LAST Saturday was the perfect day for a treasure hunt in Half-Way-Tree. The weather was sunny, and with adventure crackling in the air, the hunt began at the Half-Way-Tree Transportation Centre

The turnout was a bit smaller than we expected, with the TEENage group being the largest with four members. Apart from our team, there was one other group with two members and two individual competitors.

As the clock hit 2:00 pm we were out the gate running towards our first three of the nine clues that had the competitors running from HiLo in the Pavilion Plaza, to Half-Way-Tree Craft Market. Clues four to six had the competitors rushing to Monarch Pharmacy in Tropical plaza to Mall Plaza's Xtra Collectibles then to Twin Gates Plaza.

Clue seven was the easiest to find, but the hardest to figure out. In order to move on, we had to find the magic number, which was the representation of 'K' and 'M'. Weary from the running up and down, someone finally blurted out "1,000!", because "M" is a Roman Numeral, and 'k' is the symbol for kilometre.

Finally, we were on our way to our final location, which we figured out was York Pharmacy. We arrived sweaty and out of breath, hoping to still be able to place in the competition upon our arrival, but we were in for a big surprise because Clue 9 awaited us.

Clue 9, the final clue, literally stood between us and the third place prize which we could see waiting for us on the counter. And to top everything off, it was a math question. It stated: "An average of 35 paperback books fit on each shelf of a bookcase. There are four shelves in each bookcase. How many bookcases will be needed to shelve 1,540 books?"

We just about gave up, until someone shouted the answer, "11!"

As we slumped over one another, we were almost too tired to hear the results, but got a pen and jotted them down anyway. In first places was the group of two, Rochelle Campbell (@ChicaRocy23) and Otis Johnson (@Oats162), who received a Digital Camera courtesy of Watts New and a Brut XT gift basket, while second place and a Brut XT gift basket went to Renaldo Hawthorne (@Ren_Egade).

TEENage (@TEENageObserver) proudly took home third place and a smaller Brut XT gift basket, but we still have to big up the final competitor, Tadene Smith (@tadenesmith).

In hindsight, the clues were cleverly thought through and the placement was genius, although we would have preferred the locations to be closer to one another. However, at our moment of victory, clutching our basket, beaming with smiles as big as the moon and all too intimate with the smell and feel of sweat and grime, no one was happier to place third than this TEENage team.

— Shantayaé Grant