ANOTHER event that we are delighted to welcome back to the school calendar following a three-year pause is our Martin Doyle Endurance Challenge.
The gruelling and fiercely-contested timed event pits teams of two King’s Ely Senior students from each House against each other in a physically and mentally challenging combination of running, swimming, canoeing, climbing and more.
The annual competition was launched in memory of Kit Martin-Doyle, one of the founders of Ely Scheme Outdoor Education. While most independent schools have an outdoor pursuits programme, the Ely Scheme is both unique and central to the whole King’s experience, as young people are given opportunities to push themselves out of their comfort zone.
The Martin Doyle Endurance Challenge sees students facing a 5-kilometre run, followed by a 3-kilometre canoe, a run back to school, scaling the school climbing wall, a memory test challenge, a tyre flip challenge, a lap of the school assault course, and finally finishing with a 100-metre swim in the school pool whilst wearing a buoyancy aid.
This year’s event took place on May 13th and the Winning Houses were Torfrida (Nia Baird and Rosie Ringer) and Osmond (Alex Keene and Will Buckingham)!
Congratulations not just to the winners but to all of the students who competed – Amanda Olthof, Heather Norris, George Bullivant, Joshua Rundle, Gabe Boon, Ollie Brooke, Disa Hellyer, Tabitha Lacey, James Barber, Sam Barber, Alexandra Bowerman and Sophie Haydn-Slater.
James Houlston, Director of Outdoor Education at King’s, said: “The students did extremely well in what were very muggy and hot conditions. My thanks go to all of the competitors for the hard work they put into training, as well as all those that helped marshal the event.”