Year 12 students Andrew Maultsaid, Kyan Vercoe, and Jack Molloy finished fifth out of nine teams in the boys’ school grade with a time of 14hr 31.52min across two days.
Molloy, who did the kayaking leg of the race, said it was cool to share the experience with his friends.
“You just get in, support each other, go hard and then, at the end of it, you just cruise, have a wee bit of a laugh.”
“I’ve known Jack since day one at primary school,” Maultsaid, who did the three bike legs, said.
“We’ve done adventure races and stuff like that (at high school), and we’ve started roping Kyan into it.”
Vercoe, who did the three run legs, said it was special crossing the finish line at New Brighton Beach on Saturday.
“I was pretty proud, pretty happy. It’s a really great achievement, just something to always remember that I’ve done.”
Darfield High enter at least one team in the Coast to Coast every year.
Sports co-ordinator Pip Deans said it was great to be able to offer students the opportunity.
“We’ve got a really good adventure racing group. We start in year seven with adventure races, some of them do like rogaines or orienteering.”
Deans said the Coast to Coast was popular with students.
“It just builds character, they love it, they thrive on it.
“This year when the ballots open up (for the 2026 race) on the 17th of February, we’ve already probably got another two teams that want to enter.”
That will include Maultsaid, Vercoe and Molloy.
“We’re looking at doing the one-day race next year,” Vercoe said.
“I’m pretty confident with more training, we can cut off a few hours.”
Said Molloy: “ That would be cool, get some faster times and set some good records and stuff like that.”
