The kids were “loving it” at the Hāwea Waitangi Day Challenge this year, which has resumed after a three year hiatus.

The annual event included a quiz night (on Monday February 5) and sports events on Tuesday morning (February 6), followed by a ‘Top Town Challenge’ at Peter Fraser Park in the afternoon.

Hāwea resident and Hāwea Flat School teacher Tom Merrell told the Wānaka App there was an impressive turnout despite the windy conditions.

“It’s good to see heaps of families and young kids, and new families as well,” Tom said.

The kids were “loving it”, he added.

Kids of all ages enjoyed chasing tennis balls fired from spud guns.

Teams were split differently this year because of the changing population of town and country residents. Instead of town versus country, people who live on the eastern side of Hāwea District were in team blue and those on the west side were team red.

Team blue was the resounding victor, having won the tennis, cricket, and senior netball, and the Top Town Challenge; while team red won the golf and junior netball.

The younger generation offered encouragement for the ‘oldies’ tug-of-war.

The Top Town Challenge included a water slide challenge, sack races, tennis balls shot from spud guns, the ever-popular tug-of-war, and an exciting lolly scramble.

Max shows off his lolly scramble haul.

The event took place for 16 years before it went on-hold due to Covid-19 and a shortage of volunteers to help run it.

Earlier this year Tom and a couple of other Hāwea residents put out the call for volunteers and pulled together support for a quiz night and four sports.

The blue team was victorious overall. 

Tom said he and long-time organiser Colleen Carr had “heaps of help this year” and the pair were able to delegate a lot of tasks.

“Anyone who is keen to organise anything [for next year] is welcome to,” he added.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App