Schools compete in challenge

9:39am Monday 12th May 2008

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ST Rose's School and Thomas Keble School are taking part in the 2008 Fieldfare Kielder Challenge at Crickley Hill Country Park this week.

The challenge is a national outdoor adventure competition aimed at integrating youngsters with and without disabilities. It is organised by a leading UK outdoor access charity, Fieldfare Trust, and supported by HSBC.

More than 300 teams have entered the competition across the country and will now take part in one of 50 heats being held at country parks.

Eight teams from local schools are taking part at Crickley Hill today, Wednesday, and tomorrow, Thursday.

The day-long regional heat will see the teams attempt a series of team-building and problem-solving tasks designed to encourage the team members to work together to gain the most points for their team.

Andy Johnson, project manager at Fieldfare Trust, said: "The event has been a huge success again this year. We've had an unprecedented number of entries and the Challenge Gateway activity in schools has really got the teams excited about taking part in their regional heats."

Prior to the regional heats, many of the teams took part in Challenge Gateway, the first stage of the competition.

Following the regional heats, the top scoring 12 teams from across the country will win a place in the 2008 Fieldfare Kielder Challenge Grand Final in September in Kielder Forest, Northumberland.

There they will compete over two days in games on a much bigger scale set on Kielder Water and in the trees of Kielder Forest.