Laois school wins big at first ever remote control hydrogen Grand Prix

A Laois school has won big at a national competition's first race of its kind.

St. Mary's CBS Portlaoise claimed second prize in the inaugural Kinia Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP), which took place at the National Arena on Thursday, 23 April.

Organised by Kinia, the 3.5-hour endurance race involved five teams with team 'Eugene' from Portlaoise finishing second in the endurance race, having completed 316 laps.

The Portlaoise school's team on the day consisted of students Tommy Nevin, Joshua Hayes, Adam Gavin, Issac Leong, Mallic Elkhabir, Gerard Donoghue and Harry Maher.

Five teams from schools across the country competed for the national finals after qualifying from their regional H2GP Sprint race.

This was the culmination of an educational STEM programme where students designed, built and raced a hydrogen-powered remote-control car.

Six prizes were awarded after the race including the Endurance winners (1st, 2nd & 3rd), Innovation, Team Spirit and Pit Stop Awards.

The H2GP is a global racing series and empowers the next generation of engineers, problem-solvers and clean energy champions.

Through hands-on, project-based learning students get to enjoy the buzz of designing, building and racing hydrogen-powered cars while also gaining real-world experience in renewable energy technologies.

"Today was a great success and we want to commend all the teams and their teachers," said Marianne Checkley, CEO of Kinia.

"An incredible amount of time was put in from each team and they should all be very proud of their achievement of being involved in the first ever H2GP PRO national final," Ms Checkley said.

"Massive congratulations to the St. Mary's CBS team, they did their school and county proud. The teamwork, collaboration, ingenuity and problem solving on display was very impressive and a huge amount of credit is due to the teachers, STEM officer and our Education team at Kinia, who provided support to each team right up to the final," she praised.

The CEO expressed the organsiation's gratefulness to the Department of Transport for hosting them a the Logistics and Supply Chain Skills event.

"A year ago, most of these young people had never heard of a fuel cell," Ms Checkley said.

"Today, they are Ireland's clean energy ambassadors. Congratulations to all the young participants who built and raced Hydrogen powered cars today. They won't just be witnessing a Digital and Green transition, they’ll lead it," she finished.

Kinia also acknowledged their partners Research Ireland, SSE, Midlands (Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath County Councils), and the Department of Education and Youth for their continued support, and would welcome interest from others who would like to get involved or sponsor a team in the next competition.

For more information on the H2GP, visit www.Kinia.ie.