Adventure racing is a proud part of what we at Stanford Lake College stand for. The sport teaches life skills like problem solving, teamwork, perseverance and several leadership qualities, as teams are required to push through physical and mental challenges over long, exhausting hours. Moreover, everyone in the team has to complete the course together, every step of the way.
Stanford Lake College has a long history with adventure racing. In the late 1990s, we started the Adventure Challenge for Schools which was a multi-day event consisting of different adventure challenges each day. We managed to win this event eight times in its 21 years, running from 1998 to 2018.
The Adventure Racing Schools’ Series was then developed out of this, starting in the early 2000s, and followed a race structure more similar to how we know adventure racing today. Stanford Lake College won this event a few times over the years.
Over the last few years, we have moved over to racing with the seniors in the big leagues, entering school teams in 60 - 150km races. We have also had a number of individual students race with some of the top teams in the country. Noticeable mentions are Heidi Katzke (Grade 12) who raced with A2A and Benno Kotzé (Grade 12) who raced with “No Frills – No Fuss”, all top teams on the SA circuit and teams who have had podium finishes in their respective races.
Jarryd Gosling (Class of 2021) managed to race his own team, “Balega”, into fourth place in the SA National rankings in his matric year last year. Casper Venter (Class of 2019) has raced with Red Ants and Jabberwock, whilst Brian Gardner (Class of 2002) started the Red Ants adventure racing team in the early 2000s and they still remain one of the top teams in SA today.
Among our staff, Mr Willson has joined Red Ants on a number of occasions and raced with them in the Double Moon 250km in 2017, whilst Mr Fullard has raced numerous times with teams such as “Gooi Mielies” who came second in the 2017 Double Moon 250km and also joined team Red Ants for the Expedition India 350km in 2017, where they achieved 2nd place.
Adventure racing, it’s in our blood.