Scouts take home gold at Akela Cup
Twin Lakes packs compete at Guard centerBy HANS MADSEN, Messenger staff writer
Article Photos
Being able to quickly and neatly tie a square not might not get you the Gold in Beijing, but at the Akela Cup, an Olympic-style event for Cub Scouts in the Twin Lakes District, it could certainly help your pack take home some gold of their own.
Competing in events such as the animal walk, crossing the dreaded Monkey Bridge, trying to find you way through the Locker Maze while wearing night-vision goggles, climbing up the rock wall, building a stretcher from two poles and a blanket then carrying one of your friends and testing you marksmanship in the laser shooting gallery, were on the list of events held at the Army National Guard Readiness Center in Fort Dodge.
Sorry, no downhill skiing or high-dive events.
Troy Harris, cub master of Fort Dodge's Pack 1 was helping to judge the rope tying. He was enjoying watching the youth having fun and especially, the eureka moment,
''That little light bulb goes off and they get all excited,'' he said.
Harris says that Scouting can teach valuable lessons about responsibility and other life lessons they might not learn elsewhere. He also stressed that it's a very family-oriented, most of the projects are done with the family helping out.
Himself a Scout for three years during his youth in Lehigh, he has been working with the pack for the past four years as a leader.
Calvin Clark and Derrick Feldhans, both 10, are members of Fort Dodge Pack 9, the pair were having fun during the friendly competition although Clark had a little trouble in the Locker Maze,
''It's hard to tell which way is which,'' he said. ''I ran into a wall.''
Feldhans had his own trials on the Monkey Bridge.
''It was hard,'' he said. ''Your feet get shaky and the rope goes down as you cross.''
Both Scouts were happy with the variety of activities and for Feldhans, the added bonus of getting to know some Scouts from the area.
''You can make a lot of new friends,'' he said. ''There's a bunch of different packs.''
Melissa Hansen, a member of the Twin Lakes District activities committee helped organize the event for the six packs from six counties, she said more than 60 Scouts participated in the day's events.
Contact Hans Madsen at (515) 573-2141 or hmadsen@messengernews.net
