SLOWprint 147
April 2004
Lake District Training Weekend
http://www.sloweb.org.uk/
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Chair: Chris Robinson,
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Secretary: Don McKerrow,
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Ladies’ Captain: Karen Jones,
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Treasurer: Liz Armitage,
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Mapping Officer, SEOA Rep.
and Fixtures Secretary: Andy Robinson,
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Club Kit: Teresa Turner,
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Men’s Captain: Peter Huzan,
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Publicity Officer: Paul Canham,
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Social Secretary; VACANT
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Membership Secretary: Ginny Catmur,
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Beginners’ Rep. and Training
Officer:
Heather Walton,
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Equipment Officer: Chris Fry,
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Archivist: Sue Lumas,
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SLOWprint Editor: Sarah Brown,
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Webmaster: Andrew Trimble,
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Copy date for Issue 148 will be late
May/early June 04. Letters, event reports, articles, cartoons, gossip, scandal,
notices, small ads, court circulars, births, deaths and marriages should be
posted to Sarah Brown (address above); electronic copies via e-mail are
particularly welcome.
New Members: If you are new to SLOW, you
might not know about ... Training:
PLEASE READ about our spring season page 9,
and also Hot Picks page 10 - a chance to meet other members
… and Transport: we can organise lifts to
events: ring any of the club’s officers, as listed above, and one of us will
sort this out for you.
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Reminder -
all
SLOW members are welcome to attend club committee meetings.
Next meeting: 7.30pm Monday 24 May 2004 at
Liz Armitage’s house:
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Another action-packed few
months in the life of South London Orienteers are Wicked (new name? discuss!):
ŸOur monthly club nights/street
Os - are growing in popularity with well attended evenings hosted in Battersea
by Charlie Whetham and in Surbiton by Jackie Steinitz.
ŸBox Hill Race - it's 12 years
since SLOW (aka Andy) took this on and this year was another sell-out, but with
a new winner.
ŸCoaching weekend, Lake District, January - all I can say is, if you weren't
there you missed a treat. Tremendous
intricate terrain, excellent exercises, great accommodation and company. JK here we come.
ŸSouth East Night League
(SENILE!) - on Holmwood Common. Someone
actually said: "I always like SLOW events - they are so well
organised".
ŸCompassSport Cup, Esher -
beautifully run, except for the Cup result.
However a lot has actually been said as we try to figure out why we
didn't win again. We have to be at full
strength to beat Southdowns.
ŸCoaching day, Esher Common -
another GO/SLOW collaboration with lots of new members learning some new
techniques.
ŸSchools development work - 2
introductory days held in Battersea Park for Salesian College; a day is planned
on Wimbledon Common for Southfields Community College; we've been asked to
revised and extend the Southfields College map.
ŸHilary Palmer, BOF Development
Manager, attended our March committee meeting and led a wide-ranging discussion
on development. Various options of targeting schools, universities, or post
education young people were discussed. The range of possibilities is huge, as
is the danger of spreading resources too thinly by trying to do too much.
Getting publicity right is crucial to any development plans. BOF has some
little-known development funds we could tap into.
ŸThe absence of Sprint
Races in the O-calendar was discussed.
Agreed to put on a Sprint Race with the SLOW Frolic in the summer: a) Sprints are different, fun, spectator
friendly and rarely held; b) we need
more experience of them before World Cup 2005.
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Club
fleeces are on their way! Watch this
space!
Ÿ
Did
you know that if you type London orienteering into Google, SLOW's
website appears in 18th position, behind DFOK (Dartford) and even
SYO (South Yorkshire)! The Webmaster is
looking into it.
Big thanks to all responsible for the above
activities: Chris Fry, Heather Walton, Andy Robbo,
Charlie Whetham, Jackie Steinitz, Don McKerrow, Alan Leakey, Gordon Parker,
Andrew Trimble, Mark Vyvyan-Robinson, Nicola King, Simon Evans, as well as Simon Greenwood (Saxons) and
Angela Darley (GO).
Chris Robinson Chair
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SLOW members’ news, 2004
from Ginny Catmur,
Membership Secretary
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From Ginny Catmur, Membership Secretary
No changes of address
in this issue, as I’m enclosing the latest address list. Please check that your
details are correct, and let me know if they’re not!
Ginny ;
SLOW
members’ news, January – April 2004
Welcome
to the following new members
Justin (M21), Michelle
(W21) and Chloe (W2) Morrison, ,
Paul Wilson
(M21), ,
Chris Wroe (M18),
Auriel Glanville (W60),
,
Anthony Covey-Crump
(M21),
Veronica Tonge (W21
Andy Hodgson (M21), ,
Dominic Lawrance (M21) (actually a
returning member), ,
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Congratulations to Kay and Jeremy Denny on
their 40th wedding anniversary!
They were married on 29 February 1964.
Naomi Trimble celebrated her 4th
birthday the same day (dob 29-2-88).
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At each of these fixtures, SLOW will organise:
·Transport from south west London
·Suggested block of start times so we can meet up
(11.00-12.00)
·Club tent for changing, coaching – or whatever
10th-12th April JK,
Ulverston, Lake District
10th & 11th - Individual
days – Graythwaite. A large hilly area
with intricate contour detail and many rock features. Few paths/tracks increase the navigational
challenge!
12th – Relays - Graythwaite
CD: 07/03/04 or internet late entry by 20/03/04 for
higher fee. www.sroc.org/jk2004.html
25th April District
Event, Frith Hill, Camberley
Undulating runnable woodland. Full colour coded courses, white to brown.
All EOD. www.geocities.com/southern_nav
1st – 3rd May Triple
O Severn, Forest of Dean.
1st – Medium Race
Russell’s Enclosure. An area of typical Forest of Dean
terrain. Ideal for a fast and furious middle race.
2nd – Classic Race Lydney
Park. Considered by many to be the best area in the
Forest of Dean.
It is complex and rife with old mine workings, evidence of the Forest
industrial heritage. Runnable,
undulating area of mixed deciduous and coniferous woodland.
3rd – Relay Now the
British Relay Champs at Danby Lodge. Mixture of deciduous and coniferous
vegetation. The activities of former
residents has left a wealth of intricate contour detail. E-mail Captain, Pete Huzan before 5th
April for a place in a team.
www.ngoc.org.uk for further details and
special entry form. CD: 12/04/04
16th May Harvester Night/Day Relays, Pipingford Park, Crowborough.
Teams or seven or five runners with first few legs at night, a dawn leg
and then day legs!
CD: If you would like a run E-mail Captain, Pete Huzan before 5
April. www.mvoc.org.uk
23rd May SE
Relays, Happy Valley, Croyden
CD: If you would like a run E-mail Captain, Pete Huzan before 8 May. www.croyden-orienteering.co.uk To arrange transport, contact Ginny Catmur
CD = closing date, often possible to get late entry. EOD = entry on the day available
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COACHING CORNER
from Heather Walton
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The year started off with a coaching weekend in
the Lake District full of enthusiastic participants. There is a report of this
elsewhere (page 14) but particular thanks should go to Chris Fry and Alan
Leakey for planning, despite the fact that the areas kept changing up to the
weekend before. Thanks also to Nicky King for taking one of the coaching
exercises, to Mark
Vyvyan-Robinson with Keira, Owen and Charlie for sorting out the food and to
Simon Evans for co-ordinating transport I am looking forward to seeing if all
the practice pays off when you all compete at the JK.
We have also just had a coaching day on Esher Common. Many thanks to Angela
Darley from Guildford Orienteers for planning the exercises. Thanks also to all
the more experienced orienteers who came along to coach. It was good to see
some new faces such as the Clemens family and some recent faces such as Laura
Ashworth and Jessica King. We had some impressive runs down the steep hill to
the finish from Robert Hanson, for example. The
team score finale was won by Michael May, Chris Wroe, Linda Clemens and Alice
Clemens by a mere inch from Ralph Street, Anna Steinitz, Holly Clemens and
Jenny Steinitz.
The provisional date for the next coaching day is Sunday 9th May. Subject to
land permission, this will be on Puttenham Common near Guildford. This will be
good preparation for the SE Relays near Croydon on 23rd May (see Captain's
report).
Other events coming up that are good for
beginners/juniors include an event on Frith Hill just half an hour down the M3
on 25th April. This is a 'hot pick' event (an event nominated by SLOW as a good
event to which several SLOW members are expected to go. see page 5).
If you want to go further afield, how about the
Annual Junior Coaching Course for 7-13 year olds (Yellow-Light Green) at
Coniston in the Lake District. The course is on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th
June 2004 during the day. Accommodation is not included. It is followed by 2
events in the ake District on 5th/6th June. Cost £45/£40 (discount for parents
who help). Details: send SAE to Carol McNeil
.
Carol McNeill
is an international standard orienteer having competed for Britain in past
World Championships and is still winning at World Masters Championships. She
has also written books about teaching orienteering. But you will have to act
fast ? there were only 3 places left on the evening of 28th March. If there are
no places left why not think about it for next year?
Heather
Walton
Some good
results for the juniors since the last SLOWPRINT.
Congratulations to Ralph Street who ran for England and won the M14
competition against Belgium and the Netherlands at Blackheath.
James
McMillan won the Light Green course at the Compass Sport cup
match and Charles McMillan was third on the Orange Course at
the same event. Laura Ashworth on Orange scored
the club valuable points as did Anna Steinitz adventuring sportingly onto Light Green for the sake of the club.
Chris Wroe has been running at regional events for the first time and was second on
JM5S at Hindleap Warren. Alex Robinson has done his first National Event on
M14B.
Greg Street has been running a new class and at Hindleap Warren, he beat several
adults including his grandmother!
Ali McKerrow was 2nd on JW5L at the Chiltern Challenge where Matthew Haynes was 6th on JM1.
James Haynes was 6th on M12A at the National Event at Blackheath just 4 minutes
behind the winner.
Robert Jones was 1st on JM3 at Hindleap Warren.
And we have
had a good showing from the younger juniors at Burnham Beeches. Nicola
Robinson 7th on White and soon to be new members Holly and Alice Clemens
1st and 2nd on White with Holly also being 4th on Yellow at the same event!
And finally much admiration to all juniors for even going out on their courses
in the gale force winds at the British Championships.
Heather
Walton
Compass Sport Cup
The first
major team event of the spring season was the Compass Sport Cup regional round
at Esher on 14th March.
Unfortunately we came a close second to Southdowns. The final scores wereSO 1232, SLOW 1209, HH
1025, MV 771, ... So that means Southdowns go forward to the national final in
May - best wishes to them. There were
some excellent results by the SLOW team, & well done also to those who
provided valuable backup.
Our scorers
(& lead backup) were as follows, with 4 course winners marked with an
asterisk:
Brown -
Richard Lloyd 60, Andy Hodgson 56, Simon Evans 52, (Charlie Whetham, Pete
Huzan)
Blue Women -
Rachael Holmes 84*, Chris Robinson 54, (Caroline Catmur, Karen Jones)
Blue Men -
John Dowty 84*, Andy Robinson 78, Mal Lyon 69, Charlie Turner 66, (David May)
Green(W)- Sarah Brown 76, Jackie Chapman 72, Teresa
Turner 56, (Kate Thomas, Judy Fry)
Green Men -
Mike Murray 84*, Frank Lyness 66, (Terry Marsh)
Light Green -
James McMillan 84*, Anna Steinitz 48, (Michael May)
Orange -
Charles McMillan 72, Laura Ashforth 48, (Alex Robinson)
Our MVPs
(that's Most Valuable Players, based on what would have happened if the person
was not there) were: (1) Mike Murray, (2) Frank Lyness, Anna Steinitz, Laura
Ashforth, (5) Sarah Brown, (6) John Dowty, (7) Teresa Turner, (8) Andy
Robinson, (9) James McMillan, Mal Lyon, Charlie Turner, Richard Lloyd.
Just a few
more comments below...
It was great
to have 9 runners on Men’s Open & 10 runners on Women’s Open – these people
are a major part of the future of our sport.
Brown - It
was good to see newcomers Andy Hodgson & Phil Marsland launch straight into
running in a team competition.
Blue Women –
Great runs by Rachael & Chris. And
good backup from Caroline.
Blue Men –
More good runs from all the scorers.
Green Women –
Well done Jackie for getting round in a good time despite a recurrence of an
injury. A heroic performance by Judy
which could have become significant.
Greeen Men –
Mike demolished the field, but Frank also had a really good run.
Light Green –
A good run from James, and well done to a determined Anna.
Orange – Well
done to Charles & Laura – these were signficant runs for the team. And good backup from Alex.
Next Year –
We are extremely close to Southdowns, possibly being separated by the
equivalent of one runner. It is
important that we have as strong a turnout as possible so please remember this
for next year – if you are a potential scorer, then you may be the one that
makes the difference between the club winning and losing. So see you at Banstead & Walton Heaths on
27th February next year.
Where there happens to be a SuperSprint race on Saturday 24th
April this year (closing date 10th April).
JK Relays(Lake District, 12 April) – We have at least 16 teams ranging from
looking for a podium position, to just having fun. It may still be possible to get some late
teams if necessary, so don’t hesitate to let me know if you have suddenly
become available!
We have teams
in Men's Premier & Short, Women's Premier & Short, M120, W120, M165
& several junior teams. See you at
the club tent over that weekend.
Provisional team line-ups will be available at the individual days –
final team line-ups will be available on the Sunday afternoon.
British
Relays (Forest of Dean, 3 May) – a great bank holiday
weekend with courses for everyone. We
have 3 titles to defend! It is close
enough to London if you are keen enough to just run the relay.
Harvester
Night/Day Relays (Pippingford Park, Sussex, 15 May) –
half the runnesr run at night. Quite
local so I hope we have several teams of all abilities, including some strong
handicap teams.
South-East
Relays (Happy Valley, Croydon, 23 May) – another event very
close to us. And very suitable for you
to have your first taste of relay running, with junior, senior & handicap
classes. If you’re not going to the Lake
District that weekend then come along to this event.
Let me know
asap if you would like to run in any of these.
Remember that absolutely everyone is welcome to run – I should be able
to pick a suitable team for everyone (except possibly the Harvester – but still
let me know your interest).
Peter Huzan
Editor’s
note: As this is a new training scheme, I have republished these notes in a
shortened form from the last issue.
SLOW is
putting on a club night once a month during the winter. Each evening will be a
mix of social where you can meet up with club members and also a night street
orienteering event.
What is a street event? : Usually a one hour street O score
event where you run round looking for clues that are visible under street
lights – eg “Control 1 – name of the pub. There may be two courses – short and
a long – short could be 45 mins and long 60 minutes.
What does the map look like? : A black
and white photocopy on A4 paper. The map has a question for each control on the
map, usually about 20.
When and where are the events? : Starts
from 7pm onwards on the following Tuesday’s
Date Location Organiser
The Last of the Season
April 6th 2004 Christopher
Squash Club, Plough Lane, Wimbledon Don
McKerrow
Go on to the
Slow web site and then you can click on the location to see a map and on the
organiser name to send an email, otherwise please check the SLOW membership
list for phone numbers.
What kit do you need? : Running kit and a pen, you don’t
need a headlamp.
Will I be safe? : Most people prefer to run in pairs
although you can choose to run alone. Clues are on well lit paths and avoid
dark alleyways.
What about the social? : The social side starts from about
8pm, you DON’T have to run, just come and have a chat, pick up coaching tips,
analyse your last O race or join us for a drink.
What is the cost? : Event is usually free, small
charge if someone is providing food and drink Who
can take part? : Any SLOW member can come, (juniors as well but suits
14+ best ) .
Are you interested?
If you would
like to take part in these fun training / social events please contact the
relevant organiser about a week before the event. This helps to plan numbers
for the number of maps needed and if food/drink are planned for the social.
Series Coordinator:
Andrew
Trimble
19th June 2004
With less
than 3 months to go I am looking to get the team together soon. Inevitably
there will be drop-outs due to injury and other unexpected events so even
though there are 16 legs it would be good to have a core group of 20 runners to
rely on.
The event
kicks off from Dover at 5 a.m. finishing in Farnham around 19:00. Afterwards we
can socialise at The Good Intent in Puttenham. The beer is good and also the
food. There’s a decent garden so families can make themselves at home there
too.
Last year we
won the race with a bit to spare, even though we had quite an old team. This
year I would like to have some of our younger members competing, assuming
hedonistic activities such as Summer Ball’s don’t interfere wit their busy
academic life. We also often struggle to have our ladies well represented in
the team and it would be good to change that this year.
The terrain
is mixed road, track and path. Nearly every leg has its fair share of hills and
you can expect to run between 9K & 12K depending on which leg.
One area
where we usually gain during the race is by not losing our way at all, and that
means taking time out before the day to recce your leg. Running hard and navigating
on a way-marked course is not as easy as you might think.
So please get
in touch with me to let me know of your interest and availability, preferences
for start times etc.
Dick Clark
THE FIXTURES BIT
This time we'll start with the
appeals bit. This is where I list what's coming up, mentioning who's doing
what, pointing out the gaps and when you have read it you then contact me to
fill in the gaps. Got it??
03-04-04. Southern Express. Reigate
Priory. OK this one's covered, just as well as it will have happened by the
time you read it. Mike G is planning. Di
is organising and taking entries.
Gavin's cunning plan has the SI
sorted.
Summer evenings. Alan is
co-ordinating a "bumper bundle" of offerings. Even better than last
year ad it should cover most weeks from mid-May to mid-August. These are all
low-key and a good chance to cut your teeth and experiment. Interested parties
should contact Alan Leakey who will give guidance on race formats and
appropriate areas.
06-06-04. Surrey Hills Races. Jeremy
is organising SLOW’s bit. SportIdent expert needed.
11-07-04. Frolic. Sheen Common and
northern part of Richmond Park. Should include a sprint race this year instead
of the usual "extension". Organiser needed and maybe a planner too
unless AJ has it covered as part of his sprint training (see part 3!!). Gavin
is on for the SI.
3-10-04. Trail Challenge from the
Hawker Centre. Longer courses – say 20k+12k plus perhaps a couple of short CC
courses. Organiser and planner and SI wizzo needed.
12-12-04. OK Nuts. Hankley Common. 3
loop races – replacing brown, blue and green. 4 shorter CC courses. Nicky King
has scooped the planner's job - quick off the mark there as it looks a goodie.
Organiser and SI expert vacant.
29-01-05. Senile. Wimbledon or
Reigate. Usual vacancies.
13-2-05. Holmwood Common Score. Usual
vacancies.
Part 2 is the review of what's
happened and giving credit where it is due. So far this year we have staged:
Box Hill Fell Race. This went well
again, a packed field of happy punters swelling SLOW's coffers. I organised,
Dick took the entries and there were some new faces among the usual suspects
filling key marshalling roles.
Holmwood Common Senile. Now I did
most of the organising and planning, the object being to show everyone how
simple it was to set up a small event, and although successful in the first
part (actually doing it), I'm not whether you all noticed. Piece of cake! Have
a go! Thanks to Andrew T for the SI, Mark V-R for assisting on planning, and
Mike M for land permission.
Esher Commons. CompassSport Cup
match. We didn't win - bitch! bitch! grumble! grumble! Oh well, not my
department. The rest was fine - Gordon organising, Alan planning, Dick taking
entries and Gavin at the keyboards again. Silver lining - don't have to travel
to Lincolnshire on the weekend between the British Relays and the Harvester.
Now of course the fixtures bit would
not be complete without a rant and this time we're focusing on the World Cup
races due to take place this time next year in our neck of the woods. Some of
you are of course wondering why they are down here, having assumed that any
race of this stature is automatically packed off to the most obscure bit of
Scotland imaginable, somewhere that hasn't seen a human being since Bonnie
Prince Charlie or even Robert the Bruce.
That thinking is very 20th century!
These days things are different. In 2000 international orienteering approved
something called the Leibnitz Convention which says we are going to:
*
organise
attractive and exciting orienteering events which are of high quality for
competitors, officials, media, spectators, sponsors, and external partners
*
make IOF
events attractive for TV and Internet
*
increase the
visibility of our sport by organising our events closer to where people are
*
improve the
event centre atmosphere, and the excitement, by having both start and finish at
the centre
*
increase
television and other media coverage by ensuring that our events provide more
and better opportunities for producing thrilling sports programmes
*
improve media
service by better catering for the needs of media representatives (in terms of
communication facilities, access to runners at start/finish and in the forest,
continuous intermediate time information, food and beverages, etc)
which led to the World Cup being down
here near London, as our best bet for delivering on that agenda, but it's a big
order and requires something of a new mindset. For example in 1999 when we ran
the World Champs start, the order of the day was silence. A quick read of the
above tells you starts now have to be noisy!
There's quite a few people in SLOW
signed up for major roles already:
-
David May is
Technical Director for the whole show (don't ask me what that means - and don't
ask him either, as I'm not convinced he knows)
-
Chris the
Midge has been going to meetings with UK Sport to get grant money for it and is
getting involved on the development side.
-
Alan and Di
Leakey are race directors for the Long Final. "Race director" is a
grand title for organiser, but more fairly describes what is trying to be
achieved under the new convention.
-
Andy Jones is
planner for the Sprint qualifier and final (hence the above need for him to get
some practice in!!)
-
and I've put
my head over the parapet in the direction of sprint final race director.
There's plenty of people from other
south-east clubs involved already as the week also involves a middle race and a
relay and many associated events, including the British Junior Champs and the
Southern Champs. There will also be plenty of things before and after which
should help us thrust orienteering under the noses of the great unwashed.
Manpower will be needed from all over
the region and beyond. We're yet to have the discussion where either I get the
SLOW manpower at the sprint final or Alan and Di book it for their race. Either
way please leave the period 30 April to 8 May clear. Both weekends will be
really busy and anyone available midweek will be in great demand.
Wow - not so much of a rant at all.
In fact quite nice really. I'm now off for a week's training in the Lake District
prior to the JK. See (most of) you there!
Andy Robinson
Lake District training weekend,
January from Rachel Holmes
Winter training in the Lakes is
always a pleasure, and we had all of the ingredients for a successful weekend -
high quality terrain, inventive exercises, a cosy place to stay, plenty of
food, lots of enthusiasm and even a bit of sunshine!
The weekend was based in Windermere,
from where we drove to Tarn Hows for Saturday’s training. Chris Fry had planned
a series of short exercises which were well suited to the intricate terrain on
offer, as they encouraged the group to practice fine map-reading skills, and to
make conscious use of attack points. To practice simplification skills, we’d
also pre-drawn our own maps of a short course, only drawing in the features and
backstops that we thought we’d need to find the controls. This exercise showed
how little information we actually need, but highlighted the importance of
picking out that information judiciously (and also the importance of having a
decent map!) After lunch (and in between sleet showers) most of us tried out a
pairs map-memory exercise (the mapless runner leads while describing his route
to his partner, who memorises the next leg at the same time, and hands over the
map when the control is found), which I very much enjoyed - pity about all the
barbed wire and 6ft walls though!
Windermere is a lot more pleasant in
January than when the tourists come and fill up the pavements and the tea
shops, and Saturday evening was spent enjoying its finest oriental cuisine, and
soaking up some local culture in the pub. At the meal Alan sought further
support for the Harris relay takeover of British orienteering (!), while most
people ordered more than they could eat, and several people nobly refused
puddings and then ordered them later when they saw ice cream being served in a
plastic ‘Punky Penguin’ on the other table.
Sunday took most of us to Great Tower
for some contour-only training, and some fast and furious loop racing in the
afternoon. While the intricate contour detail of this area should have enabled
us to find controls with a basic map (showing cliffs and contours only) and
without any need to know about paths or vegetation changes, it proved quite
challenging in practice. I’ve now used the contour-only map of this area quite
a few times, but never fail to get lost on the big slope around the back, and
usually end up sneaking a look at the full-colour map that I’ve hidden in my
pocket (shameful, I know). The afternoon’s race gave the group the option of
running two, three or four different loops, and (thankfully) reverted to the
conventional map. Charlie was the first to complete all four loops, although I
saw him looking pretty lost at least once!
Many
thanks to everyone who put in the hard work to make the weekend a
success – particularly Heather, Chris, Alan and Nicky. There was plenty on
offer for the relative newcomer as well as the more experienced orienteer, and
a positive atmosphere made the weekend really enjoyable. The club captain hopes
you’ve all been persuaded to get those JK entries in!
Rachel
Snippets from the British Championships held on
Simonside, Northumberland, March 20th
Terrain: Open exposed fell. Weather:
80 mph gales, horizontal hail.
From David May: M55
·
Spent the walk to the start thinking
about the warmth of the National Trust café at Cragside
·
Could hardly see anything round my
course as my rain visor was blown flat against my glasses into the wind, and
off my head when with it!
·
Thinking hard about bowls of steaming
soup at Cragside
·
Legs run with the wind behind meant I
was going faster than I could see where to put my feet so I had to slow down
·
Instructed my passenger (Mal Lyon) on
his return to the car not to get in but to push us out of the car park, leap in
and then get sorted in the snug of the Cragside café
·
Cragside closed until late March
·
Got back to London to find I’d
mispunched
From Don McKerrow M50
The British, for me, was a string of
lacks of concentration; I assume brought on by the extreme weather.
Surprisingly I made no significant navigational errors but it is extraordinary
in our sport how many other opportunities there are to do things wrong if one
is distracted - and struggling at times to stand up is certainly a distraction.
I confused my start time and as a result started about six minutes late. On
coming out of the forest into a biting wind I decided to zip up my cagoule, a
not too complicated procedure you would think but one that resulted in a mad
dash in the wrong direction to recover my map which had slipped from my
normally firm grasp. Before starting I had noted that on two occasions I would
have to use marked crossing points; I only remembered this when seeing the red
and white tape at a crossing point I had arrived at entirely by luck, and then
proceeded to repeat the error two controls later. The course presented two
major "over or round" decisions; in retrospect I got both wrong. And
finally I arrived perfectly at control 139 but since I thought I was looking
for 141 spent several minutes going round in circles. Bizarrely I still enjoyed
my trip to Northumberland and am now hoping to be able to concentrate for three
days in a row at the JK.
From Greg Street M12
It was like that bit in Lord of the
Rings when Sauron swipes the enemy, I
came up the hill into the wind and then Whoosh, I was knocked off my feet and
my map was whipped out of my hand and suddenly 200 meters away. There was
nothing for it but to snake crawl against the wind back to the start.
From Sarah Brown W50
Found the start very confusing as I
couldn’t see the track or hold my map steady enough to take a bearing. Lost 4
minutes to control 1. Out on the fell, I flew along with the wind behind me but
found it hard to see through rain-streaked glasses where to put my feet. The
constant flapping of my cagoule hood on the long leg was very irritating and I
lost concentration (plus the will to live!) lost 6 minutes on the leg.
Disappointing overall
You will get the best and latest
details of all events primarily from
websites. These can be accessed individually or centrally by going
through the BOF website and then looking at individual clubs.
Events listed here are merely a
skeleton sample and you are strongly urged to confirm these events using the
following websites and answerphone services. The SEOA website has links to SE
clubs and other regions.
SEOA (020-8948-6056): http://homepage.ntlworld.com/simon.errington/seoa/seoa.htm
(SCOA (0118-946-4354) (Army (01256-883265) (SO (01903-239186)
(SAX (01303-813344) (MV (01372-279295)
WEB sites:
Army www.baoc.org.uk SO www.southdowns-orienteering.org.uk
SAX www.saxons-oc.org MV www.mv.org
DFOK www.dfok.co.uk CROC
www.croydon-orienteering.co.uk
CHIG www.chig.org.uk GO www.go-pages.fsnet.co.uk
SN www.geocities.com/southern nav
April 4: SAX
Bedgebury Forest TQ759 335 Org: Graham Bridgland 01233 622 234
April 9-12
Jan Kjellstrom Lake District
April 17
SAX/DFOK Saturday series Beacon Wood
April 18 SO
Colour coded Sheffield Forest Danehill
April 25 SN
Frith Hill car park SU 905 580
May 1-3
Triple O Severn Weekend Forest of Dean including British Relay Champs
May 8
Southern Express final Leith Hill TQ 131 433
May 9 SLOW coaching day
May 9 SAX
colour coded Kings Wood Challock Organiser Tony Connellan 01622 661 992
May 15/16 MV Harvester
relays
May 23 CROC
South East relays Happy Valley
May 23 LOC
National Holme Fell, Coniston, Lake District
May 29/31
Tamar Triple Devon www.devonorienteering.co.uk
June 6 SLOW/MV Hill race and colour
coded Nower Dorking
June 19 North Downs Way relay