Operation Red Flare 2005

This year’s Operation Red Flare, a 13-mile night hike with ten checkpoints and seven incidents, took place in the area around Shaws Campsite near Biggin Hill on the night of Saturday 26th February 2005. The weather was freezing and there were several snow showers overnight. In the early hours slippery ice was an additional hazard. Of the 30 teams booked in, 22 teams started the course – Explorers, Network and Rangers. The first team set off at 6:53pm and the last team finished at 7:30am. There were about 35 adults involved in the running of the event.

At first light, as the last of the teams returned, there was a thin layer of snow covering the campsite, as can be seen in this 360° snow scene panorama (207KBytes QuickTime). An hour later, following a breakfast of bacon rolls cooked by the Fellowship, the results were announced and Alex Minajew (National Commissioner for Activities) presented the certificates and trophies.

The over-18 and overall winners were the GLSW Scout Network All-Stars (together with members of Sutton ESU from Sutton & Cheam) with 430 points. The under-18 winners and overall runners-up were the Voyager ESU ‘A’ team from Royal Kingston with 323 points. Scott ESU from Richmond upon Thames and Double Dragon ESU from Wallington, Carshalton & District shared third place with 311 points. The Croydon Guides Senior Section won the ladies prize with 270 points. A full table of the results is shown below and there is also a full score sheet (10KBytes PDF) available.

Place	Team	Time	Bonus	Chkpnts	Incdnts	Total
1st	GLSW SNet All-Stars	6:20	190	100	140	430
2nd	Voyager ESU ‘A’	8:24	66	100	157	323
3rd	Scott ESU	8:10	80	100	131	311
	Double Dragon ‘B’	8:29	61	100	150	311
5th	Croham Valley ‘A’	8:21	69	100	126	295
6th	Voyager ESU ‘B’	8:41	49	100	121	270
	Croydon Guide SS	9:00	30	100	140	270
	Morley ESU ‘B’	8:45	45	100	125	270
9th	Severndroog ESU ‘A’	8:29	61	100	104	265
10th	Mitcham ESU ‘C’	9:02	28	100	127	255
11th	Surbiton South ‘B’	9:18	12	100	142	254
12th	1st Fetcham Rangers	9:20	10	100	143	253
13th	Faversham RGU	10:10	0	100	149	249
14th	Morley ESU ‘A’	10:58	0	100	136	236
15th	Belmont ESU ‘A’	10:58	0	100	132	232
16th	Mitcham ESU ‘B’	9:30	0	100	127	227
17th	Surbiton South ‘A’		0	80	98	178
18th	Iceni ESU ‘A’		0	60	86	146
19th	Croydon SNet		0	50	74	124
20th	Mitcham ESU ‘A’		0	40	60	100
21st	Double Dragon ‘A’		0	40	52	92
22nd	Sanderstead RGU		0	50	30	80
DNS	Cook ESU		0	0	0	0
	Sutton ESU		0	0	0	0
	Croham Valley ‘B’		0	0	0	0
	Herne Bay ESU		0	0	0	0
	Iceni ESU ‘B’		0	0	0	0
	Sutton RGU		0	0	0	0
	Cheam Explorers		0	0	0	0
	Belmont ESU ‘B’		0	0	0	0