An unexpectedly large number of four member teams – 45 in all from 15 different secondary schools - competed in March’s Leeds Technology Tournament 2023 after a two year break. Both Benton Park and Horsforth Schools brought enthusiastic teams.

The basic challenge was to ferry supplies across a crocodile infested river, building and testing a vehicle to run on a suspended cable. The task was made harder for the different age groups from Foundation, through Intermediate to Advanced. First stage for all teams was to produce a portfolio with diagrams describing their solution to the task.

The Lord Mayor of Leeds Councillor Robert Gettings and the Lady Mayoress, his wife Lesley, also a Councillor, spent time talking to the teams before presenting the prizes. Being a former teacher at Woodkirk High School he was particularly interested in how the teachers present demonstrated their answer to the Advanced challenge watched by a large crowd of expectant and boisterous pupils.

Having completed the task with time to spare, all teams who wished were encouraged to solve the Advanced option. This resulted in the young Horsforth School Foundation team earning the overall Innovation Prize for their imaginative solution.

This was a Joint Leeds Group production with judges and stewards from Aireborough, Headingley, Leeds, Leeds White Rose and Roundhay Rotary Clubs.