A team of Year 9 and 10 students headed to De La Salle College on Tuesday for the final of the South Auckland Maths Challenge. In this competition, Māori and Pasifika students race each other to solve maths problems, with a runner from each team sprinting to deliver the answers to the judges as quickly as possible. 

Over the last few months, Waitākere College teams competed in the West Auckland & Central heats, enjoying success by winning or placing several times and earning gift vouchers as prizes. 

The final event, bringing together teams from schools across Auckland, was much larger and the large number of participants added to the excitement. Our teams worked hard and the runners exhausted themselves as they kept the pace up throughout the 20 minute rounds. Although they did their best our teams didn’t win any prizes but placed respectably in both year groups. 

Students said they really enjoyed these events, especially learning how to solve problems that were “different from what we usually do in maths”. Some team members will now go on to compete in Mathex, another maths competition open to all students across Auckland.