Three Towers Hike

Three Towers Hike
Location Berkshire/Oxfordshire
Country England
Date 1978-

The Three Towers Hike is a Scouting-organised, downland hiking competition held annually in early Spring covering footpaths in West Berkshire and South Oxfordshire. It is organised by a team of scout leaders from Reading Central, Loddon, Taceham Hundred and Pang Valley Scout Districts, all of which are within the Scout County of Royal Berkshire of the Scout Association.

It is a competitive event, without an overnight camp (although teams must be equipped to bivouac if the conditions are severe enough to warrant it). It was first held as a senior event (Walkers over the age of 18) but now includes three other age groups.

Next event

The hike usually takes place on the second or third Saturday in April, but this may vary depending on the timing of Easter. The event accepts registration from 1 November the previous year.

History

The first Three Towers Hike took place during the 1970s, when only the Senior event was available. Originally based around the North and West of Reading, the hike gets its name from the three large water towers that were passed.

In the 1980s the route was significantly altered to include more rural paths in West Berkshire and South Oxfordshire.

Since its beginning, the Hike has run every year with few exceptions, the most notable being in 2001 due to Foot and Mouth concerns.

Officially not against the hike rules at the time, one team on the 2002 Junior Event swam across the River Thames during the race after finding themselves several miles up stream of the nearest bridge. The team then went on to complete the event but were later disqualified and a new hike rule was added to prohibit this in future.

Events

The Hike currently comprises five different competitions, each of different lengths and following a slightly different route. The competitions are identified below.

Routes and Checkpoints

Hike route summary

The hike does not prescribe a specific route for hikers to use. It publishes a series of checkpoints from which a navigation exercise will deduce the best route to take. In most cases there is usually one obvious path, however, there are some sections where a choice can be made by the navigator.

Event Records

Records[1] do not include times before 2003.

Classic

Category Time Team/Hiker Year
Fastest Team 09:13 4 Years in the Making (63rd Reading) 2015
Fastest All Female Team 11:03 Jenny and the Pacemakers 2014
Fastest Individual (Full team didn't complete) 11:04 Callum Godding (63rd Reading) 2010
Slowest Finishing Individual 19:07 Andrew Harvey, David Marshall 2010

Explorer

Category Time Team/Hiker Year
Fastest Team 06:20 It's all Callum's Fault (63rd Reading & 1st Finchampstead) 2014
Fastest All Female Team 09:30 Team 121 (Loddon District) 2007
Fastest Individual Female 07:20 Charlotte Judge 2014
Fastest Individual (Full team didn't complete) 09:01 Ryan Guerin 2011
Slowest Finishing Individual 14:49 Steven Milan, Jessica Paine 2003

ScoutPlus

Category Time Team/Hiker Year
Fastest Team 05:54 The Royal Academy Of Callum (63rd Reading & 1st Finchampstead Scouts) 2013
Fastest All Female Team 07:46 No Name Yet (1st Reading YMCA Scouts) 2011
Fastest Individual (Full team didn't complete) 08:48 Tanita Webb 2010
Slowest Finishing Individual 12:18 Kieran Tarry, Graham Mott 2010

Scout

Category Time Team/Hiker Year
Fastest Team 04:13 Alexander Smith, Sam Moors, Dylan Jealouse, Joshua Taylor (1st Finchampstead) 2014
Fastest All Female Team 04:46 The Muppets (1st Burghfield and Sulhampstead) 2012
Fastest Individual (Full team didn't complete) 04:51 Mark Mills 2003
Slowest Finishing Individual 12:06 Annie Jackson, Joseph Knight, Lee Dickinson 2010

Jubilee Plus

Category Time Team/Hiker Year
Fastest Team 03:14 Fiona Judge, Simon Hasler, Helen Hasler 2013
Fastest All Female 04:40 Samantha Sale, Jenny Whitfield, Tracey Hand 2013
Slowest Finishing Team 06:27 Dawn Garlick, Wendy Polden, Rachel Fitz-Desorgher, Jan Honey 2013

Marketing and branding

The Three Towers Hike has adopted the Scout Association's branding style including the use of the SerifBlack font family in Scout Purple and Green. Its self-developed i.HIKE brand has raised the event's visibility and is now recognisable as part of the hike's identification.

Tagline

The Three Towers Hike's tagline is "Outdoors, Challenge, Adventure". This was created to convey the core values of the competition.

See also

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.