Bronze practice expedition 2022
When I asked Martin for one word to describe the Bronze practice expedition, he went for... 'interesting'! It was a fun and very tiring weekend... and that was just for the adults, never mind the participants! We enjoyed some beautiful weather, many miles were covered carrying heavy bags and there were lots of lessons learnt. Each group had their own memorable moments and challenges but showed lots of determination to make it through, we were really proud of you all for sticking with it.
Camp looking peaceful at 6.30am for wake-up
Tea time at camp... 60 hungry participants!
Well done to those who passed this weekend as their qualifier in Groups 1 and 2, a challenging feat having only done 1 training day and getting to grips with heavy bags, navigation and map reading. And to their team mates for supporting them to pass - you get to do it all again at the qualifier!
Group 3 ended the first day divided but what a difference keeping together and working as a team can make as they were first group back on day 2!
Group 3 looking fresh at the start of day 1!
Group 4 showed real resilience as they managed to spend a full hour exploring a single field trying to find the right path, they must have covered a lot of mileage over the two days but persevered and were getting the hang of it by the end of the weekend.
Surprisingly this very overgrown path was the right route!
Black line shows their journey through the field, compared to the other colours showing the paths!
Group 5 were our first group back on day 1 with some speedy walking and over 14 km covered. Day 2 was more of a challenge as they were 2 team members down but hopefully with a full group back at the qualifier weekend they'll be back to the front. Also credit to them for retracing their steps twice on Sunday, first for a lost phone and then for a faulty GPS tracker that was actually in their bags the whole time!
We were surprised when Group 6 had acquired some new team members arriving back at camp on the first day, but they stuck together through some challenging navigation on day 2 and got very good at correcting themselves when they went off course.
Group 7 had a bit of a fright on the first evening as their gas canister caught fire before cooking their tea! That small mishap aside, they had smiles on their faces every time we saw them throughout the weekend and worked really well together as a team.
Shout out to Group 8 for their karaoke and eclectic music tastes, going from Abba to Nirvana in one playlist kept everyone's spirits high!
Group 9 were definitely one of our noisiest groups, we hardly needed the GPS trackers to find them as you could always hear them coming! Their navigation skills and speed really improved throughout the weekend.
Now let's hope we get more lovely weather for the qualifying weekend. Looking forward to doing it all again in July - after a well-earned rest!
Heading to the finish point at the end of the weekend...
