Operation Red Flare 2007

This year’s ‘Operation Red Flare’, held over the weekend 3rd–4th March 2007 and organised by Croydon District Scout Council, was won by a team from Belmont Explorer Scout Unit (Sutton District).

The event, now in its 43rd 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 Adamswell Scout Camp near Tunbridge Wells.

Altogether there were 14 teams of 4–7 Explorer Scouts, Ranger Guides, and Scout Network members, most of whom were fairly local, to compete. The total number of individuals taking part was 75 with 30 Leaders undertaking various tasks such as marshalling, transport and catering.

Activities included building a shelter, making a ‘bridge’ and crossing a stream, lighting a stove and cooking food, climbing a tree, making a Gilwell woggle, and lighting a fire to boil a pint of water. The route was 12½ miles long and circular: Adamswell – Groombridge – Ashurst – Eridge – Adamswell.

Points were awarded for navigation, speed, the activities, a pre-start kit check, and a quiz to do on the way round. 10 teams completed the challenge; the other four 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 (56KBytes PDF) is also available.

Place	Team	Time	Points	Bases	Tasks	Total
1st	Belmont	6:54	146	90	148	384
2nd	Arrowhead B	7:12	128	90	136	354
3rd	Cheam Village	8:12	68	90	148	306
4th	Colliers	8:17	63	90	148	301
5th	Sutton	8:00	80	80	81	241
6th	Double Dragon B	10:12	0	90	139	229
7th	Wallington Rangers	9:20	0	90	136	226
8th	Arrowhead A	10:48	0	90	135	225
9th	Mitcham A	11:16	0	90	103	193
10th	Al Abtaal	11:16	0	80	81	161
11th	Severndroog		0	50	65	115
12th	Surbiton South		0	40	61	101
13th	Double Dragon A		0	30	51	81
14th	Mitcham		0	30	48	78