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By Hanne Armstrong

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On the afternoon of April 25, be prepared to see groups of uniformed young people running purposefully around the City of Moncton. They're participating in the city's first ever Great Urban Race.

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Members of Scouts Canada, l'Association des Scouts du Canada, and the Girl Guides of Canada, ages nine to 17, will be scouring several areas of the city for clues and information in this new event.They'll be joined by young members of the Falcons Orienteering Club and adult volunteers.

Organizer Troop Scouter and Race Master Heath Johnson anticipates seeing some 200 participants.

"I'm borrowing and adapting an event from the Quebec Council of Scouts Canada that I took part in three times when I lived in Montreal," he explained.

"I don't know where they got the idea from."

A Moncton native, Johnson has been in the Scouting movement since he was five years old and has been a leader for 13 years. He hopes the Great Urban Race will prove popular enough to become an annual event, perhaps being held in a different New Brunswick location each year.

The event begins with a brown-bag lunch and registration session at Bore Park at 11 a.m. There'll be some opening comments, rules and hints, and each team will receive its map and clue sheet.

At 1 p.m. the first teams will set off to find locations and gather information.

"The teams will be made up of patrols, which is a group of four to six kids who camp and work together, so they'll know each other," Johnson explained, "and it will be Cub teams against Cub teams and so on to make it fair. Each team has two adult volunteers going with it."

The only non-Scouting participants of the race are from the Falcons Orienteering Club. The club is helping set up the course and providing maps, and its young members - who know nothing of the clues or course - have been invited to join the race.

The full course of the Great Urban Race is a 4.5 km loop formed by Bore Park, Main Street, Victoria Park, Mountain Road and King Street. Younger participants will be required to gather fewer facts than older ones to ensure they can finish the race inside the allotted four hours.

What kind of things are teams expected to do as they run the course? Here's a sample clue and question: "Head down King Street. At the corner of King and St. George, what's the building and what did it used to be?"

The idea is that as teams follow the course, they'll have to read historical or identifying plaques for information, or perhaps enter a building to learn something. As they race the clock and other teams, they'll become familiar with parts of the city and the city's story. They may also have to perform various tasks.

"The kids will have to use several skills," Johnson elaborates, "from camping to knot tying to map reading. The first goal is for them to have fun, and they'll also be learning about their community and raising the visibility of Scouts and Guides as they're seen all over town."

This is a rain or shine event, so participants are expected to bring appropriate clothing. Should it be necessary, army mess tents will be erected in Bore Park and possibly Victoria Park, to provide dry start, finish and way points. Only severe weather will cause the event to be canceled.

Johnson anticipates all teams will have returned to Bore Park by 5 p.m. Each team will hand in its answers and while scores are being calculated and tabulated, hunger pangs can be soothed at the race-end barbecue. Winners will be announced and prizes from the Scout shop will be handed out at 6 p.m. Everyone receives an Urban Race crest for their campfire blanket.

"The race will be challenging, exciting," Johnson promised, "and most of all, fun!"