Richard
Kirk from South Yorkshire's Woodseats Network has been part
of the winning team at the Apex Challenge three times...
The folks behind the Apex Challenge (They would probably rather be known as 'team apex' in keeping with the competitions swish, corporate 21st century image, but what can you do?) have asked me to compose a brief summary of my experiences on the first three events for their flashy website. Being a bored student with no job and a long holiday, this piece will probably be too long and provide little of real use for you, but hey, if you're browsing this section of the website you're probably stuck for something to do as well.
I've entered three Apex events and, by some miracle, I've managed to be in the winning team at each of them. God knows how, you're about to find out we were pretty rubbish really. I was a member of Woodseats Explorers, and with my partner Dan Currie (Not in any sexual way, not that there's anything wrong with that. He was just the guy I did the competitions with!) and other randoms we entered as 'The Unit', 'Mooooose', and 'Noughts and Crosses' into the three events. I would like to note here that I was not happy with any of these team names. The first was Dan's idea, and in my opinion, lacks originality. Also 'Unit' is a word 'the kids' use to describe a fat stupid person. Being down with the language of the streets myself, I was not proud to be represented by this image. 'Mooooose' - not my idea, 'nuff said. 'Noughts and Crosses' was my idea. I thought it was quite clever, as we were aiming to triumph at three Apex events in a row, but Dan managed to spell it wrong when we entered the competition. Words fail me.
Our preparation for the Apex Challenge was intense; We ran for five hours a day, spent weeks doing covert surveillance outside the organisers' houses trying to find out the secret location of the event, and months practicing night micro-navigation in the Cairngorms. (This is, as you will have already guessed, rubbish on a grand scale. I did a practice walk from my back door to my car, but that was it.) We needed equipment for a day walk. At the overnight event a torch definitely helped a lot. In fact without the torch we probably wouldn't have done as well as we did.
The events are efficient, organised, hi-tech, and as challenging as you want them to be. Oh, and fun too. You can find out the details elsewhere. I reckon there isn't another Scouting competition that has such a broad range of activities and activities that are fun. Tying knots in spaghetti and writing your own campfire songs don't count.
The events are usually held around Sheffield. We particularly liked the ones at Burbage and Stanage as we spend half our lives there climbing. This familiarity may have had something to do with our success but I prefer to think it was down to our never-say-die attitude and meticulous planning.
One
undisputable fact is: on the Apex Challenge you will be looked
after. I felt the bacon sandwiches and bbq that were laid
on at the end of the previous events added a lot to my enjoyment
of the whole competition. At the end of the overnight challenge
the marquee looked like the dance tent at Glastonbury, festooned
in disco lights and the sounds of the challenge's music pumping
out. You could have danced all night if you wanted to, but
I had screwed both my ankles so I drank tea instead.
There are some good prizes on offer as well. We've ended up with some waterproofs, tickets to go cable water skiing, a free scuba diving try-dive, a rucksack and a torch.
I don't think there's much more I can say about the Apex
Challenge. I'll leave you with my 5 'top tips' for how to
do well...
1. Plan a route before you set off and stick to it.
2. Visit as many controls as possible for those extra points.
They make the difference between beating your mates and losing
to them, resulting in weeks of scorn and abuse that may leave
you mentally unbalanced for life.
3. Don't queue at bases for more than ten minutes. Go and
get some controls you lazy bandit.
4. Be fit, and know how to read a map. It helps, lots.
5. Don't take it too seriously. "Smile, young man!" as someone
once told me.
That's it. Thank you and good night!
Registered Charity No. 1102633 |
