A month ago, Australia’s top ninja athletes descended on Geelong Ninjas for the 2024 Ninja Challenge League Finals and Australian Ninja Open, sponsored by Goodman Grips.

Now that the dust has settled and the Commissioner has had time to recharge, it’s time to look back one last time before switching focus to 2025.

In this post:

• 2024 NCL Finals & Australian Ninja Open wrap
• 2024 Australian Ninja Open All-Star Team reveal
• 2025 World Ninja League Championship qualifiers reveal
• 2025 Finals Venue & Dates announcement
• 2025 Season format changes

2024 NCL Finals & Australian Ninja Open wrap

Across two days of intense ninja competition in October, we saw epic individual and team performances, broken hearts, improbable saves and an overwhelmingly supportive community spirit that underpins ninja sport.

At the end of it all, our Finals course remained undefeated after nine seasons, but Victorian teenager Luke Davis of Fighting Lyons emerged as the 2024 Last Ninja Standing, taking home top spot in his debut season in the Adults Division after missing the previous year with an unfortunate snowboarding accident.

Joining Luke on the overall podium was his rival from the youth division days and last season’s winner, Tye Beadel from The Compound Training in second place, and Queensland young gun Sonny Axnick of Urban Xtreme.

Rounding out the top five overall competitors were Victoria’s Zoe Harkness in fourth place – the highest ever overall ranking by a female competitor – and South Australian champion Jobie Wright from Base Camp – South Australia.

For the Adult Female division, Last Female Standing Zoe Harkness was joined by training partner Millie Baker and NSW’s Judith Carroll, head coach at Ninja Kids and the 2022 Last Female Standing.

In our inaugural Masters division, Darren Baker took out top spot, followed by The Compound Training owner Clem Vertigan and VIC local Paul Reid (absent for podium presentation).

For the Young Adults division, NSW’s Mitchell Townend of Australian Warrior Fitness put on a stunning performance on Stage Three to win his division, while Queensland’s Aaron Kickbush also reached the third stage to take silver, and Victoria’s George Pacor claiming bronze. 

At the conclusion of the individual event, focus shifted to the increasingly popular Australian Ninja Open team-relay event.

This year, the Masters divisions athletes were responsible for selecting the teams in the Ninja Draft, using their years of experience to assemble the strongest team they could.

After five rounds of high-octane action, it was Team Beadel that emerged victorious over Team Dixon in the Championship Round, with father-son duo Tucky and Tye Beadel joined by Ash Campbell, Matilda Taylor Johnson and Thomas Winterburn on the winning team.

A massive thanks to everyone who contributed or putting on the event – there are too many to name here, but just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to put on the NCL Finals.

2024 Australian Ninja Open All-Star Team reveal

For the first time in NCL history, we named an All-Star team of the top performers at the Australian Ninja Open, voted on by an independent panel to reward athletes whose teams might not have enjoyed ultimate success, but had a breakthrough moment or demonstrated consistent excellence that caught the judges’ eyes.

Your 2024 Australian Ninja Open All-Star Team:

Also receiving votes: Ash Campbell, Chris Keswick, Jai Whitby, Lochie Lydom, Luke Schmitzer, Michael Mischefski and Mitchell Townend.

2025 World Ninja League Championships qualifiers revealed

For most of our competitors, the NCL Finals marked the end of the current season, but some of Australia’s elite competitors will have a chance to extend their season by representing Australia at the World Ninja League Championships hosted in the United States of America in 2025.

The qualifying athletes were drawn from each State Youth Finals Series event and the NCL Finals 2024.

Eligibility and the number of qualifying spots for youth athletes was based on the performance and participation at an individual State Youth Finals event.

For adults, eligibility and qualifying spots were determined by performance and participation against competitors from the same state at the NCL Finals, to ensure a representative pool of athletes from across Australia.

If your name is on the below list, you will receive an official email invitation from the World Ninja League before the end of 2024.

WNL Youth qualifiers:

Qualifying Event	Name	Division	Sex	State
QLD Youth Finals	DOMINIC DOWS	Kids	M	QLD
QLD Youth Finals	CALLUM NAGEL	Kids	M	QLD
SA Youth Finals	Kyle Holt	Kids	M	SA
SA Youth Finals	Layla Stone	Kids	F	SA
WA Youth Finals	Lara Bovari	Kids	F	WA
WA Youth Finals	James Artis	Kids	M	WA
WA Youth Finals	Cooper Spry	Kids	M	WA
NSW Youth Finals	Ivy Hobbs	Kids	F	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Ryan Lee	Kids	M	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Oscar Cresswell	Kids	M	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Leia Zabarte	Kids	F	NSW
VIC Youth Finals	Hudson Dempsey	Kids	M	QLD
VIC Youth Finals	Mason Vabec	Kids	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Lincoln Van der Meer	Kids	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Sammy Thorn	Kids	F	VIC
QLD Youth Finals	DONOVAN BENNIE	Mature Kids	M	QLD
QLD Youth Finals	JOHN STANTON	Mature Kids	M	QLD
SA Youth Finals	Zaki Andary	Mature Kids	M	SA
SA Youth Finals	Noah Roper	Mature Kids	M	SA
SA Youth Finals	Savannah McSwain	Mature Kids	F	SA
SA Youth Finals	Cooper Granich	Mature Kids	M	SA
SA Youth Finals	Madelyn Brown	Mature Kids	F	SA
WA Youth Finals	Ronan Pietzsch	Mature Kids	M	WA
WA Youth Finals	Dion Joyce	Mature Kids	M	WA
WA Youth Finals	Lilla Bovari	Mature Kids	F	WA
NSW Youth Finals	Josephine Sheean	Mature Kids	F	VIC
NSW Youth Finals	Jack Stewart	Mature Kids	M	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Ryan Thomson	Mature Kids	M	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Bohdi Davies	Mature Kids	M	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Zara Waldon	Mature Kids	F	NSW
VIC Youth Finals	Mason Goldsmith-Carter	Mature Kids	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Elvis Wicke	Mature Kids	M	QLD
VIC Youth Finals	Blake Artis	Mature Kids	M	WA
VIC Youth Finals	Matilda Van der Meer	Mature Kids	F	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Maisy Mock	Mature Kids	F	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Hugo Tebbutt	Mature Kids	M	QLD
VIC Youth Finals	Jordyn Stevens	Mature Kids	F	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Lenny Jansz	Mature Kids	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Polly Wilson	Mature Kids	F	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Isabel Burgoyne	Mature Kids	F	SA
QLD Youth Finals	BENJAMIN DOWS	Pre-Teens	M	QLD
QLD Youth Finals	KOBI ROBERTS	Pre-Teens	M	QLD
QLD Youth Finals	DOMINIC HALSALL	Pre-Teens	M	QLD
QLD Youth Finals	ISABELLA ALLEN	Pre-Teens	F	QLD
QLD Youth Finals	CHRISTIAN PITOT	Pre-Teens	M	QLD
QLD Youth Finals	QUINN HEALY	Pre-Teens	M	QLD
SA Youth Finals	Noah Wardrop	Pre-Teens	M	SA
SA Youth Finals	Sofia Harrigan	Pre-Teens	F	SA
SA Youth Finals	Charlie Klose	Pre-Teens	M	SA
WA Youth Finals	Logan Chambers	Pre-Teens	M	WA
WA Youth Finals	Tara Pietzsch	Pre-Teens	F	WA
WA Youth Finals	Isabella Grosser	Pre-Teens	F	WA
NSW Youth Finals	Hunter Hollingsworth	Pre-Teens	F	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Hayden Wightman	Pre-Teens	M	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Mitchell Elwin	Pre-Teens	M	NSW
VIC Youth Finals 2	Nico Zandona	Pre-Teens	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals 2	Zac Whitehill-Field	Pre-Teens	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals 2	Hunter Cutajar	Pre-Teens	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals 2	Jack Goodman	Pre-Teens	M	NSW
VIC Youth Finals	Darcey Jenkins	Pre-Teens	F	QLD
VIC Youth Finals	Zoe Ackerley	Pre-Teens	F	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Daniel Jolley	Pre-Teens	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Eden Goldsmith-Carter	Pre-Teens	F	VIC
QLD Youth Finals	JAI WHITBY	Teens	M	WA
QLD Youth Finals	BAILEE MYERS	Teens	F	QLD
QLD Youth Finals	STEPHEN ROGERS	Teens	M	QLD
SA Youth Finals	Zara Dobie	Teens	F	SA
SA Youth Finals	Nicholas Edwards	Teens	M	SA
WA Youth Finals	Noah Brown	Teens	M	WA
WA Youth Finals	Heidi McPhee	Teens	F	WA
NSW Youth Finals	Oliver Maughan	Teens	M	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Oliver Hojrup	Teens	M	NSW
NSW Youth Finals	Max Bull	Teens	M	NSW
VIC Youth Finals	Zachary Gurkin	Teens	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Ethan Stone	Teens	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Liam Smit	Teens	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Charli Stevens	Teens	F	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Jasper Loch	Teens	M	VIC
VIC Youth Finals	Joshua Thomson	Teens	M	NSW

WNL Adult qualifiers:

Name	Division	Sex	State
MITCHELL TOWNEND	Young Adults	M	New South Wales
AARON KICKBUSH	Young Adults	M	Queensland
GEORGE PACOR	Young Adults	M	Victoria
ORSON LLOYD	Young Adults	M	Victoria
ELIAS COLLINS	Young Adults	M	Victoria
ASHTON HAHESY	Young Adults	M	Victoria
MATILDA TAYLOR JOHNSON	Young Adults	F	South Australia
KADE JAMIESON	Young Adults	M	South Australia
ISAAC MUDIE	Young Adults	M	Victoria
ALYSSA MISCHEFSKI	Young Adults	F	Victoria
SIENNA KURAS	Young Adults	F	Queensland
ABBIE MORTIMER	Young Adults	F	New South Wales
DARREN BAKER	Masters	M	Victoria
CLEM VERTIGAN	Masters	M	Victoria
STEPHEN MORTIMER	Masters	M	New South Wales
MICHELLE CALLANAN	Masters	F	Victoria
ZOE HARKNESS	Adult Female	F	Victoria
MILLIE BAKER	Adult Female	F	Victoria
JUDITH CARROLL	Adult Female	F	New South Wales
ABBEY CUTTS	Adult Female	F	Queensland
CHARLI SEWELL	Adult Female	F	Victoria
KAHRI WHITBY	Adult Female	F	Western Australia
CELESTE DIXON	Adult Female	F	South Australia
LUKE DAVIS	Adult Male	M	Victoria
TYE BEADEL	Adult Male	M	Victoria
SONNY AXNICK	Adult Male	M	Queensland
JOBIE WRIGHT	Adult Male	M	South Australia
MICHAEL MISCHEFSKI	Adult Male	M	Victoria
FRASER SMITH	Adult Male	M	Victoria
LOCHIE LYDOM	Adult Male	M	Victoria
YIJIE SHEN	Adult Male	M	New South Wales
AARON PIETZSCH	Adult Male	M	Western Australia

2025 Finals Venue & Dates announcement

After impressing everyone with its amenities, versatility and capacity this season, we are proud to announce that we will be returning to Geelong Ninjas for the NCL Finals & Australian Ninja Open 2025 on October 4 & 5.

In addition, we will be putting the State Youth Finals Series on hold in 2024 and returning to a national NCL Youth Finals in 2025, which will be hosted at Geelong Ninjas on Wednesday, October 1 and Thursday, October 2 – immediately prior to the NCL Finals & Australian Ninja Open that weekend.

This is set to be a huge week of Finals activity, with every single Australian state on school holidays at the same time, making it easier than ever for all competitors from across the nation to participate.

To manage what we expect to be an massive field of competitors across Youth and Adults, we are making some changes to ensure a more even spread of participation across both events so we don’t have to get through more than 200 youth competitors in a day like we did in 2023!

Firstly, we will be making it harder for youth competitors to qualify for the NCL Finals, by adjusting the threshold to open up qualifying spots and reducing the maximum number of qualifying spots from a single division in a single event back down to five (5).

This is to ensure the competitors who qualify for Finals have truly earned their place and are more fully prepared for the challenges they will face if they travel nationally. We will be balancing this by increasing the number of qualifying events in each state, where possible, to provide more opportunities for the state’s top ninjas to qualify.

Secondly, we will be grouping the Teens Division in with the Adults competitors on the Saturday, October 4 and Sunday, October 5.

As Jai Whitby and many of our other young guns have proved, they are the equal or better of many Adults Divisions athletes and are more than capable of taking on the obstacles in the NCL Finals.

This change provides a greater challenge for our Teens competitors and gives them an opportunity to acclimatise to the adult NCL Finals environment before they step up into the Adults divisions.

Logistically, it also results in a more even distribution of athletes/divisions across the Youth Finals and the Adult Finals, and makes it easier to set courses that are appropriate for the Kids to Pre-Teens divisions at the Youth Finals.

The Finals dates for each division in 2025 will be as below:

2025 NCL Youth Finals, October 1-2:

• Kids Division (Born 2017-2018)
• Mature Kids Division (Born 2015-16)
• Pre-Teens Division (Born 2013-14)

2025 NCL Finals & Australian Ninja Open, October 4-5:

• Teens Division (Born 2011-2012)
• Masters Division (Born 1985 or older)
• Adults Divisions (Born 2010 or older)

The 2025 NCL Finals will be our 10^th adult Finals event – and we hope this will be the year that someone finally claims Total Victory and the grand prize in the Adult Divisions.

The other major change to will be to the Australian Ninja Open. In 2025, we’ll be shrinking the number of teams, and restricting it to Finals athletes only – so no walk-on/Australian Ninja Open only competitors will be permitted next season – so if you want to do the Australian Ninja Open, you’ll need to qualify for the Finals too!

2025 Season format changes

As many of you know, the Ninja Challenge League family is going to be growing by one very shortly, with NCL Commissioner Mark Ravi and his wife Summer welcoming their first child in November.

This means we have had to re-examine how we run the league and streamline it as much as possible to make sure it is sustainable going forwards, which will mean a few changes for 2025.

The more observant among you might have guessed one of the changes already based on their absence from the previous section: we are doing away with the Young Adults division.

The rationale for this is simple – many Young Adults are simply too good!

The intended purpose of the Young Adults Division was to provide a pathway for younger adult competitors who might be new to the sport or not as physically mature as their peers to transition out of youth competition more slowly before stepping up into the Adults Divisions.

However, with two years of Young Adults division data at our disposal, it has become apparent that for whatever reason, the standard of competitor in the Young Adults division was often higher than in the Adults divisions.

Not only does this make the Young Adults division less appropriate for newer competitors in that age range, it also dilutes the pool of competitors in the Adults Divisions and reduces the total number of qualifying spots.

As you would have seen in the most recent NCL Finals, there is no limit to what a Young Adult competitor can achieve, with NSW’s Mitchell Townend actually going further on Stage Three than any athlete, despite being in a “lower” division.

Rather than try to manually sort the top-tier Young Adult competitors into the appropriate division mid-season, we are taking the simplest approach and returning to our roots of having (almost) all competitors in the same divisions on the same course, while still splitting the adults into Male and Female divisions.

As an added bonus, this also reduces the administrative burden on the Commissioner as he tries to juggle running the league and being a new parent!

However, we recognise that the level of Young Adults vs Adults/Elites competition in Australia is not necessarily replicated around the world, so for the purposes of the World Ninja League eligibility, Young Adults competitors at Finals will still be able to nominate whether they want to attempt to qualify for Young Adults or Elite/Adults for international purposes.

We will also be changing how we calculate the number of qualifying spots available for a given division at a given Adults event.

Going forwards, for the Masters, Adult Male and Adult Female divisions the following formula will be used:

• 1-3 competitors: 1 qualifying spot
• 4-5 competitors: 2 qualifying spots
• 6-9 competitors: 3 qualifying spots
• 10+ competitors: 5 qualifying spots

Another change we will be making is to relax our restrictions on Qualifier hosting for our event venues, so that they are no longer required to hold events for all divisions on a single day.

Instead, host facilities will be able to spread out their qualifier across a single weekend if they choose using the “split Qualifier” format, or, in some rare cases, host the Youth Divisions only.

As a result, a Qualifier can include any of the following combinations of divisions:

Single day: All divisions (Kids through to Masters) on a single day.
Split qualifier: All divisions across two days – Kids, Mature Kids & Pre-Teens divisions on Day 1 & Teens, Adults (male and female) and Masters divisions on Day 2 (or vice versa).
Youth-only qualifier: Kids, Mature Kids, Pre-Teens & Teens divisions on a single day.

We hope this added flexibility will make it easier for more host facilities to come on board to hold events in 2025.

If you’re a gym owner/manager interested in hosting one or more NCL Qualifiers of any variety, please reach out at commissioner@ninjachallengeleague.com.

To accommodate more Qualifiers in each state, we will be extending the qualifying season from February through to mid-August.

This means that some of our top athletes who travel internationally across June/July might miss some events, but it provides more opportunities for those who remain in Australia to stay engaged with the NCL and earn qualifying spots – so if you’re going to America in 2025, be sure to qualify early for the NCL Finals early in the season!

We will aim to have a minimum of three (3) qualifying events in each state, with a maximum of one event per state per month, bringing the maximum number of events in a given state to eight (8).

However, please note that competitors’ rankings on the national leaderboard will continue to be determined by their top three results – not the sum of all events they attend!

We hope you train hard in the off-season and come back fitter and stronger than ever in 2025!

All the best,

Mark Ravi
NCL Commissioner

The Ninja Challenge League is proud to announce a collaboration with APAC Ninjas, who will be sponsoring our Last Young Adult Standing award for the 2024 Adult Finals!

APAC Ninjas is a brand new ninjasport initiative established by Yijie Shen that seeks to promote the sport through league sponsorships, news and athlete awareness. To see more, feel free to check out their website at apacninjas.com!

APAC Ninjas will commence the sale of their apparel later this year, some of the proceeds of which will go back into initiatives aimed at promoting the sport and community of ninja in 2025 and beyond.

Event update: NCL Finals & Australian Ninja Open 2024

Hi all,

The big event is almost here, so we’ve got one last big update ready for you, including the schedule, how to watch, live results pages and run orders.

But before getting into that, we wanted to make sure you know that all the information below (and more) is also now live on our two dedicated pages for the NCL Finals and the Australian Ninja Open.

• NCL Finals home page
• Australian Ninja Open home page

SCHEDULE

Please note that these times are a rough guide and the competition may run early or late, depending on the final time limits determined for each stage and the number of competitors who finish each stage. This is particularly the case for Sunday, 6 October 2024, and we recommend allowing until at least 6pm for any travel plans in case of delays.

Not all athletes need to check-in between 9:30am and 10:00am on Day One, but they may have a limited ability to collect t-shirts at other times.

Saturday, 5 October 2024 (all times in EST)

9:30am to 10:00am: T-shirt collection, spectator check-in and warm-up
10:00am to 10:40am: Australian Ninja Open qualifiers
10:40am to 12:00pm: Young Adults Division – Stage One
12:00pm to 12:30pm: Lunch break
12:30pm to 1:00pm: Masters Division – Stage One
1:00pm to 3:30pm: Adults Division – Stage One
3:30pm to 5:00pm: 2024 Ninja Draft

Sunday, 6 October 2024 (all times in EDT)

Note: Daylight savings time comes into effect at 3:00am on Sunday, so prepare your alarms etc. accordingly.

8:45am to 9:00am: Competitor check-in, spectator check-in 0and warm-up
9:00am to 9:30:am: Young Adults Division – Stage Two
9:30am to 9:45am: Masters Division – Stage Two
9:45am to 11:00am: Adults Division – Stage Two
11:00am to 11:15am: Young Adults – Stage Three
11:15am to 11:25am: Masters Division – Stage Three
11:25am to 12:00pm: Adults Division – Stage Three
12:00pm to 12:30pm: Lunch break
12:30pm to 1:30pm: Australian Ninja Open – Seeding Round
1:30pm to 2:30pm: Australian Ninja Open – Pool Round
2:30pm to 3:15pm: Australian Ninja Open – Sweet Sixteen
3:15pm to 3:45pm: Australian Ninja Open – Elite Eight
3:45pm to 4:10pm: Australian Ninja Open – Final Four
4:10pm to 4:30pm: Australian Ninja Open – Championship
4:30pm to 4:45pm: All Division podiums
4:45pm to 5:30pm: Free play for competitors

HOW TO WATCH

There are two ways to watch the Ninja Challenge League Finals & Australian Ninja Open 2024 – watching in person by purchasing spectator tickets and attending Geelong Ninjas, or watching online by tuning in to our professionally filmed livestream on our YouTube Channel.

Watch online

Can’t make it to watch in person? Tune in to all the action live with our professionally filmed livestream, with the broadcast hosted by former NCL Last Ninja Standing and Australian Ninja Warrior legend Zak Stolz, along with a rotating cast of co-hosts.

• WATCH DAY ONE
• WATCH DAY TWO

Watch in person

Spectator tickets to the Ninja Challenge League Finals and Australian Ninja Open are now available. A single ticket covers the entire weekend, saving you time and money.

Spectator ticket types:

• Adult Weekend Pass (15+): $20 (plus Eventbrite fees)
• Youth Weekend pass (under 15s): $15 (plus Eventbrite fees)

PURCHASE SPECTATOR TICKETS

LIVE RESULTS

In addition to watching live, you can also follow the official results of the NCL Finals, the Ninja Draft and the Australian Ninja Open in our convenient Results Hub pages, which have been separated out to make it easier to find the information you want. If you want to stay up-to-date with the action, we bookmarking these pages – but they can also be reached through the home pages for each event.

• NCL Finals Results Hub
• Ninja Draft Hub
• Australian Ninja Open Results Hub

RUN ORDERS

Run orders for Stage One of the NCL Finals have been added to the main NCL Finals page. The run orders for the remaining stages will be updated live as each stage finishes, so competitors can know for certain whether they have progressed to the next stage and when they are running.

Run orders for the Australian Ninja Open have been added to the ANO Results Hub with placeholders indicating which team would run where based on their seedings. These will be updated live as teams are confirmed and each round concludes.

AUSTRALIAN NINJA OPEN PARTICIPATION

The Australian Ninja Open is an important part of the weekend’s festivities, so even if you run early in the morning on Saturday, we ask that you come back for the Ninja Draft so you can be there when your team captain selects you.

Additionally, if you crash out of the NCL Finals on Stage Two or Three, make sure to come back for the Australian Ninja Open as all competitors will be drafted to teams, and the loss of a team-member without notice will hinder your team’s ability to participate.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Steve Taylor-Madin is our exclusive photographer for this event and has sole rights to photograph with professional equipment. His images will be shared on our social media pages, with high resolution versions available for purchase directly from him after the event.

RECORDING RUNS

As this event will be professionally livestreamed, spectators will not be allowed into the course area to film on their phones as this can cause issues with mats and obscure the view of the official livestream and officials.

COACHING

As this is an event for adults, coaches will not be permitted onto the competition mats and will have limited access to the sidelines (depending on the course and stage) – problem-solving is an important part of what ninja a great sport, and having someone give instructions for every part of the course detracts from this aspect.

CHALK

Competitors are welcome to bring their own chalk bag and for Stage Three only, may place the chalk bag where they deem it most essential before their run.

Athletes will not be permitted to have someone walk alongside them and offer them chalk during the run, as this could compromise the competition area and obstruct key views.

NCL-supplied chalk buckets will be provided at all obstacles where it is deemed necessary and beneficial for all other stages – and liquid chalk will be available at the starting line for all athletes.

NEW SPONSOR

In addition to our major sponsor Goodman Grips, we are proud to announce a new naming rights sponsor for the Last Young Adult Standing Award – APAC Ninjas. Founded by one of our NCL Finals competitors, we are stoked to have APAC Ninjas on board and supporting the future of the league through the Young Adults division.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask – otherwise, we’ll see you there!

All the best,

Mark Ravi
NCL Commissioner

Bookings for the Australian Ninja Open have closed and the field has been set, which means we can officially announce our team captains!

Take a good look at these friendly faces, you could be drafted by one of them in a week’s time – and if you’re just learning through this post that you’re going to be a team captain, then we suggest you start thinking about your draft strategy and get across the Australian Ninja Open format in the next seven days!

In alphabetical order:

• AARON PIETZSCH
• ALEC RICHARDSON
• ANTHONY BEADEL
• CELESTE DIXON
• CHARLES MITCHELL
• CHRIS KESWICK
• CLEM VERTIGAN
• DARREN BAKER
• HAYLEY BROWN
• JOEL RICHARDSON
• LEONARD HERMAWAN
• MICHELLE CALLANAN
• PAUL REID
• STEPHEN MORTIMER
• STEVE AXIS
• STEVE TAYLOR-MADIN
• TRISTAN LAVERY

The draft order in the Ninja Draft will be determined by who among the team captains goes furthest, fastest, before reversing in snake format.

We hope you’re as excited about the Australian Ninja Open as we are – under a week to go now!

For more information on the Australian Ninja Open, head to the main page: https://www.ninjachallengeleague.com/australian-ninja-open/2024-australian-ninja-open/

Special announcement! One of Australia’s most decorated ninja athletes, Zak Stolz, will be returning as the primary commentator for the NCL Finals & Australian Ninja Open at Geelong Ninjas next weekend.

Having cleared all stages of Australian Ninja Warrior and winning Last Ninja Standing at the NCL Finals 2022, Zak’s knowledge of the sport is unparalleled.

Making his commentating debut last year, Zak’s positive attitude, ability to analyse obstacles and articulate his thoughts clearly and concisely were a revelation, and we couldn’t be happier to have him back on the mic in 2024.

Zak will be joined by a mix of other commentators, but will be the primary voice of the broadcast throughout the entire weekend.

For your opportunity to have your run commentated by Zak Stolz as part of the Australian Ninja Open, be sure to sign up before the midnight deadline tonight!

Eligibility update

In the past few weeks, we announced that we had extended the eligibility for the Australian Ninja Open to Pre-Teens competitors who are at least 161cm tall, which was based off the height of the NCL Finals competitor.

However, after going over the heights of our competitors again, we have confirmed that the shortest height of an NCL Finals competitor is actually 153cm – which means we can reduce the height requirement for the Australian Ninja Open accordingly, as it won’t require us to adjust any of the obstacles beyond what we will already have set for the adults.

Which is to say, that Pre-Teens must only be at least 153cm tall to participate in the Australian Ninja Open now – so if you’re now eligible after not being previously, be sure to sign up before the deadline on Friday, September 27.

We can’t wait to see what this expanded field of younger competitors adds to the talent pool for the Ninja Draft!

Spectator tickets launch

We are also happy to announce that spectator tickets are also now available for the NCL Finals and Australian Ninja Open. Rather than the previous system of tickets for individual days, we are combining the entire weekend into a simple, more affordable ticket that covers both days – so you don’t have to choose what events you spectate.

Ticket types

• Adult Weekend Pass (15+): $20 (plus Eventbrite fees)
• Youth Weekend pass (under 15s): $15 (plus Eventbrite fees)

As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

All the best,

Mark Ravi
NCL Commissioner

The courses and rules for all stages and divisions of the VIC Youth Finals 2024 have been revealed:

Stage 1:

• Kids Division – 2 minutes, 30 seconds
• Mature Kids Division – 2 minutes, 15 seconds
• Pre-Teens Division – 2 minutes, 15 seconds
• Teens Division – 2 minutes

Stage 2:

• Kids Division: Stage 2 – 3 minutes, 30 seconds
• Mature Kids Division: Stage 2 – 3 minutes, 15 seconds
• Pre-Teens Division: Stage 2 – 3 minutes
• Teens Division: Stage 2 – 3 minutes

Make sure you have listened to these rules carefully. We will be conducting reach checks to ensure all athletes can start the obstacles, but no full rules walkthrough will be occurring.

LIVE RESULTS

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask – otherwise we’ll see you soon for some awesome ninja action!

All the best,

Mark Ravi
NCL Commissioner

That’s a wrap on the NSW Youth Finals sponsored by Goodman Grips!

We want to congratulate all the athletes who stepped up to compete on demanding courses at Ninja Kids Erina on Sunday – we hope we were able to make a familiar space feel fresh and provide a new challenge to all competitors.

A special thanks to Jai Whitby from Western Australia, Josephine Sheean from Victoria and Joshua and Ryan Thomson from the ACT, who paid their own way to New South Wales to compete alongside the state’s finest – competitions always feel a bit more special when you get a chance to make new friends from other states.

The biggest congratulations go to our podium athletes, who rose to the occasion and in many cases, exceeded what they thought possible to secure a medal.

Kids Division

1st: Ivy Hobbs (NSW)
2nd: Ryan Lee (NSW)
3rd: Oscar Cresswell (NSW)

Mature Kids Division

1st: Josephine Sheean (VIC)
2nd: Jack Stewart (NSW)
3rd: Ryan Thomson (ACT)

Pre-Teens Division

1st: Hunter Hollingsworth (NSW)
2nd: Hayden Wightman (NSW)
3rd: Ellie Joiner (NSW)

Teens Division

1st: Jai Whitby (WA)
2nd: Oliver Maughan (NSW)
3rd: Oliver Hojrup (NSW)

Full results are available here: https://www.ninjachallengeleague.com/nsw-state-youth-finals-2024/

Our thanks go out to Judith Carroll, Joshua Thomson, Hunter Maughan and the staff at Ninja Kids Erina for assisting with setting up and running the event.

Up next, our final edition of the State Youth Finals Series at Ninja Nation in Victoria on Sunday, September 1 – which has a mammoth 80 competitors signed up!

The courses and rules for all stages and divisions of the NSW Youth Finals 2024 have been revealed:

Stage 1:

• Kids Division: Stage 1 – 3 minutes
• Mature Kids Division: Stage 1 – 2 minutes, 45 seconds
• Pre-Teens Division: Stage 1 – 2 minutes, 30 seconds
• Teens Division: Stage 1 – 2 minutes, 15 seconds

Stage 2:

• Kids Division: Stage 2 – 4 minutes
• Mature Kids Division: Stage 2 – 3 minutes, 45 seconds
• Pre-Teens Division: Stage 2 – 3 minutes, 30 seconds
• Teens Division: Stage 2 – 3 minutes, 15 seconds

Competitors will not be able to attempt any of the obstacles before their official run, but we will conduct reach checks before each age group to ensure athletes can access the start of obstacles.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask – otherwise we’ll see you soon for some awesome ninja action!

All the best,

Mark Ravi
NCL Commissioner