Operation Red Flare 2006

This year’s ‘Operation Red Flare’, held over the weekend 4th–5th March 2006 and organised by Croydon District Scout Council, was won by a team from Sutton Explorer Scout Unit.

The event, now in its 42nd year, is a 12-mile hike at night with activities (incidents) at checkpoints along the way. A new route is devised each year and teams have no idea of where they are going until they check in at the start, which this year was at Boidier Hurst Scout Camp near the top of Box Hill near Dorking.

Altogether there were 20 teams of 4–7 Explorer Scouts, Ranger Guides, and Scout Network members, most of whom were fairly local, though one team came all the way from Morley, near Leeds, to compete. The total number of individuals taking part was 100 with 40 Leaders undertaking various tasks such as marshalling, transport and catering.

There were five activities this year – lighting a camping stove and cooking food, cracking a code, crossing a ‘ravine’, making and using stilts, and climbing a tree roped together as a team. The route included Betchworth, Buckland, Reigate Hill, Margery, Walton-on-the-Hill, and Headley.

Points were awarded for navigation, speed, the activities, a pre-start kit check, and a quiz to do on the way round. 15 teams completed the challenge, and only 5 teams retired before the finish.

The table below shows a summary of the scores. Note that the time figures used are totals of the times taken to navigate the course and the times taken to complete the tasks. A full score sheet (9KBytes PDF) is also available.

Place	Team	Time	Points	Bases	Tasks	Total
1st	Sutton ESU A	5:50	220	80	124	424
2nd	Belmont ESU	6:30	180	80	135	395
3rd	Sutton ESU B	6:31	179	80	132	391
4th	Voyager ESU A	6:34	176	80	129	385
5th	Network/Explorer All Stars	6:49	161	80	118	359
6th	Double Dragon ESU	7:36	114	80	126	320
7th	Marco Polo ESU	7:44	106	80	118	304
8th	Surbiton South ESU	8:00	90	80	117	287
9th	Cheam Village ESU A	8:27	63	80	114	257
10th	Surbiton East ESU	9:03	27	80	139	246
11th	Phoenix ESU	9:03	27	80	131	238
12th	Mitcham ESU A	10:43	0	80	138	218
13th	Severndroog ESU	9:23	7	80	127	214
14th	Voyager ESU B	10:21	0	80	133	213
15th	Cheam Village ESU B	10:44	0	80	125	205
16th	South Wallington Rangers		0	60	90	150
17th	68th Croydon ESU		0	60	85	145
18th	Colliers ESU		0	50	59	109
19th	Fetcham Rangers		0	40	56	96
20th	Mitcham ESU B		0	30	55	85