Pahoia School has beaten more than 20 other Western Bay of Plenty Schools to be crowned Top School champions.

The school took part in seven gruelling events including the big foot, leaky bucket, Tiger Woods Golf ball throw and the horizontal bungy.

Pahoia School student Olivia Jones, 9, taking part in the competition.

Principal Steve Wadsworth says all the events required teamwork, coordination and endurance.

'Gate Pa School has hosted the event for 12 years and this is the second time in three years we have been crowned champions.

'Pahoia School's team was selected early in the term and trained two lunch times a week, slowly coming to grips with the demands of some of the challenges.”

Steve says not all events could be practised, including the event where pupils had to slide down a hill on a piece of slippery polythene while holding up a leaking bucket before emptying it into a bin at the base of the hill.

'Over the past few years the school has built up its resources to the point where we can practice four of the seven events.”
He says students worked together like a well-oiled machine and performed consistently well, winning two of the seven events outright and placing well in every other event.

Despite the rain on Sunday, March 11, the team enjoyed plenty of support from excited parents, staff and siblings.

'We have a proud history at this event and to be champions twice in three years is an outstanding achievement for our comparatively smaller rural school.”