On Saturday 4th February a team of chemists travelled from school to Cambridge to take part in the Chemistry Race for the first time.

The Chemistry Race is a competition for teams of 3-5 sixth-form students organised by students at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. The teams race against each other in solving chemistry problems; whoever gets the most points within the time limit. The Chemistry Race originated as a Czech competition Chemiklání at the University of Pardubice in 2015. In 2020, one of the organisers of the Czech competition and a Cambridge student, set up a Cambridge branch of the competition called Cambridge Chemistry Race. In 2022, the competition expanded in the UK to the University of Oxford as well. More on the Chemistry Race here.

Here’s what Alicia W in Year 12 made of the competition:

“A team of five students from Year 12 and Year 13 went to Cambridge University, specifically the Yusuf Hamied Chemistry Department, to attend the annual chemistry race, the first time for us! This was a great opportunity to work with people I haven’t worked with before whilst also sharing our passion for chemistry. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and would definitely recommend this to students for next year. This competition was an enriching experience and expanded my knowledge of chemistry and showed me how it is used in day to day life. This competition was definitely a challenge, but worth it!”