01/24/2009
Troop 28 fielded two sleds for this year’s Klondike. It was the first time however that both Troop 28 entries were “leadership” division sleds. The day was overcast and cold and the Camp Squanto trails were ice-covered. Tucker who led one of the sled teams felt that this slickness made the sleds easier to carry.
The competition began at 8 am and both sleds were finished by 3pm. There were 10 sleds in the “leadership division” and many, many more in the general competition. Christian headed one team that included Robbie, Evan, Max, and Brodie. Christian’s sled did well in the river crossing exercise which is one of the harder stations, receiving a 48.
Tucker led the other sled team which consisted of Andrew, Hayes, Jack T. and Sasha. Tucker felt “this was one of the best Klondike’s that I have been to.” Scores for Tucker’s team sled were: 45 in first aid, 50 in cooking, 50 in knots and 38 in measurement.
In an interesting quirk of the judging process, both teams prepared the same meal in the “cooking” competition, but because each team was scored by a different judge, one team did well but the other team got slammed! Life isn’t always fair.
The “string burning” competition was another area where neither team excelled. We just couldn’t get our string to burn! The team leaders felt that we needed lots more practice in string burning. In addition, both Tucker’s and Christian’s sled teams had trouble with the “nature” competition because the judges asked obscure questions about identifying animals. Mr. Reel felt that the teams did well in “wilderness survival” and “camping” and he was pleased that both teams completed all of the stations. Our teams also did fairly well in “knots”.
So despite one team coming in 10th out of 10 and the other ranking 9th, both teams stayed upbeat and had a good time. Everyone considered this a learning experience. Special thanks to all of the adult drivers and adult leaders, including Mr. Hillman, Mr. Reel and Mr. Ackley.
Go to the photo gallery on our website to see the shots taken by Mr. Ackley.
Respectfully submitted,
Derek A. Benson, Historian