The Collins English Dictionary defines challenge as “a demanding or stimulating situation” a definition I think the Southern 50 challenge conforms to. On the 19th of February 2011 Dragon ESU submitted three teams, the creatively named Dragons A, Dragons B and Dragons C, to the event which involves hiking/ orienteering across either 50 kilometres or miles of the Chiltern Hills. After arriving at the starting point the day before, the Explorers were treated to sleeping on the most uncomfortable sports gym floor in the Northern Hemisphere. However an early start and a satisfactory breakfast soon woke us up. The 50 mile Team containing George, Callum, James and Rob were the first team to leave, followed by the 50km team of the two Jacks, Jamie and Sean. The last 50km team of Jen, Susie, Tom and Chris were soon well underway after a nervous moment at the kit check area where the staff member - who clearly had a chip on his shoulder about something - declared that waterproof trousers did not count as trousers. He made Chris find a third spare layer of clothing in case his other two and a coat got destroyed, and said we would be in huge trouble if we were in his unit mistaking Jen and Susie for Explorers. Our lack of wearing scarves also meant we had to be careful not break anything as we would have nothing to use as a triangular bandage. Considering I’ve washed my Explorer scarf three times in four years I can’t think of anything I’d less like to use as a bandage. We left feeling very happy that we weren’t in his unit.
As we set off all the teams made good progress with no one getting majorly lost but taking the scenic route a few times. The fastest pace was made here when checkpoints were relatively close together with some sort of refreshment at each one. The number of walkers meant that quite a lot of the routes were muddy which lead to a few comical moments as a few of the less balanced team members fell over. At this point as the 50 mile team ploughed on and the pace of the 50km teams slowed as other teams overtook. However both teams stayed motivated in spite of being overtaken by 50 year old scout leaders.
By mid afternoon the second 50km team had picked up some stragglers from other teams and were making good time due to the motivating effect of Checkpoint 4 and its free burgers. This continued for a few hours but was slowed considerably by several very steep hills including one that actually had to be climbed. By this time most people had eaten their emergency rations and as night set in people started to get despondent. The darkness had brought with it the effects of exhaustion, blisters and awkward chaffing. Even the delights of checkpoint 10 and its supplies of cheese toasties, Vaseline and time to apply blister plasters did little to increase the pace. A phone conversation with the 50 mile team revealed they too sounded tired and banter levels fell significantly. The next roughly third of the walk was very painful, walking along long roads. The second 50km team avoided foot paths at this point as they believed some off their feet couldn’t deal with the mud so ended up pounding residential streets. Just as well as if they had tripped and broken an arm they had no triangular bandages.
The last checkpoints were the hardest and even the hot dogs and random theme of cops and robbers of checkpoint 14 did not lift the mood although this was the first point were the two 50km teams saw each other. The teams seemed to limp the last few miles and spirits were not helped by the team at the final checkpoint that said the end was 10 minutes away. We got there 40 minutes later and by then for many people blisters meant it was like walking on a bubble. Notably the 50 mile blinded by their destiny to beat the Centurion’s leaders team did manage the last checkpoint in 15 minutes. However the school that was the finish point seemed like a sight to behold by the time everyone reached it.
In the end all the teams finished with respectable rankings of 23rd and 24th for the 50km teams and 6th for the 50 mile team, who also won trophies for fastest under 25’s and fastest novices. All impressive feats considering one in four teams dropped out - including two of Centurion ESU’s teams J. The floor of the school gym seemed much more comfortable on the second day although a few people could hardly walk on the day after, looking a bit silly limping slowly through a service station without any proper footwear for the victory meal at KFC. I think although there was much pain everyone gained from the experience and are keen to redo it again and maybe aim to do a higher event or faster time without being one of the teams of anoraks that trains for it all year so they can jog through it.
In conclusion I think there are two important points all who have done the Southern 50 learn “Pain is your friend, your ally, it will tell you when you are seriously injured but it won’t supply you with any triangular bandages.”
And Dragons don’t quit!
