DAY 2 - The Presentations

The competition has officially begun! The socializing and relaxing is over and the hard work begins now. The race itself hasn't kicked off, however, the crucial part of the competition takes place on this day. Yes, the actual race is important but in order to take part in the race, the trike has to be approved by the RACV officials in scrutineering. As well as this every team must take part in a presentation which is also judged by officials.

The trikes have to be near perfection to endure the critical eyes of the officials who assess every little facet of the bike to ensure it is safe and ready to be used on the track for the big race.

Considering the pressure to pass, both teams were frantic in their preparations to make their trikes passable to ride.

Year 9's 'Arci's Angels' seemed to have their trike under control. Calm, cool and ready under the guidance of Mrs. Arci, the year nine team were the first to take their trike to be approved.

Meanwhile, the year 10 countenance was slowly diminishing as 'The W.I.P' was far from being approved. There was so much still to do and the pressure and stress was amounting. The girls were frantically adding and adjusting, connecting and drilling so that they could make the scrutineering. On the brink of losing all hope, 'The W.I.P' team had no choice but to send their 'baby', as Bree would constantly coo, with the many flaws it had.

Lucky for 'The W.I.P', there was a long queue but for 'Arci's Angels' it was a long wait. The wait was over in no time and the girls' knowledge was put to the test when they were quizzed on what they knew about their trike. They proved themselves when they answered questions on safety, race flags and the construction of their trike. The critical officials, however, found flaws in the year 9 trike and they were denied approval until the trike was adjusted and improved.

The strict nature of the scrutineering and design and construction sessions are to ensure that all teams have built safe and suitable trikes that fill the criteria to be able to ride in the 24 hour endurance race. Though it is disheartening to be denied approval it is worth it to be safe while being in the trike.

So with the year 9s going back and making adjustments it was time for the year 10 team to face the judgement. Much to the shock of everyone on the team and Mr. Ratcliffe, who said "If we get approved I might just faint", 'The W.I.P' passed the testing with the girls performing flawlessly in front of the officials.

Eventually, the year 9 team passed testing and there was a collective sigh of relief because all teams were eligible to ride in the race. The hard work hadn't finished yet. There were still the presentations which would end the theory aspect of this competition.

The year 9s presented first followed by the year 10s shortly after. It was incredible to see the hard work pay off and the teams work together. Pleased with their efforts, yet tired from all the work there was finally some free time that was definitely over due.