Bathurst entered into debate with Dubbo College on Thursday evening, the topic being ‘Australians are too concerned with sport’.

Bathurst took the affirmative, their argument being that, while a healthy investment in sport is good, it has been taken too far. 

One of the examples they gave was that the Astley Cup generated a lot of attention, while the academic equivalent, the Mulvey Cup, was relatively unknown. 

Bathurst High principal Ken Barwick said it was an excellent debate and very close to call.

“It was probably one of the best debates I have ever seen. It was extremely close to call and the adjudicator also said it was close to call,” he said. 

The win was said to have come down to definitions used throughout the debate. 

Proving that Bathurst High had a tough challenge, the school went up against Dubbo a second time for the Western Region final of the Premier's Debating Challenge.

Mr Barwick said he was very proud of the effort the debating team put into the first tie of the Mulvey Cup.

“Each speaker from the Bathurst High spoke articulately, the timing was good, and it certainly wasn’t a boring debate,” he said. 

In order to claim the Mulvey Cup, the team will need to put in a strong performance when it goes up against Orange High’s debaters later this week. 

“If the girls perform to their capability, they will be very hard to beat,” Mr Barwick said of his team. 

Bathurst High is well on its way to a clean sweep, having won its first tie in the Astley Cup against Dubbo as well as the Mulvey Cup. 

Mr Barwick said the school isn’t getting ahead of itself, knowing that it can be very tough to go up against another school in their town, which will be the case when the athletes and academics travel to Orange on Thursday and Friday.