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Scouts Challenged in the Chilterns
18/02/2010
Last weekend saw over four hundred Scouts take part in the 31st annual Southern 50 Challenge, a hike over the Chiltern Hills through Buckinghamshire and the surrounding counties.
An even split of young people and adults made up 75 teams of four from 20 different counties across the UK. There were teams from Cumbria in the north, Devon in the west, Dorset in the south and Essex in the east. Plus a number of teams from the event hosts, Greater London North.
The challenge offers three routes from 30 km, 50 km plus the blue riband 50mile event. All provide more than their fair share of challenge in the Chiltern Hills.
A winning walk
The winning team in the 30 km event came in with a time of 4 hours and 34 minutes. It was the second year in succession that the team of four Explorer Scouts from inner city London had finished in gold medal position.
Team members Gemma, Kelly, Gemma and Giacomo, all from the 201st Islington Scout Group, beat their previous year’s winning time by over an hour. Kelly described their success as a ‘tiring but great fun.’ Their nearest competitors, a Devon Explorer Scout team from Plympton and Ivybridge, were 17 minutes behind.
The top two teams in the 50 km event mirrored last year. In first place were a Scout Network team from Devon, also finishing an hour faster than last year with a time of 6 hours and 17 minutes. They were 27 minutes ahead of The Phoenix Flyers from the 201st Islington.
Late Finishers fail to live up to their name
Finally, the 50 mile event was won with a superb performance from Late Finishers Again. A quartet made up of the Greater London North Mountaineering Team, who clocked 11 hours and 26 minutes, half an hour in front of 1st Chesham Bois in Buckinghamshire. The last team home, four Scout Network Members from Beckenham in Greater London, completed the course in just under 20 hours.
This year’s event saw more female participants than ever before, making up a quarter of the total. What’s more, a record 94% of participants completed the course.
The event couldn’t have happened without the one hundred volunteers who helped organise and run it.
Further information
Southern 50 Challenge
Volunteer for Scouting
Written by: Chris Foster
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