VEX V5RC National Championship Qualifies for Worlds!
Last weekend, we had three teams competing in Telford at the VEX V5RC National Championships: teams MTS_R3START and MTS_Bubblegum competing in the High School, and our independent team Andromeda competing in the Middle School Division.
Written by Dylan L (L6) and Jai P (L6):
The teams went up on the Thursday after school, arriving after a three hour coach ride. Day 1 of the competition was on Friday, with qualification matches and skills runs scheduled.
MTS_R3START began successfully, winning their matches and remaining undefeated at the end of Day 1. After a tough first day, MTS_Bubblegum pulled it back with a couple of solid wins moving into Day 2. One of the highlights of Day 1 were the two teams facing off in the afternoon, with MTS_R3START emerging victorious by just a single point. Early on in Day 2, having worked hard the previous evening, MTS_R3START rocketed to first place in Skills with a 39 in programming, which they then further improved on with 42.
After qualification matches, each team formed successful alliances and were drawn against each other for the round of 16. An unfortunate rule violation from MTS_R3START’s alliance partner meant that MTS_Bubblegum advanced to the quarter finals, where they were knocked out in a tightly contested match. Over in the Middle School Division, Andromeda finished seventh and formed the second seed with a team from NLCS. They managed to win even their toughest matches and eventually were defeated in finals, leaving them with the title of Tournament Finalists and a qualification for Worlds.
In the end, MTS_R3START came away with the Skills Champion award (individual time trials), for the highest combined driver (53) and autonomous (42) skills score: 95. They were also awarded the Excellence award, given to the best all-round team at the competition looking at the robot's performance in both qualification matches and skills as well as documenting and explaining their design process in their engineering notebook and interview with industry professionals, meaning they also qualified for Worlds. Overall, a fantastic experience for all those involved, and we now look forward to representing both the School and UK at the World Championships in Dallas in May.
Thank you very much to Mr Tang and Mr Docherty for accompanying us on the trip and for their help across the season.
VEX IQRC National Championship 2025 Success
Written by Hrim D (Fourths):
I’m so excited to share what an incredible time we had at the VEX IQRC National Championship 2025!
Both our teams, MTS_L0G1N and MTS_MAVER1CKS made it to Nationals at the Telford International Centre and it was such a memorable experience. From the moment we walked in, the atmosphere was amazing—robots zooming around, teams deep in strategy talks and so much energy from everyone. It felt like we were all part of something really big!
Both teams had so much fun competing in the Skills Challenge and Teamwork Challenge. It was a rollercoaster of emotions—sometimes everything went perfectly and other times we had to fix things on the fly. But that’s what made it exciting! We cheered each other on, helped each other out and had a blast together. One of the best parts was meeting all the other teams, exchanging ideas and just enjoying the event as one big robotics family.
The highlight of the event was when MTS_MAVER1CKS won the Think Award! We were all so happy and proud of them! They worked so hard and came up with some really creative ideas so it was amazing to see them get recognized for it. We couldn’t be prouder of them—it made the whole experience feel even more special.
We had the best time and we’re already looking forward to next year. We can’t wait to go back and hopefully bring home even more awards!
