GOOD Shepherd College (GSC) students had recent success at the Maryborough Energy Breakthrough event.

This incredible event challenges teams from schools in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia to push the limits of endurance, innovation, and teamwork by creating new aerodynamic shapes, new vehicles and testing new technologies.

GSC has supported the event since 2012 and this year put forward a mixed team consisting of seven Year 12 students and one Year 9 student.

Students were required to deliver a prepared presentation (25 per cent of total score), demonstrate the knowledge of their vehicle (25 per cent) and also race in a 24-hour Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) trial (50 per cent), where riders cycle in a recumbent position and operate the gears, brakes, horn, and steering with their hands.

Each rider cycles for a time then with a pit change, swaps out for the next rider like a relay race.

Over a trial of this length, each rider may cycle for up to four hours across the whole 24-hour race.

Team manager, Joel Jackson was a team rider from 2017-2022 and has spent the last two years managing, alongside teacher Ms Samantha Broadbent, where he said the group trained profusely in the lead up to the event.

“I’m pretty sure they were riding up to 200 kilometres per week (in training),” he said.

“We trained at the Hamilton Velodrome next to HILAC on Wednesday nights in preparation for this event, and also met on Mondays to organise the presentation.

“Many individuals also worked with the cycling club.”

This year, the GSC team presented a skit as part of their presentation to a panel of judges which covered a range of topics including the history of a team, safety features, training nutrition, fundraising and sponsorships.

Students were also tested on the knowledge of their vehicle, where they were asked questions and were required to test the safety of their vehicle.

The 24-hour HPV (Secondary) race trial required a team of eight riders, where they raced against energy efficient vehicles for 24 hours swapping in between stints.

“We were pretty exhausted – we had stints anywhere from 30 minutes to up to an hour and a half,” Joel said.

The team placed second in the 24-hour trial, with an overall placing of fourth among 11 schools, scoring 88.5/100, just 0.3 off third place.

“They did really well – we had mostly Year 12 students who were navigating training amongst five weeks of exams,” Joel said.

“One of our team members, James Tonissen has been participating since Grade 5, and he’s Year 12 now, so that was great.”

“We were really happy with how they went.”

The GSC team also finished fifth overall this year in the Australia Human Powered Vehicles Super Series, with rounds of racing across South Australia in Mount Gambier, Tailem Bend, Adelaide and Murray Bridge.