PARSIPPANY — On Saturday, February 5, over 300 youth in the Scouts BSA program participated in the annual Fishawack Klondike Derby, a team competition testing Scouting skills and knowledge. The event was held at Mt. Allamuchy Scout Reservation in Byram Township.
Those youth who compete maneuver a Klondike sled with their equipment from one town to the next around the reservation. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Gold Rush of many years past in Alaska, with towns such as Nome, Barrow, and Juneau. At each town, the team and its captain decide how to best utilize the members’ skills to solve a problem within a certain time constraint. Each team was tested on various skills including Pioneering, First Aid, Shelter Building, Orienteering, Shooting, Scout Lore, Cooking, Nature, and Flint & Steel (a.k.a. Fire Building).
The sled teams spent nine hours in 20 to 25-degree weather preparing and pulling their sleds from town to town in the competition on that day.
Junior teams are limited to Scouts 13 years old and younger. Senior teams may include Scouts up through 17 years of age. Troop 173 in Parsippany fielded one Junior and one Senior team.
The Junior team, under the leadership of Nicholas Shatynski of Whippany, and assisted by Andrei Filipescu of Parsippany, placed first out of a field of 16 teams. Additionally, the Senior team scored in the top quarter of its field. The Senior Scouts assisted in the training and guidance that the Junior team used to win in their field.
