Operation Red Flare 2007

[Red Flare 2007 Winning Team]
The winning Belmont Explorer Scout Unit team with the trophy

This year’s ‘Operation Red Flare’ was held over the weekend 3rd–4th March 2007 and was organised by Croydon District Scout Council.

‘Operation Red Flare’, 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 14 teams of 4–7 Explorer Scouts, Ranger Guides, and Scout Network members took part, six of which came from Sutton. 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.

This year’s winners were the Belmont Explorer Scout Unit team. The table below shows a summary of the scores for all the Sutton teams. Note that the time figures used are totals of the times taken to navigate the course and the times taken to complete the tasks. The full results are on the GLSW web site.

Place	Team	Time	Points	Bases	Tasks	Total
1st	Belmont	6:54	146	90	148	384
3rd	Cheam Village	8:12	68	90	148	306
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
13th	Double Dragon A		0	30	51	81