The NZ Secondary Schools Climbing Cup ran at Beta Climbing Gym in New Plymouth on 31 August and 1 September, and it filled every place it had. Schools came from across the North Island, with a handful up from the South Island.
Day one was four boulder bash qualification rounds. The top 20 in each category went through to semi-finals, and the top six from there into finals.
| Place | Athlete |
|---|---|
| Senior boys | |
| 1 | Quinn Boetzelen-McIntyre Wellington High School |
| 2 | Eliezar Cachatoor-Faber Bethlehem College |
| 3 | Conrad Bolger Francis Douglas Memorial College |
| Senior girls | |
| 1 | Sasha Melman Rototuna Senior High School |
| 2 | Holly Meyer Hutt Valley High School |
| 3 | Cara Hicks Mount Maunganui College |
| Junior boys | |
| 1 | Qilu (Stig) Zhuo Rangitoto College |
| 2 | Xavier Wasek-Webb Pinehurst School |
| 3 | David Kang King’s College |
| Junior girls | |
| 1 | Yume Fookes Mt Roskill Grammar |
| 2 | Sylvia Palmer Wellington Girls’ College |
| 3 | Yoshi Abraham Kaipara College |
Top schools — Co-ed: Mount Maunganui College. Girls: Wellington Girls’ College. Boys: King’s College.
Six of the twelve podium places went to climbers who were in Arco in July for the World Climbing Youth Championship: Eliezar Cachatoor-Faber, Conrad Bolger, Cara Hicks, David Kang, Xavier Wasek-Webb and Sylvia Palmer.
Thanks to route setters Pete Lofthouse, Angus Kirk and Ben Dunnett, who put in long setting days and gave the climbers varied, hard boulders. Thanks to Roi Rangi, who organised the event and ran the mic, to Cadine Rangi as Jury President and Robyn Lofthouse as Head Judge, and to the whole crew at Beta.
The NZSS sports sponsors are Whakaata Māori, Bayleys Real Estate, Caltex, Nateva, Apollo Projects and Anchor. The Cup also had support from the Four Winds Foundation, First Gas and PAK’nSAVE New Plymouth.
Full results: qualifiers · semis and finals. Whakaata Māori streamed the senior semi-finals and finals, and the recording is on their YouTube channel.