Cranleigh robotics team 18650F represented Cranleigh School at the VEX Robotics UK National Championship held in Telford on 1st & 2nd March 2024. The Cranleigh School team were part of a field of 64 teams who had all qualified for the season finale by winning events earlier in the season; Cranleigh’s qualification was secured with a tournament win in January.
Team 18650F got off to a perfect start, winning their practice match on their own (our alliance partner was unable to compete at the time) and the success continued in the qualification matches. Cranleigh won their first five matches on a formidable winning streak that secured much needed points in tightly contested matches. It didn’t all go Cranleigh’s way on day one however and after a couple of tight matches the team fell to back to back defeats leaving us 12th in the Lovelace division at the halfway mark.
The team worked to improve and repair their robot back in the pits and overnight in the hotel before returning the next day to climb back up the table. After a slightly turbulent start due to a minor technical disqualification the team got back on the winning side and secured some thrilling victories to finish their qualification matches ranked 7th out of 32 teams in our division.
Cranleigh were the eventual 5th ranked alliance and paired with a robot from Radley who they had previous success with in other tournaments. The teams worked together to secure a resounding win in the Round of 16 knockout match 127-80 and book a spot in the quarter-finals. Next up the team faced the alliance pairing ranked one place higher and in what turned out to be an action packed match with lots of scoring, the Cranleigh alliance robots were both elevated at the end of the match securing the bonus points and ultimately the all important win 116-40. With our place secured in the semi-finals the team awaited the confirmation of their opponents who were the top seeds, only narrowly winning their own quarter final match, confidence was high. The lead changed hands frantically throughout the semi-final with both teams experiencing difficulties with trapped robots and malfunctions, in a tight and entertaining match the Cranleigh alliance was narrowly beaten 96-118, exiting the competition with a noteworthy 70% win percentage.
A massive congratulations to Cranleigh Robotics Team 18650F on a brilliant season of impressive robotics!
