6 June 2006 Second semester now challenge for Lincoln 'young guns' who took on Gurkhas

Meet Lincoln University Recreation Management students Nicholas Mead of Auckland and Mike Gillies of Wellington. Along with Environmental Management student Rob Lelieveld and mate Mark Chambers of Christchurch they recently took on soldiers from the legendary Gurkha Regiment, the SAS and 195 other groups in the first ever New Zealand Oxfam Trailwalker event at Taupo and finished a commendable 13^th – only 11 places behind the famous Nepalese servicemen!

Making the achievement particularly notable was the fact that the Lincoln competitors were the youngest team taking part by eight years!

The gruelling 100-kilometre course included the ascent of a fair sized mountain and overall the trail rose to a height of 1280 metres. The Lincoln University team, led by Nicholas, completed it in 18 hours 49 minutes 54 seconds.

The event was a charity fundraiser held annually in many parts of the world to raise money to help stamp out global poverty.

With the Trailwalker behind them and still in peak fitness the Lincoln students are dreaming of new adventures but in the meantime their target is academic success in Semester Two of Lincoln University's academic year which starts on 3 July.

For Nicholas, a past pupil of Sacred Heart College, Auckland, and a graduate of the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuit Centre, Turangi, the semester will bring him to the completion of a Bachelor of Recreation Management degree.

He'll be taking four 300-level papers all leading towards his "major" – Outdoor Leadership. Papers he will be doing are Professional Practice, concerning issues in the provision of environmental planning, design and recreational services; Policy and Legislation for Recreation; Outdoor Leadership and an "elective" (i.e. free choice paper) which he says could be Event and Programme Planning or an Introduction to Social Psychology.

The course for Lincoln University's Bachelor of Recreation Management degree consists of 24 papers developed around a "core" of compulsory subjects at first, second and third year levels related to the four "majoring" streams or areas of specialisation – Parks, Outdoor Leadership, Community Recreation, Sport.

Nicholas says he is enjoying learning about the theory and psychology of Recreation as it builds on the practical outdoor skills he developed during his 32-week course at the Outdoor Pursuit Centre in Turangi.

While always having a love of the outdoors, encouraged by his parents and friends who are great enthusiasts for New Zealand's physical environment, he says he had a traditional boys' school education of English, Maths and Science and never really did any formal outdoor education until he went to the Sir Edmund Hillary centre.

Now, once he has completed his Lincoln University degree he will be well equipped to pursue a career in outdoor leadership – perhaps working in an outdoor centre at the management level, helping guide instructors and others as they introduce young Kiwis to what he describes as the "awesome outdoor environment we have at our feet in this country."

For full details of Lincoln University's Bachelor of Recreation Management degree and all other qualifications, plus information about the Mid-Year Entry option, see www.lincoln.ac.nz

Ian Collins, Communications Group, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand