Cadets and staff of 2502 (Hamilton) Squadron were looking for a new challenge this year so two teams of cadets entered the annual Shadow event run by Nottinghamshire County Council. Shadow is an overnight navigation and leadership event for teams of 4 or 5 young people aged between 13-19 years based in Sherwood Forest. This was the 38th year that Shadow has been run but the first for 2502.
The teams had 6 hours in the forest to navigate around two sectors completing as many tasks as they could, picking up points on the way. Both teams started off at 1930 on their first sector. They navigated to points on the map where they had to complete tasks, gaining points for each task and extra point for completing them in a specific order. The tasks included First Aid, team building, and mental agility exercises. The teams completed their first sector just after midnight and then went on to the second sector.
The time ran out before either team manage had completed the second sectors but completed over three quarters of the whole event. Overall A flight team came 13th & C flight 25th out of 38 teams with only 28 points between them. In the Out of County category A flight came 3rd in that competition.
The cadets from A flight attended a presentation evening in Mansfield where they were presented with their certificates for coming 3rd in the Out of County.
Flt Lt Andy Faulkner said "The cadets who to part in the Shadow event did an absolutely brilliant job. The staff running each stall commented how well they performed as teams. I am very proud of their efforts and achievements considering this was their first year attending."
