IN some of the coldest conditions this season, they walked 96km for 28 hours without sleep, but the team of teachers and students from Noosa District State High School completed the gruelling Kokoda Challenge with tenacity.
After months of training and hours of preparation, 13 students and four teachers headed to the Gold Coast last weekend to compete in the 10th annual Kokoda Youth Challenge.
Year 11 co-ordinator Bridge Muir competed in the challenge and said the event seemed to attract happy, supportive, and friendly competitors.
“I was overwhelmed with the kindness shown by the man who assisted my team-mate in helping me up and checking on my injuries after a nasty fall around 2.10am,” she said.
“I enjoyed friendly banter with people on the trek and at checkpoints; loved singing and dancing along to trekkers’ musical backpacks; and was impressed with the positivity of all the volunteers and cheer squads who provided a much needed mood boost in the form of encouragement or nourishment. It was 28 hours I will never forget.”
Bridge said the NDSHS student and teacher teams all showcased great courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice – all qualities demonstrated by the 1942 Anzac’s during the Kokoda Campaign in Papua New Guinea.
The student team completed the trek in 22 hours and was placed fifth out of all the school teams, with Year 12 students Rheanna Fitzpatrick and Gabbie Hill the second fastest girls in all school teams.
The teacher team completed the trek in 28 hours and powered on despite the blisters, sore knees, a jet-lagged Joyce Jackway (who had just flown back into Australia two days before the event) and a nasty tumble taken by Bridge just after 2am, which left her with a badly bruised wrist and knee and a quick visit to the paramedics on site.
Bridge said Duke of Edinburgh teacher and Kokoda Challenge team leader Dean McMaster bravely turned up to work on Monday, straight after the monster challenge in ugg boots and crutches.
