Torfrida House (girls) and Wilkinson House (boys) were victorious in this year’s Martin-Doyle Endurance Challenge!
The gruelling annual competition is organised through our outdoor education programme, Ely Scheme. The challenge was launched in memory of Kit Martin-Doyle, who was one of the founders of Ely Scheme.
The contest pits teams of two intrepid students from each House at King’s Ely Senior – Torfrida, School, Wilkinson, Hill, Etheldreda, Osmond, Withburga, Hereward and Wendreda – against each other in a series of physically and mentally challenging activities.
Teams take on a 5-kilometre run, followed by a 3-kilometre canoe, a run back to school, a race up 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 challenge was held on May 10th, and to say that it was fiercely-contested would be a slight understatement – three of the four boys’ houses finished within 1 minute and 40 seconds of each other!
Congratulations to the winning girls, Alesya Giles and Sydney Smith (Torfrida), and the winning boys, Quentin Mitchell and William Shaw (Wilkinson). Well done to every single student who took on the challenge, and thank you to all Pupil Instructors and staff members who marshalled the event and made everything run so smoothly.
While most independent schools have an outdoor education programme, Ely Scheme is both unique and central to the whole King’s experience, providing students in Years 9 to 13 with countless opportunities to develop their leadership skills, and push themselves out of their comfort zones!