Narrow defeat in National Finals

Published on isbi School News dated Friday 7th of March 2014

Following on from their win at the Regional finals of the Senior Team Maths Challenge at Warwick University back in December, the STMC team of Mikhail Bobkov (18), Matthew Ho (16), Toby Winter (16) and Heidy Kang (18) pitted their wits against 59 teams in the National Finals at the Camden Centre in London on 4 February.

Every participating school had qualified as the winner of their Regional round.

Heidy commented, 'We did exceptionally well in the first two rounds, losing no marks at all and being in joint 1st place as we entered the third and final round. Unfortunately we had a little trouble finishing the third round which took the form of a mini relay of very challenging questions - we were just not fast enough at getting the answers.

All four of us are good at different areas of Maths. Prior to the event, the team spent a lot of time together practising past papers and team work.'

At the end of the third round the team finished 15th in the country.

Maths teacher, Nick Turnbull commented, 'Having come second in the regional heat the previous two years, I was thrilled that Oundle made it to the National final! The team worked really effectively together and should be proud of their achievements against stiff competition.'

In 2013, 38 Oundle pupils received Gold awards in the Senior Maths Challenge, 62 Silver and 66 Bronze. Ten pupils achieved 100 in the recent Senior Maths Challenge which was the breakpoint for automatic qualification to the next round - The British Maths Olympiad BMO1. In addition, 16 pupils qualified for the Senior Kangaroo Challenge. Heidy Kang was awarded a distinction in the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls.