Three Ardnamurchan High School pupils put themselves on the map after coming second in a national secondary schools geography quiz.
Alasdair MacKay, Oren Manthorpe and Seumas McIntyre, accompanied by two staff/volunteers, travelled to Dollar Academy on October 3 to compete in the finals after winning local and regional qualifiers.
The Ardnamurchan contingent was greeted by the head of Dollar Academy’s sixth form and led to the captain’s room for a pre-quiz lunch. The team then competed in a tough test with 10 other regional champions encompassing six rounds, including river knowledge, observation skills and a quiz on Scottish cities.
“We were positive about our performance on the observation section as we exceeded that in the last quiz in Inverness,” said an Ardnamurchan High School quiz team spokesperson.
“Our team was less confident, however, in the overview of Ordnance Survey maps, certain aspects of which we found relatively challenging.”
Nonetheless the Highland team soared through to take second place on the podium.
The next rounds were on Egyptian geography, identifying cities across the
world, US state flags and capitals and a general knowledge quiz of geographical studies.
Following a close battle, Ardnamurchan and Stuart Melville College tied for first place.
The question asked to determine the winner was: “How deep is the Mariana Trench?”.
“We missed it by around two or 3,000 metres,” said the spokesperson, “while Stuart Melville only missed it by around 900. We still felt triumphant, however, having come second in Scotland and champions of the Highlands. The other Highland champions from Golspie were unable to attend the quiz.
The team was gifted a small squishy ball in the form of a globe, a book on geography skills and knowledge and a practical work kit as a reward for their efforts.
Photograph: Ardnamurchan High School Geography Quiz team, from left, Alasdair MacKay, Oren Manthorpe and Seumas McIntyre.