Bay of Islands Academy, Hukerenui School, Kerikeri High, Kerikeri Primary, Riverview and Springbank schools in cross country meet

The 10-year-old girls get off to a quick start during the Kerikeri and District Interschool Cross Country Race, Takou Bay. Photos/Peter de Graaf

More than 150 kids aged 8-12 from six schools competed in one of the coldest, muddiest Kerikeri and district interschool cross-country races on record on Tuesday.

Hukerenui School's Brenna Hayes was a clear winner in the 10-year-old girls' race.

The young athletes, all of whom had excelled at their own school cross-country events, braved a 2.5km course over a Landcorp farm at Takou Bay which included a long hill climb, deep mud and biting rain.

The participating schools were Bay of Islands Academy, Hukerenui School, Kerikeri High, Kerikeri Primary, Riverview and Springbank.

The Northern Advocate's Kerikeri-based reporter Peter de Graaf too the photos.

Carter Nash of Riverview School makes a splash in the 10-year-old boys race.

The winners of the 10-year-old girls' race were Brenna Hayes (Hukerenui School, first), Zara Davison (Riverview, second) and Kyra Holmes (Kerikeri High, third).

Kerikeri High School 11-year-olds Kyra Holmes (left), Isla Robinson and Willow Alderton catch their breath after the race.

The Kerikeri High School kids kept warm and dry under an improvised tent made from a tarp.

Ataahua Edmonds and Sascha Bell of Kerikeri Primary School embrace the conditions during the muddiest cross-country race of recent years.

Kerikeri Primary School's Keira Smith and October Davis appear unimpressed by the mud.

Charlene Junang of Kerikeri Primary School negotiates a mud puddle.

Byron Carere-Semb, 11, storms to another win.

Kerikeri High students Erica Ford, Annaelle Smith (obscured), Jess Jack and Arlia MacCarthy huddle together for warmth.