Secondary School Tough Guy and Gal Challenge: Rotorua

Lakes Ranch provides this school mud run a rough-and-tumble feel, with secondary school students lining up to compete against other schools rather than just chase a time. It sits firmly in the Mud/OCR camp: wet shoes, dirty legs, and enough obstacles to make the bus ride home smell like victory and laundry trouble. The course mixes water trails, paddock running, native bush trails, a mud slide, swamp crossing, and more mud. Expect the fun elements kids talk about afterwards: a spiders web net climb, crawl under barbed wire, and a tricky wire rope bridge that will punish anyone trying to stay clean. There is also a practical school angle here, with students able to gain NCEA Level 2 and Level 3 credits, which is a good excuse to spend the day getting muddy.