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Endurance and intelligence win the day

The Bonaqua Youth Challenge, an adventure competition held in Sai Kung Country Park last Sunday, was more than just a race.

All the winners in the 15km multi-sport adventure race were strong enough for the gruelling challenges of trail running and kayaking, and intelligent enough to accomplish tasks like orienteering and other team games.

With their physical strength and brain power, Zealot, consisting of four students from the Hang Seng School of Commerce in Sha Tin, clinched victory in the boys division.

'We did well in an IQ game and took the lead after that,' said team captain Monki Ip Kwok-kit, 17.

'We were a little lucky because we got lost at one point, but other teams were more lost than us and that gave us an advantage in the end.'

Ip, with this teammates Kenneth Wong Man-wai, 18, Keith Yeung Chi-wong, 18, and Martin Chan Tung-yu, 17, all members of the school football team, clocked in at two hours and 22 minutes, outrunning their rivals Dream Team from French International School by one minute.

More than 160 teenagers formed over 40 teams to compete in the three divisions - boys, girls and mixed.

In the girls' division, H4O, formed by King George V School students Emma Griffiths, 16, Hannah Joy, 17, and siblings Reiko and Nikko Wilkinson, 17 and 16 respectively, were the champions.

Clocking at two hours and 52 minutes, the girls were more than half an hour faster than the first runner-up. Mongkok Workers' Children School settled for second place, finishing at three hours 36 minutes. 'It involved orienteering and map reading, making the section more confusing, but we worked as a team,' said captain Nikko.

'The secret to our success was that we wanted it more. We kept on motivating and encouraging each other. We managed to keep up the team spirit.'

The four girls think the competition is a new type of challenge.

'In traditional competitions, IQ and teamwork are rarely directly tested.

'In this competition, which involves a variety of sports, we got a chance to experience a different and challenging format.'

In the mixed division, Vibrant and Youthful from Ng Yuk Secondary School beat Meuser from German Swiss International School.

The winners crossed the finish line in two hours and 33 minutes, which was 15 minutes faster than their closest rivals.

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