Source2Sea Challenge
A Long Way to the Beach
Phil Way (Source2Sea) / 17.10.2008
Source2sea 2008 took place in the stunningly beautiful coastal hills of Mid-Wales on the Afon Rheidol River, which rises in the Cambrian Mountains and reaches the sea at Aberystwyth between the 25th and 27th September. 17 teams took part, from organisations across Europe, with GrowHow taking final honours, closely pursued by a range of organisations including BT and Coca Cola.
Day one and Stage 1 had the teams of 6, building model gliders that were flown off the dam holding back the reservoir that was filled by the Afon Rheidol itself. This short stage provided a great opportunity for the coaches to observe all the teams in action, and had the teams designing and building very different gliders.
Stage 2 was a 4.5 hour stage involving the teams playing a game of Pontoon by visiting controls that had different card values at each – their objective was to get as many high scoring hands as possible. However the teams could split into 2 with some going into the hills on foot and some collecting cards by kayaking around the reservoir. Most teams pre-agreed the hands they would play and collected accordingly before returning to the stage transition to play their hand.
Some team’s played up to 5 hands of cards during the stage but several went bust scoring nothing on that particular hand. Communication and recognising strengths and weaknesses were critical. A compulsory control which was high in the Cambrian mountains gave a crucial card of ace high or ace low but also allowed the teams to pick up their team baton, a leek! Complete with its own SI card.
Day 2 and Stage 3 took them further down the river on Mountain Bikes. The route hugged the Rhiedol and went through stunning terrain through forests and past small lakes often crossing or joining the now famous Continental Mountain Bike trail and finishing at the mountain bike centre at Nant-yr-Arian. On face value the stage looked easy but with the controls being worth different values at different times of the 3 hour stage the teams strategy and time keeping was crucial.
Stage 4 involved the team running around the Silver Lead Mining Museum at Llywernog finding controls and answering questions about the history of mining in the area. One control was even hidden underground in a disused adit. This highly interactive museum created challenge and education all in one stage!
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