THE CHATLINE

Picture Suuplement

OV 2010
The Blakfoot Hike—2010
Denbigh-TrefnanHenllan Off they go, the checkpoint marshals
are ready and waiting

Roving
route marshals
are on their way
and sweep teams
are walking the hills
well behind the scouts
to pick up stragglers
or lost teams.

A helping hand from a marshal reassures

a team that they are on
the right route and
know where they are
heading.

Another bit of
reassurance, this
time from a roving
marshal. And off A bit of checkpoint
again with a smile! congestion!

Meanwhile -
back at the
finish —- Sweep team walkers
were ready for a rest
on Saturday night,
most of them had
walked twice as far as the Scouts
while back-tracking for late teams.

This was the hall at

Henllan waiting for And this was as they Giving out the
The finishing teams! Started coming in! well-earned
Certificates.
The Blakfoot Hike—2010 cont….
 The Blakfoot Hike—2010 cont….
Blakfoot Hike from a Control Viewpoint
The weekend arrived after collecting the radios and producing the many pieces of paper for the marshals to use during the week-
end. Friday night was a late start as we could not access the leaders base until 10pm at which time we could put together the packs
of information for the marshals. All was complete by 1am Saturday morning and we settled down for a good nights rest.
Saturday morning arrived with an alarm at 5am and the control team tip-toed around to collect our equipment and have breakfast,
yes the catering team were also up at 5am. After breakfast we departed the leaders base for the location that was to be our home
for the day, as the control caravan has to be located at a high point to assist with the signal coverage for the radios. We duly
erected and pegged out the 20ft ‘cold’ aluminium mast, set up the generator for radio power and set up our mini office as three in-
dependent team tracking systems are used to track the team positions. The radio op (Jill) records teams and times from checkpoints
and passes the info in triplicate to the tracking systems. Firstly, Phil (the young one) uses a programme developed by himself to
record team times etc and provides very quick answers to some challenging questions to allow decisions to be made. Secondly,
Sue transfers the team data to a manual tabular system and lastly I (Phil the old one) transfers the data to a pin board system.
Hence all team locations are checked in triplicate prior to decisions being made and this also helps in case of power failure etc as a
back up.
During the morning at the control point the weather was slight rain but nothing harsh, but we could appreciate that the teams were
walking in much harsher conditions. Soon it became apparent that teams 112 and 113 were overdue and the sweep teams (sweep
teams are teams of adults that follow the routes after the last team has left base and are used as the prime means of searching for
lost teams) were due to arrive at Dee4 checkpoint. Control spoke to the teams by mobile phone whilst the sweep teams scoured the
area and the mobile marshals drove the roads around the area to search greater distances. You may not be able to appreciate how
to find a lost team when they don’t know where they are and youngsters have a knack of not being able to describe what they can
see in ways that can be interpreted onto a map. Anyhow the search techniques again worked and 112/113 were found by mobile 2,
they were going the opposite way to what they believed.
Order was restored the process of tracking teams and taking calls from teams in doubt of their position was a welcome relief, un-
fortunately team 107 had a mobile phone and control knew it as we kept getting calls to the emergency number from them and all I
could hear was a muffled trudging as the mobile rang me from their rucksack. Now this is ok until after 27 calls it wears a bit thin
and checkpoints were tasked with instructing team 107 to lock the key pad. This took 2 checkpoints before it was achieved (on
getting home I also discovered 15 voice mails left whilst I was dealing with other teams on the telephone).
Eventually all teams had arrived or been taken to the overnight base and left in the care of the base crew. The base crew keep a
vigil all night just in case any of the teams have problems. They also ensure the teams are properly fed and watered. Control was
shut down when all were accounted for and we de-rigged the mast and loaded up to head off to the leaders base.
After a most welcome hot meal control set about getting marshals data arranged for the Sunday part of the hike and we eventually
departed for the local hostelry as they had allowed us to use their car park, well it would be rude not to. An early night was the
order of the day and some rest before our 5am alarm call.
Sunday morning started very much the same way as the Saturday apart from our turning and having to reverse the caravan uphill
whilst navigating a bend on a narrow country road. Eventually after much to-ing and fro-ing we extricated ourselves and headed
up the correct road. The start of the hike was due at 8am and started without much ado. Mid morning we had time for a well
earned bacon buttie with our hot drink. The worst part of the hike arrived when teams would be withdrawn as their walking speed
was insufficient for them to each the finish, (a part we all hate but has to be done to allow the hike to run to some sort of timescale).
During this time team 312 went walkabouts between Dee 28 and Dee 29 and again we were into a search pattern to retrieve them.
The area to be covered was quite large and reinforcements from the junior sweeps was requested (as they had finished sweeping
the junior route) to join the intermediate search. Again mobile 2 saved the day and the team was found after they called the emer-
gency line from a phone box in the village they had arrived at (this was way off the route but at least we had them). The remaining
teams were all shepherded in and mobile 1 took control whilst the main control was de-rigged and headed back to the finish.
After the closing ceremony and we are all home the caravan has to be returned to its moorings and the radios returned to the hire
company. We also hold a de-brief in the coming weeks to learn from events at the hike. It is no accident that the hike has been
running well for many years but, without the efforts of approximately 60 adult helpers we could not run the hike and it is a testa-
ment to their work that almost 100 scouts were able to experience hiking on their ‘own’ making decisions without reference to
adults to achieve a goal. The goal is development, confidence, application and determination whether or not they achieved a gold
award. Although the awards are there to encourage and reward teams at whatever level they achieve. Any scout who entered the
Blakfoot has my admiration as it is not an easy event to do and all significant adults in their life should be just as proud of their
achievements.
So the next year begins.............
 Jungle Parc 2010.
The 28th Warrington Scout Group decided to have a day out. It needed to be fun for everyone, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and
adults alike. Jungle Parc based at Croxteth Country Park in Liverpool provided the perfect venue. There were 2 courses –
Adventurer and Xplorer suiting all age ranges containing rope bridges, cargo nets, zip wires and high rope challenges! It
was quite safe and each ‘monkey’ wore a harness and was connected via a safety line at all times whilst on the course. We
spent all of the morning laughing and shouting to each other. Then in the afternoon, after a packed lunch, we had a mini
‘It’s a Knockout!’ on a nearby field mixing all the sections in teams. The weather was dry but cool so nobody overheated.
It wasn’t expensive and we would thoroughly recommend it to any Scout Group !