About Rally

What is Rally?

NSW State Rally is a lightweight, competitive camp held each August at Cataract Scout Park. Rally aims to provide all Scouts, regardless of experience, a chance to practice lightweight camping. Cataract is about an hour's drive south of Sydney close to Appin (east of Campbelltown). You can find it on Google Earth.

Patrols compete against each other in a series of activities. These activities require the use of Scouting skills to achieve a result. Activities are spread over 5 bases (called Rally Activity Centres or RACs). Patrols move between the RACs in the course of the week-end. This gives every patrol the chance to experience all activities. The distance covered is quite small, only 5kms or so and the terrain is close to flat. You can walk on the roads, run cross-country or something in between. The choice is yours. This makes Rally a good introduction to lightweight camping and hiking as it is not strenuous and does not require a high level of fitness. Navigational skills are not required as the route is basically a circle and RACs are clearly marked.

What Makes a Patrol?

Rally is a patrol activity so you require at least 4 Scouts to make a patrol. We cannot allow patrols of less than 4 as many of the activities cannot be safely attempted by smaller groups. If for any reason you have fewer than 4 in your patrol please come along anyway as we will find you some additional patrol members. Patrols may also not exceed 8 members as this would make a group too large to be effective.

A Scout patrol has only one Patrol Leader and one Assistant Patrol Leader. This also applies to Rally patrols. It would be unfair to allow more than this as it would mean some patrols having much more experience than others. A patrol therefore consists of PL, APL (optional) and up to 6 Scouts. Patrols with more than 3 stripes (i.e. with 2 or more PLs) can still take part but are designated as non-competitive patrols and are not eligble for Rally awards. If you are a non-competitive patrol you should indicate this when registering your patrol.

What are Rally Awards?

Rally awards are given to the 3 highest scoring patrols in each region and the top 3 overall. The award itself is a badge which may be worn on the right shoulder for a year following the Rally.

There is a trophy for the top Patrol Leader. The PL gets to hold the trophy until the next Rally and gets their name engraved on it.

How is Rally Scored?

Patrols are scored for each activity undertaken. Where a patrol does more than 4 activities at a RAC only the best 4 scores count towards the final result. This means that each patrol is scored for their best 20 activities. Activities are scored for:

  • planning,
  • attitude and enthusiasm, and
  • overall accomplishment (i.e. how well you complete the task assigned).

In addition the Patrol Leader is scored for their leadership of the patrol. The combined score counts towards the patrol's overall score. The PL leadership score counts towards the Patrol Leader competition.

In addition to the activity scores points are awarded for:

  • The quality of the patrol's camping skills (covering areas such as tentage and menus).
  • Pack weights of the patrol members. (Packs must be no heavier than 20% of a Scout's body weight.)