Participants in this year's Tough Guy/Gal Challenge at Massey's Manawatū campus.
Massey’s Manawatū campus hosted roughly 1500 primary and intermediate school kids as they completed the 2020 Junior Tough Guy and Gal Challenge.
Originally set to be held at another location, Massey University had only six-weeks to pull together a successful event after the original location was unable to be confirmed in time.
Through the support and hard work of the campus grounds team, Recreation Centre and School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition staff, a course was designed that incorporated a range of fun and physical challenges.
The course included a water slide down the side of the athletics track, swamp and stream crossings close to the equestrian centre, running through paddocks and native bush trails, along with various challenges such as crawling under cargo nets and through tunnels.
After the event Massey provided hot showers at the Recreation Centre for all the kids, along with hot food, coffee and plenty of parking.
Ron Werner, Operations Manager for the Recreation and Sport Centre said it was great to have a huge amount of people on campus to see what facilities are available at Massey.
“The event setting by the Recreation Centre, along-side the new hockey turf, tennis and netball courts and the Sport and Rugby Institute, really showcased the great range of first-class sport and recreation facilities we have on this campus.”
The Massey team that organised the event said they managed to pull it off in their tight time frame thanks to good communication with the event organiser and understanding their needs,as well as being fortunate to have a great environment that suits hosting events such as this.
Gary Mack, Grounds Manager, who helped the event team prepare the Junior Tough Guy and Gal courses, noted that the hub of extensive sport and recreation facilities provided“a very safe, diverse and exciting environment for such an event.”
“It was great to see so many kids enjoying the event, and the many parents and supporters having the opportunity to walk around the campus.”
Assisting the event organisers were volunteers from Massey’s Sport and Exercise courses along with year 12 students from Palmerston North Boys High School.
Professor of Sport and Physical Education Andy Martin, coordinated the volunteers.
The feedback we received from the event organising team was that not only was it a great venue to hold the Junior Tough Guy and Gal courses, but the support of the students also made it the best managed.”