On Saturday, Mrs Harvey and I took a team of five Form 3s down to St Mary’s, Melrose to take part in the inaugural ‘Farr Out Challenge’.
The Farr family set up this all-day event, which saw teams of pupils from several different schools carrying out a series of difficult tasks to test their physical endurance, artistic skills, ability to work effectively as a team and even one challenge to bring out their inner thespian – before a grand finale, in which each team would have to complete an obstacle course.
Our team consisted of Hughie Brooks, Bibi Cuthbert, Julia Tyndall, Jamie Willoughby and Freddy Woodd.
The day commenced at half past nine with a briefing for all the teams, before the challenges began. First up for Team Belhaven was the, aptly named, ‘Torture Chamber’. This was the one which would test our team’s physical capabilities.
Situated in the pre-prep school gym, our five competitors had to rotate around a series of athletic tasks (which included sit-ups, skipping and sprinting) and see how many repetitions they could achieve in two minutes. These two-minute periods crawled by for our keen athletes, with Jamie achieving the day’s record for jumping on and off the bench. An easy event, for Mrs Harvey and me!
After a short break they had the chance to vent their creative skills, with the construction of a banner incorporating the school logo or name. Hughie’s artistic eye was particularly useful in this challenge, and before too long we had a blue Belhaven eagle and crest of which I’m sure the Headmaster would be proud. The team also had to construct a stretcher out of wood and string – which would come in use later.
For the drama challenge, our troop of actors was given a scenario which had to be expanded into a short play – ensuring that it had a beginning, middle and an end. Julia and Bibi acted very well in this piece, in which our team discovered a treasure map in an old attic and were transported to a (Farr)-off land.
After lunch came the one they were all looking forward to – the climbing wall. Freddy showed dogged determination in this challenge, as our students had to see how many points they could score in scaling the climbing wall; the higher the climb, the more points gained.
Finally, each team had to use the stretcher (which they’d made earlier) to carry a bucket of water across an obstacle course, using the water to fill a tube at the other end; the first team to fill the tube would be the winner. Led by Bibi, our standard bearer, Belhaven were just pipped to the post in this one by a matter of seconds, by the St Mary’s ‘B’ Team.
After a long and exhausting day, the results were in and the prize-giving ceremony began. Points-wise, it was very close with the overall winners St Mary’s ‘B’ only 1 point ahead of 2nd place, and Belhaven coming joint 3rd alongside all nine remaining schools.
A super day was had by all, and our thanks go to both the Farrs and St Mary’s for organising the logistics of the day, and to our team for being such good ambassadors for Belhaven.
