3rd Ballymena (West Church) Scouts

Causeway Coast Triathlon

This exciting 3 day journey stars on Friday evening with a canoe journey down the last few miles of the River Bann to Portstewart Strand. The Patrols then pitch hike tents and camp on the beach. Exercises start on the sand early on Saturday morning, reading the spoor, estimating distance and receiving semaphore messages.

A good breakfast is taken in Portstewart before the cycle leg to Ballycastle begins. There are 5 challenges along the way ie. Making egg protectors, water puzzle, pioneering challenge, map and compass exercise and first aid incident. All set against the magnificent backdrop of the North Antrim coast. The Patrols are not surprised to find that the Rathlin boat awaits to take them across to the Island. Camping near the Harbour the evening is given over to rest and recuperation.

Sunday morning usually starts early to enable the Patrols to cover the whole Island on their hike picking up all the points on the way. Then it is back to Portstewart to count up the final scores for the evening bar-be-que and prize giving.

Outdoor North Coast Experience

This one-day Incident Hike starts at Ballintoy harbour. The Patrols have a staggered start around the harbour ; floor puzzles, balloon bursting with darts and the holey barrel keeping them busy before they head west along the shore towards Dunseverick. The next challenge is a poison swamp and a obstacle to be destroyed. Further on a self-supporting bridge has to be built across a small stream. Around the corner at one end of White Park Bay the pioneering task is to place a match up the cliff face. Next hauling a heavy lobster pot across soft sand tests fitness. A change of pace is needed for a map and compass exercise in the sandhills and blindfold tent-pitching. After a bar-be-que lunch it is off west again to Portbradden to apply first aid skills to a climbing accident and then defuse a 'bomb' on the way to Dunseverick.

At Dunseverick the final task is to build a raft to cross the harbour. The Leaders then meet to tally the points and present the Patrol Competition Trophy to the winners.

Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible is the ultimate navigation and hiking challenge for the top Patrols in the Troop. It is a 3 day orienteering expedition on a grand scale where some of the grid references are essential to visit because they are the site for vital equipment needed for the weekend ie tents, cookers etc. The Patrols can pick their own route around the course, the object being to visit as many points as possible before Sunday afternoon. Each point is scored on its degree of difficulty. Photographs have to be taken on the mountain tops to prove that the Patrols have actually been there. All equipment has to be carried and the Patrols have to stay together at all times. They are tracked by the Leaders incognito! Each Patrol is responsible for its own food for the weekend. So menu planning, the Scout Promise and Law, and the Country Code observance are all taken into account by the judges.

All the teams meet for the results and presentations in Glenariff at the end of a exhausting but enjoyable weekend. With 5000 points to be gained in all it really is a 'mission impossible'.

Finn MacCool Challenge

This is a fitting climax to the Patrol Competition Final. A one day incident hike around Finn MacCool's old stomping ground of Ballycastle and the North Antrim plateau. There 5 bases to be covered and each Patrol starts at a different one to complete a circular course.

Triangulation skills with a map and compass have to be demonstrated up on top on Carnanmore looking out over Torr Head to Scotland. First Aid Skills are tested above the beautiful Murlough Bay. A raft has to be built to set sail on the Fair Head loughs. The Carey River valley is the setting for an spider's web challenge for each Patrol as they navigate their way around the course. Their final test is some improvised 'skiing' on the Vanishing Lakes. Then each Patrol should complete the circle back to their starting point.

All the teams then meet with the Leaders outside Ballycastle for the results and presentation ceremony.