Home : News : Record breaking hike to adventure
Record breaking hike to adventure
23/10/2009
An unprecedented 55 teams of Scouts, aged 10-14, from across London, Devon and Hertfordshire, took part in an adventure challenge hike last weekend.
The 250 Scouts used their hiking and orienteering skills in the Chiltern 20 Challenge Hike, organised by Greater London North Scout District on Saturday 17 October. They navigated their way through 11 checkpoints, walking somewhere between 20 km and 15 miles, a collective distance from London to Johannesburg.
This popular event is organised every year by the same team of adults responsible for putting on the prestigious Southern 50 Challenge in February for Explorer Scouts and adults.
These younger walkers started off bright and early from Stokenchurch Community Centre with two teams setting off every three minutes. The winning team from 20th Torbay, aptly known as The Devon Rockets, roared home in a minute over 2½ hours. Their winning time was faster than many people take to run a half marathon.
Orienteering champion leads way
With help from a participant who had recently won the national schools’ orienteering championships the winning team finished 35 minutes in front of Ridgeway Scout Group, from Hertfordshire. This was Ridgeway’s third appearance in The Chiltern 20, and the third time they have finished in the runners-up position.
All the participants went home clutching their Fitness Challenge Badge along with individual certificates for completing the event. Their leaders, who gave up another day to Scouting, were beaming with pride. One Hertfordshire Leader said ‘It was a great event, challenging course and perfect weather. Our four teams thoroughly enjoyed themselves.’
Lottie, a 14 year old Hertfordshire Scout said: ‘This is the third time we have entered and once again we really enjoyed ourselves. It’s great fun meeting up with other Scouts from all over London and some teams came all the way from Devon to take part. I love the event because you get to work as a team, encouraging each other when it gets tough and it gives you great confidence in using your map reading skills.
External links
Greater London North Scout District
Chiltern 20 and Southern 50 Challenge
Comments
There are no user comments for this news article.
Search
