Kent County Scout Hike 2002
79 teams, 316 Scouts and in excess of 150 Leaders, Helpers and parents all made this year's Kent County Scout Hike a huge operation, and a huge success.
Our biennial 2-day hike competition, over 18th & 19th May 2002, was open to both Scout and Explorer Scout sections, in three classes - Scouts (10-14years) only, Explorers (14 - 18years) only, or Mixed teams (10 - 18years).
Twenty out of 24 Districts were represented. The winning teams, all from different Districts, were :
- Class A - 13th St Philips Royal Tunbridge Wells
- Class B - 1st Cheriton 'B' Folkestone
- Class C - Joint 1st 3rd Sevenoaks/Riverhead Sevenoaks
- Class C - Joint 1st 27th All Saints (Frindsbury) Strood
(Due to a score input error 3rd Sevenoaks were announced as winners on-the-day, but a re-count later revealed 27th All Saints as Class C winners. Hence 'joint' winners.)
During Saturday's 12-mile hike the teams visited 8 checkpoints and were tested upon their teamwork and ingenuity, with challenges such as car assembly, repair a puncture, transporting corn, fox and a chicken ! charades, egg drop, and estimating.
Dartford's Mayor, Councillor Margaret Eaton, joined one team and walked the whole course !
Points were also available between the checkpoints by completing quizzes, orienteering, a memory test, and a scavenger hunt, on route.
Once back at the base, Wilmington Grammar School, the teams were treated to a two course dinner, after which, various entertainments were freely available such as swimming, hullabaloo road show, karaoke, football, cricket, prusiking, large size Jenga and a giant connect 4.
For those who just wanted to sit and chat, the burger bar, tuck shop and slush machine stations were ideal venues.
A very early breakfast heralded Sunday morning, fortunately it was only the catering team who had to wake-up at 5am to start cooking. The rest of us laid in until 7am.
All eight activity bases on Sunday morning were within the school grounds, which was also bathed in glorious sunshine for the whole day.
The challenges consisted of Contamination, Lost in Space, Crystal Maze, Which Country ? plus the inevitable water activities.
The event organisers had spent the past three years planning this 2-day competition, bringing together all the equipment and staff.
On Friday night 17th May the various teams swung into action, there was :- Administration, Information, First Aid, Catering, Site Security, Site Facilities, Public Relations, Hike Route, Saturday Checkpoints, Sunday bases, and Entertainment teams.
The presentation ceremony on Sunday afternoon involved a slide show and video footage of the previous 24 hours of competition and fun. After the usual 'lost property' session the prizes were awarded.
Dartford's District Commissioner, Angela Rainey; County Commissioner, Kelvin Holford; and Headquarters Commissioner for Network Scouts, David Williamson presented the medals and certificates to the top three teams in each class. The winning team of each class also received a small trophy and £50 of Blacks Gift vouchers.
1st Cheriton 'B' team from Folkestone District were awarded the Kent County Hike Trophy, by Neil Gearing - A.C.C. Scouts, as the team with the highest overall score.
Des Harris, Dartford District's Chairman and County Scout Leader, compared the proceedings, with Bob Duncan (ADC-Scouts, Dartford) providing the technical support.
As they left the hall, each team received an envelope containing a full set of results, a personalised certificate and a badge for each team member. The badge can be worn upon their Uniform until the end of 2002.
The event organisers wish to say a huge THANK YOU to EVERYONE who helped make this competition a success.
By the end of the weekend everyone, Scouts, Explorers and Leaders were tired, but very pleased to have been a part of the experience that was - KENT COUNTY SCOUT HIKE 2002.
Winners Class C 1 and 2
