Brentwood School orienteers face muddy challenge

It was a case of mud, mud, glorious mud for Brentwood School’s hardy orienteers on Sunday as they ploughed their way through ankle-deep bogs in search of the elusive control points. A slightly depleted team (the result of illnesses and the clash with a School Fencing tournament) meant 11 of the school’s young orienteers tackled the course at Baddow Ridge woods in Danbury.

Heavy mud and steep gradients were not the only challengers the youngsters faced on this outing, as for the first time, they had to identify some new features including rootstocks and earth banks.

Heather Trevelyan was the first Brentwood orienteer home on the 2.9km Orange course taking 5th place in a time of 46:20. Sarah Prior was 8th in 58:22 with Kate Bowie-Briton close behind in 9th spot in 60:30. Sarah Prior was also presented with her Colour Badge for achieving three runs below par time over the past couple of months.

The Brentwood pack followed each other home on the Yellow 2.6km route with Mayukha Rodrigo taking 2nd place in a time of 33:54 followed by Pranita Arun Prasadh (34:18); Matthew Trevelyan (41.23); Ayush Jain (43.07); Janie Horton (43:50); Jemima Mamelok (48:09) and Joshua Elsworth (50:12).

Brentwood Preparatory School Year Six pupil Jake Horton was 3rd on the 1.7km White course in 36:58 and was also presented with his Colour Badge.