Tryfan Win House Orienteering!
The annual House Orienteering competition was held at St David’s College this weekend and saw 44 teams of competitors racing and chasing around the school grounds, playing fields, forest and hillside.
If you’re not familiar with the sport of orienteering, you can think of it as a giant treasure hunt, where everyone has a map with the location of various markers on it. All the competitors have to do, is work out where they are and find them all in the quickest possible time. Sounds easy right?...
With a former Welsh Orienteering Champion in the Outdoor Education Department, this year's course was developed with new maps and deviously hidden markers. Each marker is allocated a certain number of points so that the pupils had to decide which ones, and in which order they should try and find them. Arrival back at base over the allocated time allowance carried a penalty, so strategic thinking as well and skill and speed were required in order to gain maximum points.
As the teams arrived back, times were logged by Miss Dexter and Miss Smith, who were the official timekeepers, and hydration levels were monitored at the ever-popular Café Zone, which was manned by Mr. Delaney and well stocked with the kitchen’s finest Hot Chocolate. After some impressive number-crunching from the Maths Department, Head Boy Zachery Valentine read out the scores as they appeared on the big scoreboard, eventually revealing Tryfan House to have gained the highest score of the day.
A huge thanks to the big team of staff who helped with marshalling, warm-up sessions, safety briefings, hot choc making, race officialising, and general encouragements. Well done Tryfan, who finished ahead of Snowdon, with Cader taking the Bronze position.
