive days of ten, 60 minute team challenges held around the OPC base. The activities included sailing, rock-climbing, orienteering, kayaking, swimming and bridge-building among others, each with a significant team problem solving element to overcome. Points were scored for the overall title based on the teams’ achievement in the task as well as the level of teamwork demonstrated.

The following three days saw the teams take on an expedition that had them zigzagging back and forth across the island and over Mt Hobson, staying at campsites along the way. The expedition included sections of tricky navigation, coasteering and kayaking which for a number of participants, proved to be some of the hardest days in their lives.

Whangarei Boys High School started strong and continued to add small amounts to their lead each day to take the inaugural Get2Go title. They were pushed hard all the way by Whangarei Girls High School, Massey High School and St Cuthbert’s College, who finished 2nd to 4th respectively.

Windsurfing Olympic Gold Medallist Barbara Kendall was at the finishing line to congratulate and award prizes to the competitors.

"It’s absolutely wonderful to see these youngsters being given the opportunity to participate and thrive in the outdoors. Their parents and schools can be really proud of what they’ve achieved here this past week" said Kendall. "I’m confident we’ll be seeing more from these guys in future – London 2012 here we come!"

For the students the week has been a life changing experience with many of them stepping out of their comfort zones and pushing themselves to their mental and physical limits. They now have a greater awareness of their own personal boundaries and the knowledge of what they can achieve if they set goals and push themselves.

The feedback from the four regional challenge days and the final has been overwhelmingly positive and indicates that this is an event that will continue to grow in the future. Get2Go is aiming high and hopes to go nationwide in the coming years, providing an important chance to get our youth active and out there enjoying New Zealand’s amazing outdoor opportunities.

The following schools participated in the Get2Go Challenge final: Hebron Christian College, St Cuthbert's College, Massey High School, Long Bay College, Wentworth College, Whangarei Boys' High School, Whangarei Girls' High School, Te Kura Kaupapa O Te Rangi Aniwaniwa, Elim Christian School, and Rosehill College.

Get2Go is funded by Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC)

:: SPARC Get2Go CHALLENGE