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.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/5YSECAUJGRDCIZQEJ4H2QLE2SE.jpg?auth=c86a97285195f78b83b55c489655be4a007bf4d61771c606210f62997c6653aa&width=16&height=26&quality=70&smart=true)
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.