Silvermine Academy goes wild! Have you ever heard of orienteering? Neither had the Silvermine Academy students until two weeks ago. Thanks to our recently appointed Physical Education Coach, Jess Du Preez, a group of Silvermine Academy students were lucky enough to participate in the Noordhoek Race on 10 April 2022.

Orienteering is an adventure race that combines physical and mental fitness. According to the Orienteering Federation of South Africa, “the basic idea in orienteering is to proceed from course start to finish by visiting several control points in a numerical order with the help of map and compass”. In true explorer style our keen-eyed Silvermine Eagle Owls swooped into action and every team finished the course. Coach Jess said, “Parents were stoked and the students had a ball! Great vibe and some tired legs.”

The course was tricky starting at the Rugby/Football club and venturing out into the commons and wetlands before a loop on the Dockers farm and some sandy paths to finish. The top performing team was Jasper Gregory, Daniel Beddow and Jayden Beckley – they did the long course in just over 1.5 hours. Ben Balfour-Binovsky, Lucy Larkan, James Giloi and Matthew Gilchrist completed the short course even after going far off course. They all did well!

Daniel said that the course was much more challenging than he had anticipated because there was a huge necessity for team work. Matthew says that anyone considering taking on this challenge should treat it like a treasure hunt, go in groups of two and take lots of water. Jasper’s advice was to wear long pants so that your knees remain unscraped. Every one of our students said that they would definitely do it again in future! The organisers of the race, the Peninsula Orienteering Club encourages students and schools to participate. You can find the future events calendar on their website.

Written by Urshula Saindon