Saturday the 17th of August
1st Claremont
Against Western Cape Scouting
12 of our scouts as well as 2 scouters tested their orienteering skills with scouts and scouters of the Western Cape Region in a competition to see how many points they could gather in an hour and a quarter. The competition was held in the False Bay Nature Reserve next to Zeekoevlei where they set up multiple different beacons all over the terrain and marked them onto a map that we are given at the start. Put into pairs, we then have to find and secure as many beacons as possible by putting our tags over the top of the beacons and a light flashes to show that it has been recorded.
However, there are too many beacons to tag every single one so you have to find a route which will give you the most amount of points while getting back in time. The faster you run and the better your route you plan is, the more points you will get, but don’t spend too much time getting the beacons. Every minute you finish later than the time given, 10 points are taken from your score.
1st Claremont actually did extremely well with our junior teams coming 8th, 12th, 32nd and 39th. Senior teams coming 5th and 21st and our scouter team coming 4th. As a troop we came 3rd overall which is an incredible result as this is our second time competing with quite a few years between our first and the last time we competed.
Although it was pouring with rain and had an icy gale blowing, we had loads of fun. Next competition the troop has a good chance of winning so hopefully a lot of you will be there in a year’s time. Thanks to everyone who came this year and well done!
Peter Raynham
