Maidenhead Cubs joined forces last weekend with more than 60 young adventurers embarking on a five-mile incident hike around Cookham.
The annual event brought together nine Cub packs from around the local area to compete in the ultimate test of navigation, teamwork and hiking skills across a series of challenging bases.
Tom, from Dragons Explorer Unit, sent us his report on an action-packed day which crowned Pinkney’s Green (Littlewick) and Boyne Hill Altwood packs as joint winners.
Seven bases. Seven core Scouting skills put to the test. Over 60 Cubs from around Maidenhead ready to take on the challenge to become incident hike champions.
The first base, nicknamed Minefield, required the Cubs to work in their groups to guide each other through the minefield without the participating Cub knowing the route to take. Communication and teamwork was key to this opening test.
Communications was the name of the game in base two with Cubs split into two teams to build a Lego set. We arrived at this base as Pinkney’s Green were finishing the task allowing us to get a few quotes. “I love Lego, so it wasn’t too bad describing the bits,” said one of the Cubs. “We thought it was a duck, but we were actually building a fish,” said the other half of the team.
The next base, marble run, tested the Cubs’ building skills, using pencils and tape to guide a marble down a ramp, aiming to take the longest possible time for it to reach the bottom of the ramp. This base tested the planning, teamwork and building skills of the groups.
“I can’t see anything,” said a Cub from 21st Maidenhead at the next base. “You’re not meant to!”, came the reply, as the Cubs tackled the blind walk. The challenge tested the ingenuity of the Cubs as they followed a line of rope tied between trees, picking up objects as they went.
Following this funny interaction, we visited base five where 19th Maidenhead were cooking up a storm with their pancake making. They were also learning about fire safety and how to manage risks. Alice told us that “the fire was very hot, but the pancakes were very good.” That got us feeling hungry!
Scouts from 18th Maidenhead gave us a demonstration of the task at base six, that required coordination, teamwork and creativity. The groups had to transport water from one bucket to another using only rope and a cup. Scout Owen gave us some useful tips: “teamwork is really important for this task,” he said, followed by, “I got very wet during this.”
“Incredibly fun” was the description of the final base, matchstick splitting and axe safety. The Cubs were taught about the safe and correct ways to handle and use an axe, information that they can carry on to camps and activities in the future.
Carter from 21st Maidenhead said: “It’s not as easy as it looks.” Freya told us that she successfully split her matchstick and kept it safe in a Mini Cheddars bag!
It was a close-run competition giving everyone a fantastic day out with friends and having fun!
Photos 📸 courtesy of Holly at Dragons Explorers