Last updated at 16:59, Thursday, 29 November 2012

ULVERSTON Victoria High School orienteering team have regained the British Schools Championships Large School trophy after a two-year gap and earned the title of ‘Best Orienteering School in Britain’.

BEST OF BRITISH: The Ulverston Victoria High School team who won the British Schools Orienteering Championships: A Foster, W Bannister, F Smith-Ward, S Yates, H Scott, S Allison, M Barron, D Fletcher-Cooney, G Pugh, A Dobson, W Rigg, M Hallatt, C McKenny, K Wright, L Jefferson, A Bartlett and G Hudson-Chang JON GRANGER REF: 50041430B000

After training hard for a year the pupils travelled in hope to the venue, Delamere Forest, near Chester, and returned with some excellent individual results, the school winning one silver and two bronze medals.

Alex Foster, B7, only started orienteering in September, but ran steadily throughout the course to win silver. Angus Dobson claimed a bronze medal.

The final individual medal was won by Katie Wright in Girls 12, who also took bronze.

Lois Jefferson, Girls 11, just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth for the second year running. Heather Ball, G7, was even closer to a medal, just seven seconds off bronze.

Ulverston’s greatest strength is the large number of orienteers who compete for the age class trophies.

UVHS won five age class trophies and achieved two second and a third place. One of the highlights was the success of the Boys 7 team.

With only two months of training behind them they were faced with the largest class (78 runners, 11 teams).

However, Alex Foster (2nd), William Bannister (10th) and Francis Smith Ward (11th) blew the field apart to finish as champions, 16 points clear. The Girls 7 team were unlucky to be beaten into second place by just six points.

The other highlight was the continued success of the Boys 12 team. Angus Dobson (3rd), William Rigg (5th) and Patrick Rigg (14th) retained their trophy and have yet to be beaten after six years.

The third winning boys team was the Year 8 team who retained their trophy from last year. Sam Yates (6th) Harry Scott (14th) and Stewart Allison (22nd) beat Torquay by 12 points.

Perhaps the most unexpected win came from Girls 9. After finishing third last year Mary Barron (8th), Daisy Fletcher Cooney (10th) and Grace Pugh (16th) leapfrogged into first place to win by 13 points.

There was also success for the Girls 13 team who, despite having only two runners, were able to retain their trophy through Meghan Hallatt (5th) and Collette McKenny (7th).

The competition for the Large Secondary Schools trophy was very exciting.

With teams from as far away as Devon and Aberdeen, as well as the usual contenders from Kenilworth and Coventry the competition was close.

After a tense wait it was finally announced that Ulverston had regained the trophy, beating Banchory Academy into second place by 10 points.

First published at 16:57, Thursday, 29 November 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk