To round out the boating season, our Cubs took part in the annual Sirius Cup Regatta at Balmoral Beach at the end of March. Cubs camped overnight on Balmoral Oval before testing their canoeing skills in races against other scouting groups.
The Sirius Cup Regatta is the premier canoeing and sailing regatta for Scouts in NSW, run by the Sydney North Region in March each year. Events include sailing, canoeing, rowing and an iron man/woman race. Congratulations to our adventurous Cubs who learned new skills associated with pitching tents, preparing food – and of course water skills.
Over Easter our Venturers took part in the 40th annual Dragon Skin competition, involving 1000 participants from across Australia, made up of Venturers and Duke of Edinburgh participants. The event is held at a different NSW state forest each year, with this year being Penrose State Forest, near Mittagong. The 2025 theme ‘The Best of the Best’ revisited the best themes from the past 40 years of the competition.
It was our Scouts’ turn next, with the rain clearing just in time for the annual ScoutHike at the start of May. ScoutHike is a competitive, lightweight patrol-based hiking weekend where Scouts complete activities at 30 different bases spread across Belanglo State Forest. They hiked between two different sleeping points over the three days, carrying and preparing their own meals. This year, activities were themed around different music genres, with 1st Northbridge Leaders to be commended for their fantastic Beatles-themed station!
