On the weekend of 18/19 November, Magellan Explorers entered two teams in the annual County Kudu competition, an overnight hike with challenges at bases along the route.
One team opted to complete the Gold competition covering 10 miles and one team entered the Silver competition which covered 8 miles. The Gold team included 3 Magellan explorers and we joined forces with one member from Eling and two from Portsmouth.
We arrived at Vernham Dean, near Andover, early Saturday evening and set up camp and had our kit checked – worth valuable points. The Gold team headed out at 6.30pm on a moonless night and used compasses and maps to follow our set route. Challenge bases included cracking codes, building a stretcher and pioneering tasks plus we needed to stamp our maps at set locations.
Whilst the going was very muddy, we were fortunate the weather was dry and mild and the Gold team made it back to camp at 1:00am where we then had a murder mystery to solve. A welcome hot chocolate was on offer before we went to bed at 2.30am.
Presentations were held on Sunday morning and, due to the staggered start and points for the challenges, neither Magellan team had any idea how they had faired compared to others. We did know both Magellan teams successfully completed their courses and enjoyed the experience. As the organisers read out the results in reverse for the Gold competition the suspense mounted and we were delighted when we found out we had won and were presented with the impressive Kudu trophy.
A Kudu is an African antelope and the trophy is a 2 foot long Kudu horn. On winning we couldn’t wait to let Jackie know as it is the first time Magellan have been successful in this competition.