The Bayfield Boys took up the challenge and entered a team for today's Wanaka Challenge over the ironman distance.
They were encouraged to give to give it a go by their physical education teacher, Kirsten O'Regan, who will be competing in the 3.8km swimming leg for the second year in a row in the Beeby team.
O'Regan is an experienced, tough-minded sportswoman who has won 18 New Zealand titles in surf life-saving.
The Bayfield High School team is Rhys Pryde-Wall (17), on the 3.8km swim, Jeff Notman (17), on the 180km cycling leg, and Alex Zetko (16), who will run the 42km marathon.
Competitors in the ironman event must be over the age of 18 and the Bayfield Boys needed special permission from the organisers to compete.
Bayfield is the only school team among the 120 teams.
The most confident is Pryde-Wall, who has trained in Andy Adair's Waves swimming squad for the past five years.
He has targeted a time of 45min for the swim and is expected to be in the top three after the leg.
Pryde-Wall regularly swims more than 3.8km in training sessions in the Adair squad and has won two medals at national championships.
He was third in the 1500m freestyle at the national age-group championships last season and second in the event at the open summer championships.
His best time for 1500m is 15min 53sec.
"I did the Dunedin Harbour swim over the distance last year and this will be my second ironman swim," he said.
Zetko has never raced a marathon and has the most difficult task. His longest training run is 1hr 45min.
"I'm a bit nervous about the prospects," he said.
Notman, the cycling specialist, trains regularly over 180km and is confident about completing the distance.
He has targeted a time of 5hr.
Two other Bayfield pupils will be competing in the Wanaka Challenge in another team.
Competitive swimmer Amelia McDonald (17) is on the swimming leg and German exchange student Kristen Fieter is on the cycling leg.
Fieter's mother has come over from Germany to race the marathon leg for the team.
The other members of O'Regan's team are Stephen Beeby (cycling) and Chris Patchett (marathon).
