The Cisco Networking Academy NetRiders competition champions have been enjoying a whirlwind tour of the Cisco San Jose campus and Silicon Valley this week. Their agenda has included both technical sites and locations of scenic and cultural interest.

The 17 champions from 13 countries started out their weeklong visit with a trip to Santa Cruz and a hike at Henry Cowell Redwood park in Scotts Valley. For many, this is their first trip outside their country. In fact, 5 champions had never ridden on an airplane before.

NetRiders champions at Henry Cowell State Park.

The NetRiders have toured Cisco's Data Center and the Compliance, Cable and AST (Administrative Serviceability Tools) labs. They even got to visit Cisco CEO John Chamber's office.  He wasn't in, but Rob Lloyd, Cisco's President of Sales and Development, gave everyone a tour.

The annual Networking Academy NetRiders competition is an interactive networking skills contest. More than 10,000 Cisco Networking Academy students in 85 countries competed last year. Of those, 17 won the Study Trip Prize to visit Cisco headquarters in San Jose. The prize rewards and recognizes outstanding Networking Academy CCNA students and encourages them to further their career development in IT.

Seeing the Cisco offices has given the champions a whole new appreciation of the power of technology. Hern