Jamie Harrop (Warley Warriors)
What the judges said: "A really well presented report, which included even the things that didn't go to plan! Original and well-structured."
"Warley Warriors - We'll Be Back!"
From
my point of view and I am sure many others as well there are only
four reasons why you would take part in the Apex Challenge.
.because you want a very enjoyable day out.
.because you take things seriously and you want to win.
.because you would love to get your hands on the ever popular glow
sticks.
.Or because you are completely mad!
Most of the people taking part were doing so because of the third and fourth reasons. Yes, that's right, most of us wanted to get our hands on glowsticks therefore we were very mad, me included!
Like any other Yorkshiremen I like my sleep therefore getting up at 6:30 wasn't the best start to the day. Like a true Scout and probably many others taking part I was not prepared. Just like clockwork it was a mad rush packing my gear. It didn't help when another member of the team had only just got up when we were about to set off. If you think that was bad enough we decided we were going to leave the car boot open while we were on our way to meet the others. So that's why everyone was looking at us funny!
By 8 O'clock we were on our way. (With the car boot safely closed). With three cars going down for two teams one of us was bound to get lost. Sure enough, the moment we hit roadworks on the motorway we lost one of the cars. Even the GPS was confused.
We reached Sheffield around 9 O'clock and past Hillsborough we went. A few minutes later it became clear that the event was to take place in 'the middle of nowhere' as one of the lads put it.
We reached the venue around 9:20. By this time it was very busy, all we wanted to do was sleep. But, after all, this was the Apex Challenge and we had been looking forward to it for the last couple of months.
The first thing we noticed was no marquee, no music and no big screen. This was just one of the many things which went wrong during the day. Apparently the warden had been and taken the marquee down, very nice of him!
After registering with the team we were given our start time of 10:49. After everything was explained during the briefing teams started setting off instantly at one minute intervals.
Teams were setting off in all directions, along the footpath, down the road and across the field, you name it, teams did it!
Our strategy was as simple as can be, 'we didn't have one'. With it being our first time taking part in the challenge we didn't know what to expect therefore it was a case of trying to reach all the bases and checkpoints and don't wait at a base for any longer than 10 minutes. Obviously, we didn't stick to this as on a couple of the bases we were waiting for around 20 minutes, this cost us as we were really pushing for time.
We decided we would take to the road first instead of cutting through six foot high greenery. We set off down the road (after having a picture taken of our ugly mugs) we soon reached the first check point. It wasn't the ideal start as we had to run a good three minutes out of our way just to get a checkpoint which was worth 10 points, but, every point counts and we were soon on our way again.
The first base we visited was 'Fast Lane'. We decided between us this was our favourite base. The overall aim was to push a sit-on-lawnmower around a tight course while a friend sat on it. Trust me, with an 11 stone elephant sat on the lawnmower, it is certainly harder than what it looks, (it doesn't help when you navigate it into a big ditch).
I hate to admit it but we all enjoyed 'Disco Fever'. Put it this way, dancing in the middle of a wood (with really poor music) wasn't exactly our thought of 'normal'. And I must say, I got the lowest score and I'm proud!
After a long day with many blisters to prove it, it was nice to get to the finish (and yes, the marquee was finally up), the atmosphere was great, with good music, good food and a good position of 10th place to top it all off.
Anyway, on to the food at the BBQ. To be honest who ever cooked it deserves a medal, but who ever bought the buns for the burgers, they deserve a lesson in cooking. The burgers were huge, so in the ideal world you expect a 'huge' bun to go with them, but, this is the Apex Challenge and we got a bun which was, only just, a quarter of the size of the burger.
Our position of 10th was respectable for us. We were aiming to get in the top 10 and we only just made it. But, please Matt, say sorry, our team, including me, nearly had a heart attack while you were reading the results out. The story goes. Warley had entered two teams, While reading the results out Matt missed out our 'b' team therefore we had no choice but to think they had finished first. But, afte rall, this was the 'Goons' (as they are called at Explorer Scouts) and it was near impossible to finish first. It turned out Matt had missed them out and they had finished 21st.
Overall, it was a great day out and you can be sure we will be back next year to beat the rest! Well done guys and keep up the hard work.
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