8th March
Another opportunity for the Cubs to get muddy and wet, well that's our intention anyway. Once again it was our pleasure to invite Cubs from all over the Bristol South District to come and play. The bonus being that as the Cubs will get muddy and we have no facility to shower at the Scutt the Cubs would be going home in their parents cars all nice and dirty.
The course was the same as last time and the time before that, why change a winning formula? The course was set out by Hathi and Andrew, one of our Cubs parents. The usual questions were asked by the dog walkers, "What are you doing?" or "Won't the kids get dirty?" We did toy with the idea of making the Cubs do three laps rather than the traditional two as none of the Leaders are getting any younger and the hill back to the finish line at the Scutt is getting steeper and longer every year.
The weather forecast wasn't too hopeful, not much chance of rain on the day but the going was soft to boggy so we were happy. Naturally there was a sliver of blue sky briefly for Akela to acknowledge as being his fault.
Our Cooks team turned up and started preparing the burgers and sausages for sale later in the day. The bar-b-q was lit and was soon ready for business. A rope was stretched across the car park for the runners to hold while their details and position were recorded.
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A nice job for Akela and Jayne. By 10:00 the Scutt was full of Cubs (67) and parents (loads). The course was explained to the Cubs and the marshals were sent down to police the course and replace any flags that could have gone missing in the mean time.
Our Team consisted of Ollie, Ryan, Millie, Sophie, Holly, Charlie and Matt.
No sooner had the marshals gone the Cubs were given a couple of minutes to warm up before the start. The start line was at the bottom of the steep hill as we did a risk assessment and decided it was to dangerous for the Cubs to run down so they were told that under no circumstances were they to run down the hill, luckily no one was hurt in the resulting rush down the hill. Glad the Cubs took it so seriously (NOT).
Once the Cubs were lined up, the starter (Hathi) walked the length of the line explaining that the race would be started by a rocket, on the sound of the bang everybody would start, NOT at the "whoosh" but at the Bang!! Eight matches later and with two other people help the rocket was lit and the Cubs started to run as soon at the Whoosh! Why did he bother?
Of the stampede went as they all funnelled into the BMX part of the course, this was a short series of ups and downs then a rush across the open ground through the trees and into the next field. The going had been reported as good to boggy in places, rather a lot of places and the Cubs were directed through the best bits. Down to the far end they ran, walked and hobbled and then back out the field through some more trees and then do the same thing again.
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The second lap was even more agonising than the first, There was a huge difference in the standard of fitness of the runners, walkers and hobblers but no one tried to take a short cut and most responded with a weary look when encouraged with comments like "Nearly half way keep going" and "Just think when you've done this it's over for a whole year!" and the best of all "Are you having fun yet?" This last question was invariably answered in the affirmative so we were doing something right.
At the end of the second lap the Cubs had to run up the hill across the marshalled empty car park of our neighbours the Harvesters Pub and into the Scutt car-park, where the parents were consuming large amounts of burgers and sausages and drinking gallons of tea, coffee and hot chocolate. All funds from the sale of these consumables was being collected for the District. After the Cubs arrived they were hungry and thirsty and more food and drink was sold.
AS there seemed to be no one interested in the fun run it was cancelled, all the flags were picked up from around the course, the marshals got back to the Scutt to find that there was food and drink still available, unlike previous years. The Cubs were called into the Scutt and the results were read out. We did really well with Ryan winning the race and we beat Tuesday Cubs so it was a good result. The team from the 5th won the team prize and they went away happy.
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There was a few burgers and sausages left over which were donated to the foxes over the back of the Scutt.
Thanks to Akela and team for organising and running it, to the parents that marshalled, to the parents that came along and encouraged the Cubs and a big thank you to Matt, Alison and Laura and her helper for doing the food and drinks. Thanks to Jane for sorting out positions and awarding the certificates.
The final amount raised by the food and drink was £120 that will go to subsidise later District Events such as the Swimming Gala.
It started to rain just as the last few Cubs and parents were leaving the Scutt compound, what fantastic timing!