A DAY of orienteering will be taking place across Maldon’s Promenade Park in May, with nearly 500 children from 13 schools being registered to take part.

The Essex Stragglers Orienteering Society have been running their free schools orienteering festival for several years, providing introductory games followed by a big event in the park.

Each pupil will be given a map of control sites and must visit as many as possible within 30 minutes.

Development Officer of the Society, Steven Partridge, said: “Orienteering is a sport which encourages fitness alongside problem solving and is suitable for all ages and levels of ability.”

The festival takes place over two days, beginning on May 24 at 9.30am, with a record 900 participants taking part.

On the first day, students from primary schools all over the district flocked to Promenade Park to scamper around after the control sites.

Children from St Mary’s School in Burnham, St Francis Primary School, and Heybridge Primary School raced against each other visit as many control sites within the park as possible.

Steven added: “All the children seemed to really enjoy themselves and were darting around the park with loads of enthusiasm. It was great to see.”