The challenge of being a hike leader
By: CSP
As ordinary members of the interest group “Singapore Hiking”, many of us are not sure how the events are run. Often, we look at the event links, and choose an event to participate base on the starting point, whether the route looks interesting, and of course our availability.
When I first started walking with the group at the end of February 2019, I was also puzzled, how did Singapore Hiking organise 6 to 7 hikes a week, non-stop? I joined Group 1 as a member one month later, and have been an active brisk-walker since. My involvement include translating the event links from Chinese to English, managing Group 4 (essentially an English speaking group), helping to take photos and leading hikes once in a while.
In this article, let me share with you what it takes to be a hike leader. Hopefully one day, a number of you can also become hike leaders. Actually, it can be quite fun and rewarding, if you can afford some time and effort!
Route planning
The process goes like this, first the hike leader must become familiar with the route. He may have walked that route several times, or has planned that route from scratch. He has to be aware of the walking distance, turning points, and places where special attention will be needed e.g. up and down steep staircase, slippery path, road crossing etc.
Next ,the hike leader has to prepare an event link, highlighting the followings:
· Date & time of the event (our usual starting times are -evening hikes: 7.30pm on Tue/Thu/Fri, 6.30pm on Sat, 5.30pm on Sun and morning hikes: 8.30am on Sun).
· Who the leader & assistant will be.
· Starting & ending points.
· The event route in words.
· Walking distance, duration & difficulty level.
· Leader’s message.
You may be aware that during weekdays, we start later, to allow working adults to participate.
The assistant which we call, for lack of better term, “protector of the team at the back” (“sweeper” in cycling) is to make sure that no one is left behind, and that the last person is not taking his sweet time to walk, as the rest will be waiting for him at the ending point to take a group photo.
FYI, we always start and end at MRT stations, to make it convenient for the participants. I remember once a family drove to Hillview MRT Station to walk around the Dairy Farm Nature Park and to climb Bukit Timah Hill. That event ended at Beauty World MRT Station. So our friends had to walk an additional 1.5km back to pick up their car after the event.
The event route, written in plain words, will allow a participants to catch up with the team, if he turns up late and still wants to join the walk. Sometimes, some kind souls may post a geo-location in the WeChat groups, to allow late comers to locate the team.
The walking distance & time & terrain often determine the difficulty level, whether easy, medium or challenging. As an example, a leisurely 1.5-hour walk around Fort Canning can be classified as easy, while walking from Mac Ritchie to Bukit Timah Hill will be challenging.
The leader’s message is like an advertisement, to encourage members to sign up for the event. It is sometimes poetic, sometimes straight-forward.
If it is a new route, the hike leader may have to supply some photos, to let potential participants know what they will be able to see along the way.
Just before the event
Participants sign up for events via a Google Form. The hike leader can find out how many people have signed up for the event by logging into a Google Sheet. Sometimes ,the hike leader may “call for help” if an event is over-subscribed, as it maybe difficult for 2 persons to manage an event with 60+ participants. The leader may have to bring along the banners for group photo taking. The banners are a way to reach out to the public, to join this healthy, low-impact and near-zero-cost activity.
The hike leader and his assistant have to turn up early to gather the participants and to mark attendance. Sometimes, the hike leader will give a short briefing about the event, especially when it is a new route and the place has historical significance. The event is often started on time.
During the event
During the brisk walk, the hike leader will be in constant communication with his assistant to check on any mishaps, people struggling to keep up, anyone lost along the way – all these seldom happen, except on the most challenging routes.
Many photos are usually taken along the way, so that an article can be written about the event, to capture our shared memory. One of the challenges I am still trying to overcome is, how to take sharp photos during brisk walk in the evening. If you have sharp “low light, action” photos to show, please share with me your techniques!
Just after the event
The hike leader will usually do a reflection on what has gone well, and what has not, so as to improve the way he carries out his duties in the future. Sometimes the unexpected may happen, e.g. heavy downpour resulting in the participants being scattered all over.
In my 3 new routes to Diary Farm, Singapore Poly and Fort Canning, I had one incident of a lady feeling dizzy on the way up to the Bukit Timah Summit. I was lucky to have my assistant & good friend Fred to take care of the lady. She recovered after a short rest and conquered the highest point in Singapore!
In the same event, a few participants follow (by mistake) other hikers to go up the Bukit Timah Summit, before doing the Wallace Trail. This is less likely to happen, now that many active members have been issued Dri-fit tee-shirts to wear during events.
Upon reflection, it is important for hike leader to be prepared, stay calm, be responsible, and to be in good form so that he is ready to handle any mishaps. He should also remain cheerful and positive, to make the event a memorable one for all the participants.
Do I enjoy being a hike leader? You bet, before joining Singapore Hiking, I only had 3 WeChat “friends”: my mom, my wife and my daughter. Now, after leading /assisting in a number of hikes, I have 69 friends, all of whom I know in person. If I am still just “CSP” to you, I hope we meet in a future event and become friends.
Remarks: most of the beautiful shots here were taken by Xiao Fang, during a recent hike to Singapore Poly. Many thanks to her!
編輯：平平
圖片提供：小芳
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