1st Keyworth Scout Group would like to invite you to our Virkey Trot Scout Challenge 2020. For over 30 years, in December, we have organised a half-marathon (the Turkey Trot) around the surrounding villages of Keyworth. It is the main fundraiser for our Group. Unsurprisingly this year we had to make the disappointing decision to cancel the race. In its place we will be staging a virtual half-marathon for runners. Alongside this we would like to challenge scout groups to their own virtual run. For scouts and explorers this will be a half-marathon. For beavers and cubs this will be 5K. Each respective race will take on a relay format; there is no restriction to the number of young people that can take part in the relay. The participation rules can be found detailed below.

Congratulations to our Virkey Trotters 2020

Well done to 9th West Bridgford (Holy Spirit) Cubs. They took up the Virkey Trot Scout challenge and in the dark, damp days of December 2 teams from the cub pack completed a 10K route. These were; Team Baloo, their 2 runners had a total time of 31 mins 30s and Team Raksha; who had 3 runners and a total time of 28 mins 19s. Fantastic effort, bravo!

Participation Information

The aim

The aim of the challenge is for teams to complete a running relay covering the half-marathon distance (or 5 K for Beavers / Cubs) of the Keyworth Turkey Trot

When is it?

The event runs throughout December 2020

How it works

Find a suitable place that you can use as your running course. Suitable options might be your local park, running track or other similar sports area, and suggest avoiding running on the roads.
Either measure out a fixed length circuit, or use a GPS unit to measure the distance run – whichever it easier for you
Teams can be any size you like. Runners don’t all have to do the same distance, so long as the team as a whole team covers the required total distance.
The total distance covered must be 13.1 miles (Explorers / Scouts) or 5 K (Cubs / Beavers)
Get running! You can either run it as a proper relay, or, if time is short, have the runners running concurrently – this way they can help each other along.
Keep a log of the time taken by each runner so you can work out the total time taken to cover the distance

Submitting your results

Once your team(s) have completed their relays, can leaders please email virkeytrot2020@gmail.com with the following details:

Scout group name and team name (if more than one team per group)
Category (Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers)
Total accumulated time
Number of runners in team (so we can send the right number of badges)
Address to which the badges should be sent

Results

We will collate all the results in early January and share the results both via the Keyworth Scouts website www.keyworthscouts.co.uk and via email to each team’s leader (at the email address used to submit the results).

Cost

Entry is [£3] per team member. In return each runner who takes part will receive an exclusive “Virkey Trot” badge. Badges will be produced once we know how many actual beavers, cubs, scouts and explorers took part and will be posted out to the address given by [end of January]

Safety

Each participating scout group is responsible for ensuring that their respective virtual relay is done, as with any scouting activity, in a safe manner and, at this particular time, in accordance with the relevant Covid-19 rules and guidance.

We strongly recommend that groups avoid running on roads or pavements, and instead utilise local parks/playgrounds/sports grounds (even beaches if you are so lucky!)

Badge Competition

To mark the Scout virtual Virkey Trot challenge a badge will be available for those participants that that have registered and paid the appropriate fee. In parallel with the virtual race we are asking scout groups to design the commemorative badge. The winning design will receive free badges for their section. The parameters for the badge design are