A full ten page comprehensive report on BoM 2004 is available on the Commemorative CD. Battle of Marple July 16-18 2004 Kinder won the annual Battle of Marple 2004 by just metres after a day of close competition between the two troops. This year we were at Boarfold. Saturday After being woken up at 7am, as promised, the Scouts went off on a ravine run before breakfast. Saturday was dominated by the "Training" section of the Battle of Marple. The Scouts are split into mixed-troop groups and set about learning or honing classic Scouting skills under the guidance of a Network "Expert" in the field. This year, the bases were: Tent pitching, Fire lighting, Knots & Lashings, Kit inspection, Team games, Dead Mans crawl, and a Camp-fire act. The Scouts were treated to a 40 metre sloped groundsheet slide in the afternoon, but they enjoyed racing on specially prepared mats so much that it turned into an early evening activity too! In the evening, the Scouts were occupied by a wide game, and the Leaders were occupied by their new toys. We had purchased 8 Walkie-Talkie's for the camp for organisational purposes which were used to create "SentryNet 4" a local radio station with up-to-the minute coverage of the Wide game. The eventual introduction of the "PlayerCam" on key members of each team may well have led to several of the blue teams' early captures! The day was rounded off with a camp-fire, where the Scouts entertained us with the acts they had been working on earlier on in the day they all folloed the theme "Scouting in the future", and raised some interesting issues and ideas. Sunday Battle of Marple is a head to head competition between Cobden and Kinder over 13 different events. There are five individual challenges, when the teams have to choose their strongest player from clues about the activity involved, and eight team challenges. The teams win a point for a victory in each challenge, which is eventually converted into a timed head-start on the Gruellinator assault course. The first full team around the Gruellinator wins. Event 1 Full Kit Check Andy Statham ensured Cobden were sorted with the first point. Event 2 Treasure hunt But Kinder equalise by finding the treasure. In Ian's car. Event 3 Puzzle Josh Williams completes his Tangram first to give Kinder the lead. Event 4 Team Elastic Bands Kinder go two-up after the team pull together to pull apart. Event 5 Strongest Scout Kinder take a three point lead as Matt Wilson flexes his muscles. Event 6 Fires Cobden pull the score back to 4-2 with some inspired blowing on their fire. Event 7 Memory And Chris Jones' good memory reduced the difference to a point before lunch. Event 8 Pioneering Kinder resume their charge by going further in front with prettier knots. Event 9 Hover-throw But the difference is down to one after Alex Banks shows he has a sharp eye. Event 10 Tug o' war Kinder are stronger than Cobden. And take a two point lead yet again. Event 11 Wire Islands But lose it again the event after. Chris Barker didn't get his wires crossed. Event 12 Tent Pitching Straighter edges, neater corners, and better-angled pegs for Cobden. Scores levelled. Event 13 Dry Run Kinder take a five second lead into the Gruellinator after winning the downhill grass slalom running. Gruellinator Kinder raced off quickly, and were well ahead of Cobden before the rafting. Once on the rafts, Cobden took the inside line on the bend of the river, and, momentarily were just in front of Kinder. But Kinder found something within themselves, and pushed as hard as they could for the line. They landed their raft, and were a good two metres ahead of Cobden when the whole team were together, and the plunger had been pushed! Well done Kinder! |
Relive the moment that Kinder won the Battle of Marple for the first time since 1966! Over 10 (?) minutes of competition footage features on the Battle of Marple 2004 Comemorative CD, along with over 280 digital photos, which will be out soon to help you (and your parents) remember exactly how brilliant you were as a Scout (ish). |
