Croydon District NITEX 2007

The annual NITEX night hike event for teams of between 4 and 7 Explorers and Rangers took place on Saturday 8th December 2007, and seven teams competed. This year’s route started from Crockham Village Hall, near Edenbridge, and wound its way through Westerham, Biggin Hill, Tatsfield, Chelsham and Farleigh to the finish at Bears Wood Scout Campsite in Addington, a distance of about 14 miles. There were 11 checkpoints in all, of which 4 were unmanned, and where teams had to clip their tally with an orienteering punch. Teams were timed over each section, and the fasted team scored 10 points, the second fastest 9 points, the third fastest 8 points, and so on. A maximum of 20 points were awarded for the kit-check at the Start, and for each of four challenges en route – shelter building, stoves and fire lighting, a Centenary quiz, and a first aid incident.

Belmont ESU were the first team home and fastest team in 7 hours 49 minutes, but they were pipped at the post by Croham Valley ‘B’ (8 hours 57 minutes) who excelled in the challenges. Three of the 7 teams finished the whole route, and everyone got some shut-eye at Bears Wood before a hot breakfast was served, and the competition results announced.

Special NITEX certificates were presented to all teams, and the hunt is now on for the missing NITEX trophy!

The 2008 event will be held in late November/early December, but before then it is ‘Operation Red Flare’ on 1st March 2008. Make sure you submit your entry as soon as possible and before the closing date.

Team 1	Colliers ESU/Wallington Rangers	6th	85 points
Team 2	Croham Valley ESU team A	7th	63 points
Team 3	Ruskin ESU team A	5th	89 points
Team 4	Double Dragon ESU	4th	115 points
Team 5	Belmont ESU (Lost but not least)	2nd	187 points
Team 6	Croham Valley ESU team B	1st	190 points
Team 7	Ruskin ESU team B	3rd	173 points

A full table of results follows:

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Checkpoint 1 (start)
Kit check	18	17	18	16	17	17	16
Departure	18:37	18:30	18:45	18:53	19:02	19:20	19:32
Checkpoint 2
Arrival	21:20	22:30	21:25	20:56	20:05	20:25	21:05
Time	2:43	4:00	2:40	2:03	1:03	1:05	1:33
Points	5	4	6	7	10	9	8
Shelter task	8	11	15	15	18	10	5
Departure	21:40	22:50	21:50	21:13	20:20	20:44	21:26
Checkpoint 3
Arrival	22:36	23:59	22:37	21:52	21:03	21:20	22:15
Time	0:56	1:09	0:47	0:39	0:43	0:36	0:49
Points	5	4	7	9	8	10	6
Fire task	17	17	15	18	11	18	15
Departure	22:58	00:15	23:00	22:10	21:28	21:40	22:33
Checkpoint 4
Arrival	23:52	01:35	23:52	22:59	21:44	22:20	23:17
Time	0:54	1:20	0:52	0:49	0:16	0:40	0:44
Points	5	4	6	7	10	9	8
Quiz task	12	6	6	14	10	15	16
Departure	00:03		00:10	23:17	22:00	22:36	23:37
Checkpoint 5
Clip				Y	Y	Y	Y
Points				10	10	10	10
Checkpoint 6
Clip	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Points	10		10	10	10	10	10
Checkpoint 7
Arrival	03:28		03:28	00:43	23:00	00:12	01:33
Time	3:25		3:18	1:26	1:00	1:36	1:56
Points	5		6	9	10	8	7
Checkpoint 8
Clip					Y	Y	Y
Points					10	10	10
Checkpoint 9
Arrival					01:04	02:02	03:37
Time					2:04	1:50	2:04
Points					9	10	9
Checkpoint 10
Clip					Y	Y	Y
Points					10	10	10
Checkpoint 11
Arrival					01:44	02:55	04:24
Time					0:40	0:53	0:47
Points					10	8	9
First aid task					14	18	18
Departure					01:54	03:05	04:28
Checkpoint 12 (finish)
Arrival					02:51	04:17	05:57
Time					0:57	1:12	1:29
Points					10	9	8
Whole hike
Time					7:49	8:57	10:25
Points					10	9	8
Total
Points	85	63	89	115	187	190	173
Position	6th	7th	5th	4th	2nd	1st	3rd