Meath women taking on Guiding’s ultimate challenge

Three Meath women are all set to take part in Irish Girl Guides’ toughest challenge. The three, who are all Guide Leaders, will hike 180 kilometres over 10 days while carrying all their camping and cooking equipment, clothes, food and water and surviving on just €3.25 a day.

They will also have to complete a number of projects during the Explorer Belt survival adventure. These will involve completing a service for the local community and finding out about local history and culture (without using a smartphone)!

Twelve Irish Girl Guides’ Leaders from around Ireland will be taking part in teams of two. Ruby Loughlin (18) and Shauna Flynn (27), who are both Leaders of Cealla Guides, Kells, are one team while Anna Higgins (20), a Navan Guides Leader, will be partnering a Dublin Guide Leader, Lucia McNally.

While the women have trained over the past few months by going on regular walks and gradually increasing the length of the hikes and increasing the weight of their rucksacks, it has been impossible for them to prepare for the projects as they will not know where in Europe they are going until they arrive at Dublin Airport on Sunday 28th July. Not knowing where the challenge will take place adds greatly to the excitement and anticipation!

Anna Higgins and Lucia McNally training for Explorer Belt

They are all looking forward to it, but some nerves are beginning to kick in too. “I think the most difficult aspect will be asking people for help,” says Ruby, who recently completed her Leaving Certificate exams in Eureka Secondary School, Kells. “We will literally be relying on strangers to give us places to pitch our tent and camp.”

Ruby reckons taking part in IGG’s Chief Commissioner’s Award last summer, which saw her hiking 60 kilometres in Co Waterford and completing eight projects over five days, was good preparation for taking part in Explorer Belt. “I really enjoyed completing it and, when I heard about Explorer Belt, I was really intrigued,” she says. “So I wanted to challenge and push myself even further. I’m looking forward to exploring somewhere I haven’t visited before and to improving my hiking and survival skills as well as my teamwork and communications skills.”

Shauna, an English teacher in Coláiste Pobail Setanta in Clonee, hopes to have as amazing an experience as others who have done the Explorer Belt before her. “I’m terrified but also very excited to see how we get on and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” she says. “I’m the type of person who would normally have every detail of a trip like this planned – from how we’re going to get from place to place to any apps downloaded that would help with the language. So it will be interesting not to have those usual details planned. Not having my phone will be the most difficult aspect!”

Irish Girl Guides Leaders Shauna Flynn (right), Ruby Loughlin (centre) and Ann Doyle pictured on an ice-cream break while training for Explorer Belt

Shauna hopes that her previous Guiding experiences will help her complete the challenge. She has represented IGG at the Helen Storrow Seminar in Our Chalet, a Guide World Centre in Switzerland, and has also spent time there as a volunteer. “Through Guiding I’ve gained confidence in myself and the belief that I can achieve anything if I put my mind to it,” she says. “I’ve also gained a family of sister Guides form all over the world. My experience in Guiding over the years – from a small 10-year-old to an adult Leader – has definitely prepared me to participate in Explorer Belt because, above all else, it’s given me a taste for adventure and finding different challenges to push me out of my comfort zone.”

Anna, a Leader with Navan Guides and a Science Education student at NUI Maynooth, hopes to get a sense of achievement out of the experience. “It’s kind of a ridiculous thing to do and I’d love to be able to say that I had the strength and determination to undertake this challenge and come out the other side with a blister or two to show from the journey,” she says.

Anna reckons the most difficult aspect of Explorer Belt will be coping with fatigue. “There’s nothing worse than having to get up in the morning to face 20 kilometres with achy shoulders and legs. I’m not a morning person at all so getting going each day will be my most difficult time. Once I get going I know I’ll be grand!”

Anna successfully completed the Chief Commissioner’s Award last year, which has given her a taste of what’s to come. “Guiding has built me into a strong and confident woman,” she says. “Since joining IGG 10 years ago I have made sisters from all over the country and I have memories that will last a lifetime. I have been a Leader with Navan Guides for two years now and it’s such a privilege to give back to the girls the skills, lessons and laughs that I got from Guiding when I was their age. Seeing them grow in confidence and teaching them life-skills is what being a volunteer in Girl Guides is all about.”

The Explorer Belt survival adventure is being organised by two experienced IGG leaders, Katherine Ryan and Jemma Lee, who themselves successfully completed Explorer Belt in Germany four years ago. “Taking part may sound like a daunting experience and it is certainly not something taken on lightly,” says Katherine. “Guiding, however, has given the participants the tenacity to take on the challenge, the skills to participate in it and the confidence to believe in their abilities to complete it.”

Anna Higgins, pictured at the Irish Girl Guides' garden at Bloom

Jemma says completing the adventure challenge included undertaking three compulsory projects, which determined the route each team would take. “These projects can investigate the recent past of the country, areas of geographical interest or unusual, quirky places,” she says. “The remaining projects involve learning more about the area the participants find themselves in – be it geographically or culturally. They are designed to bring the teams in close contact with the local people and help to immerse the teams in their Explorer Belt location.”

Irish Girl Guides welcomes new members from age 5+ and adult volunteer leaders from age 18+. See www.irishgirlguides.ie for further information or tel: 01 6683898.

*Check out the Meath Chronicle on Tueday to find out where the Explorer Belt challenge sent them!