Humber Games – Orienteering Final 14 July 2012
Appleby Frodingham Sports Club, Scunthorpe.

The qualifying rounds for this competition started four months ago at Howden Secondary School where the local primary schools in the Howden cluster took part on March 8th. Other similar competitions took part throughout the East Riding from March to April, with between 50 and 100 children taking part in each one. The top ten pairs at each qualified for the East Riding Schools Final held at Burton Constable Hall on May 1st.
Schools Orienteering competitions are not as well developed in Hull, North East Lincs or North Lincs and these areas each held a final without the benefit of qualifying rounds. (Unfortunately the recent bad weather prevented North Lincs from being able to hold their final). Many of these events and all the four finals were organised by Humberside and Lincolnshire Orienteers (HALO) in conjunction with the school sports teams.
The Humber Games Final was thus the culmination of the four local authority orienteering competitions showcasing the best Orienteers from the four regions.
Individuals were invited to the final based on the best performers in each region, and over 20 schools were represented with large turn outs from Pearson, Victoria Dock, (both Hull) and Priory Lane (N Lincs).

Children competed as pairs with separate competitions for Year 5 and Year 6.
Each pair were handed their orienteering map at the start which showed the order of the controls they had to visit in as quick a time as possible.
The latest electronic timing was used, provided by the organisers, Humberside and Lincolnshire Orienteers (HALO).

It was clear in the final on Saturday that the extra experience gained by the East Riding teams was a big advantage. The top three pairs in both year groups were all from the East Riding.
The biggest winning margin of the day was in Year 5 with George Van Dam and Taylor Stanton from Stamford Bridge School being two and a half minutes clear of the second place team, Matty Blake and Isaac Reid from Molescroft School. Matty and Isaac had been in the lead at the half-way stage but faltered in the latter part of the course. Caitlin Poole and Harriet Dobson put in an impressive performance to finish third, just 40 seconds adrift. Special mention goes to Libbie and Lewis from Melbourne who finished fifth, despite having to re-start - they had been given the Year 6 map at the start and completed half of that course before they realised.
The top three were well matched in Year 6 with just 79 seconds separating the top three. Sam Feeney and Sam Keating from Withernsea were in third place just 5 seconds away from the second pair, Davis Weston and James Drewery from South Cave. The winning pair were from Bugthorpe, Ned Lyon and Henry Jon Palmer, although the lead did swap 5 times during the race with each of the top three being ahead at some stage.
There were many more impressive performances during the day.