Nanango SHS – Queensland HPV Champions
By admin On September 12, 2011
The HPV (high performance vehicle) teams from Nanango SHS have taken out the Queensland Super Challenge held in Hervey Bay from the 22-25 August. The teams now qualify to compete at the National Grand Challenge in Victoria next month. Two of the three teams were crowned champions in their divisions with the third team coming in as runner up. An impressive effort built on years of dedication from staff and students.
The Science and Engineering Challenge is an outreach program conducted nationally by the University of Newcastle. It is designed to inspire students to study science and engineering at a senior level. Each challenge day, up to 250 students participate in a series of exciting competitive activities. These activities are designed to demonstrate the varied and practical elements of a career in the science and engineering industries.
More than 1300 students from around the state competed in the Queensland Super Challenge. Nanango entered three teams this year in the high performance vehicle event – Road Runners, Chix on Dynamite and the Supermen. The first competition was the junior three hour race and senior six hour race. In the junior race both the Road Runners (junior boys) and Chix on Dynamite (junior girls) were crowned champions. In the senior race next day, both junior teams backed up and raced again with the senior girls taking out first place in the senior division. The Supermen, due to numerous break downs were unsuccessful in this race. However the loss only made them more eager to do well at the main event.
The 24 hour race had been highly anticipated by all three teams. The race consisted of 110 teams from around the state, all racing for the title of State HPV champions. After a gruelling 24 hours, every rider had been challenged both physically and mentally. The Chix on Dynamite and the Road Runners, both in the junior girls’ and junior boys’ category, were crowned champions of the race. They both won by at least 10 laps ahead of second place. The Supermen in the senior boys’ category had an extremely close race for the whole 24 hours, finishing runners up by only 4 laps to the local Maryborough St Mary’s team. The Supermen completed 496 laps in the 24 hours which was the above the previous lap record.