By Kirra Livingstone
BEERWAH High students and teachers attended the annual Kokoda Challenge on May 10 at the Imbil State Forest, and raised $9583 for the Kokoda Youth Foundation.
The school smashed their fundraising target of $3600, with Malachi Johnson notably raising $1503 towards the overall total.
31 students and eight teachers joined in on the challenge, which HPE teacher, Katherine Claydon, said was all about courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice.
“For the first time we included two junior teams — one doing the 30km and blitzing the challenge running in just under 6hrs and taking out the winning 30km school team,” she said.
“Our second junior team of year 7/8 girls tackled the 18km Challenge and conquered the course in 7hrs.
“Another 6 teams took on the 48km challenge in high spirits after taking on numerous hills with elevation up to 555ft they reached the half way support crew stop where an army of staff were there to assist the teams with strapping sore knees, ankles and toes.”
Katherine added that the Kokoda Challenge team were stocked with food to get through the day, which was generously donated by Woolworths Beerwah.
She said the highlight of the day was the students resilience and admirable effort.
“Every student crossing the finish line — no withdrawals, students persisting and pushing themselves to their limits,” Ms Claydon said.