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Jamboree visitors wait out a brief downpour that occurred midday yesterday. Some events were delayed, but a Scout official said the storm caused no significant problems.
Sharon Allen of Mary Washington Hospital keeps track of Scouts participating in an attempt to set a world record for teaching the most people CPR in one day. The record is 6,577. Allen was shooting for 7,000.
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Andrew Butterfield of Texas tries to fill his cup--and his mouth--with fresh rainwater during yesterday's storm. |
Rain, heat, even lightning.
No matter what the conditions were at the National Scout Jamboree yesterday, the Boy Scouts of America's main motto is to "be prepared."
A 10-minute thunderstorm that soaked Fort A.P. Hill about 1 p.m. tested the Scouts. It didn't stop most of the activities that they could participate in, but two attempts to break world records were delayed until later in the evening.
Sharon Allen, a registered nurse at Mary Washington Hospital and the Virginia chairwoman for the Emergency Cardiovascular Care committee, was coordinating an attempt to break the world cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillation training record.
All of the nearly 45,000 Scouts and leaders were invited to participate in hopes of being recognized by Guinness World Records for having the most people trained in CPR at one time and for having the most people trained within 24 hours.
Allen didn't expect every single Scout to get training, but she hoped for at least 7,000 to beat the record of 6,577 set in Mexico this past March.
Starting at 8 a.m., the Scouts completed seven 45-minute sessions in the jamboree's arena area, Allen said. One session was cut short because of the rain.
The last session had the biggest turnout, with 1,120 Scouts, Allen said. That won't break the Mexico record, but Allen was hoping to claim the title for the most in 24 hours by combining all the participants in the seven sessions.
"We're trying to break this record, but the weather really screwed us up a little," she said. "We worked so hard on it."
Allen said an official count won't be known any time soon. Per Guinness rules, the Scouts have to videotape the event, get a notarized sheet with each of the 75 instructors' signatures verifying how many they trained, then submit it in a timely manner.
Guinness could take weeks, even months, to let the Scouts know if they broke the record, Allen said.
A second record attempt at the jamboree involved yo-yos.
Scouts last night were trying to break the world record for most people yo-yoing simultaneously.
Boys' Life Magazine, a publication of the Boy Scouts of America, coordinated the event in partnership with Yomega, a yo-yo manufacturing company. According to Boys' Life, the current record for simultaneous yo-yoing is 662 people.
The yo-yo session was supposed to be held 3 p.m., but because of the weather was pushed back to 7 p.m. That's the time the media must leave the Army post.
Brett "Ooch" Outchcunis and Rob Kitts, world famous yo-yo personalities, met with Scouts before and after the rain to show off their talents.
As with the CPR session, it won't be known if the Scouts broke the record until a later date.
While the rain didn't drown out those events entirely, some Scouts --those who didn't put up their rain tarps properly--had to sleep in wet tents last night.
Heavy winds knocked down the Texas-themed gateway for Troop 1653 of Dallas, 15-year-old troop member Stephen Hoefer said.
As a precaution, the aquatics session was shut down due to lightning, but was reopened a short time later. But BSA spokesman Bob Dries, those were the only problems the weather caused yesterday.
"Fortunately it was a quick front that passed through really quickly," Dreis said. "We're looking forward to pleasant weather for the rest of the jamboree."
Earlier in the day, traffic was a problem. Mark Irving of the Virginia Department of Transportation said visitors were lined up outside the Fort A.P. Hill gate on U.S. 301 before the 9 a.m. public opening time. To keep traffic moving, the early vehicles were allowed in but held in a staging area until events opened.
Later, traffic was so heavy on the post that the gate had to be temporarily shut twice, he said.
Portsia Smith: 540/374-5419
Email: psmith@fredericksburg.com
