Whanganui's Tough Teen, Tough Kid returns for another year bigger then ever

Thousands of Whanganui children will battle it out to be the toughest kid in town at Cooks Gardens on Friday.

After Thursday's Mitre 10 MEGA Tough Teen event close to 2450 Year 3-8 primary school pupils will tackle the obstacles in a race against the clock for the Tough Kid event.

Merania Taurua-Laidler from City College finished off the race with a water slide in the Tough Teen competition. Photo / Bevan Conley

Organised by Sport Whanganui, the obstacles which include a Slip n Slide, tyre web, frog pond and a net crawl were provided and run by local businesses and volunteers.

Annette Cox from Sport Whanganui said they had 100 more entries for the teen event.

"They're just loving it, they all come out with smiles."

Teens from all over Whanganui competed in the first day of the event. Photo / Bevan Conley

The Mitre 10 MEGA Tough Kid started in 2011 with 519 children taking part and has not only grown in numbers locally, it has also grown to three events throughout the region and is now run by four other regional sport trusts nationally.

Civil Defence & Emergency provided a smoke cave with water inside for kids to crawl through. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui Fire Brigade volunteered their time to be part of the event. Photo / Bevan Conley