SLOW Junior BOC Prize Winners
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It’s farewell to tarmac as the long summer evenings mean we will be able to do some orienteering training and terrain training on Tuesdays. As we have done in some previous years we will be sharing the organisation of some of the summer evening activities with CROC.

See the Training Diary for details of Tuesday night training.

Please telephone me to confirm any details that are missing.

Many thanks to all those who have agreed to put on some training for us.

Firstly let’s look ahead to the team events coming up…..

After a good performance in the regional round, we have now qualified for the final, along with South Yorkshire (SYO), Manchester & District (MDOC), Nottinghamshire (NOC) and Bristol (BOK). There are just five teams in the final this year, but all top quality, and that includes us!

The event will use Sport-Ident e-punching. There are the usual Cup courses:

There is also a yellow course.

Start times are from 11am till 1.30pm (with split time provision till 2pm). As is becoming usual, this is a PRE-ENTRY event, with entries to me, so please send me your form/cheque.

We want to get as good a team as possible to the event, and we are considering various options, including coach hire (probably early Sunday) and car share. We shall also have free floor space or camping for Saturday night nearish to Ilkley. Would all potential scorers who can possibly come, please contact me as soon as you can, so that we can try our best to get you there. Having said that, it will be great for as many SLOW members as possible to come along – you never know what might happen, and it should be an enjoyable day out (and journey up, if we get some games going!).

This is the 7-person (A course) or 5-person (B course) relay starting on Saturday night and finishing on Sunday morning. This has been a very enjoyable competition for SLOW over the years. Last year we won the B handicap and 4 teams mispunched. This year we should do better. There are various Open, Women, Handicap, and Junior categories. The organisers are trying to make it very spectator-friendly, and there will be Wilf’s food and music. Please send me the form/cheque if interested – everyone is welcome.

We are hoping to have a team for this. It is 50km with 8 stages. There are usually 10-20 teams overall. Please let me know if you are interested.

SLOW’s relay attempt on the Bob Graham Round in the Lake District will take place on 15 July. It is 72 miles and has as much climb as the height of Mount Everest. I hope we’ve done the hard bit of finding a date, and can now have that enjoyable day we’ve been looking forward to.

The GO South-East Relays are on 15 July at Petworth Park. I shall put interested people in touch with each other.

More details will be forthcoming on the North Downs Way Relay (24 June), and the Peter Palmer Junior Team Relay (23 September, Frith Hill, Surrey)

The JK individual races this year were technically and physically challenging. So well done to the following people for performing well.

Ralph Street (M10A – 2^nd), Michael May (M12B – 1^st), Matthew Walter (M14B – 2^nd), Ed Catmur (M18A – 7^th), Tom Fry (M20E – 9^th)

Charles Bromley-Gardner (M40L – 9^th), John Dowty (M40L – 6^th Day 1), Mike Murray (M55L – 3^rd)

Caroline Catmur (W20E – 7^th), Charlotte Perry (W20S – 1^st), Claire Evans (W21E – 11^th), Chris Robinson (W40L – 4^th), Monika Bonafini (W45L – 2^nd), Sarah Brown (W45L – 5^th)

The JK relays were on a faster more open area, and we weren’t so fortunate with the weather early on in the day.

In the JK Trophy, our second team Break came 32^nd after the first team retired. The lack of interest by many clubs to enter this premier class means that we ended up 3^rd southern team! In the Women’s Trophy, Jive came 15^th, with a fine last leg by Claire Evans.

In M120+, Tango (Peter Haynes, Andy Robinson, Andy Jones) came an excellent 4^th, just beaten by Charles Bromley-Gardner running for BAOC. Mike Murray had a good run for the second team, Tap. In case you hadn’t guessed, all the team names were dances. However the entries officials had not heard of Butoh (Japanese dance), so called them Butch!

There were very good performances from all of the W120+ teams, with Salsa coming 1^st, Samba 9^th, and Swing 12^th. Salsa were Monika Bonafini, Chris Robinson and Sarah Brown – well done! It was looking like Ginny Catmur had done faster minutes per km than me, till the results of a steward’s enquiry.

It was great to get two junior teams out in the M/W40- class. Disco ran very well to come 5^th (Charlotte Turner, Michael May, Matthew Walter).

Thanks to LOK (with HH help) for putting on this event. We had some excellent performances, with valuable backup, to achieve a good victory over the other south-east clubs. It was great to see so many SLOW competitors (60) enjoying themselves, even if they knew they were not necessarily going to score points. We did well almost across the board. This was a great team effort.

SLOW=236, HH=178, SO=170, MV=156, GO=154, SAX=117.

There were top three performances from Charles Bromley-Gardner (A/3^rd), Tom Fry (B/1^st), Simon Turner (C/1^st), Charlie Turner (C/2^nd), Claire Evans (D/2^nd), and Sarah Brown (E/2^nd). Edward Catmur performed well, running up a course coming 7^th overall but still didn’t score!

Congratulations to the following on what was a well-organised racing weekend.

Caroline Catmur (W20L – 1^st), Chris Robinson (W40L – 3^rd), Jim Mallinson (M50L – 3^rd).

Congratulations for winning the Chiltern Challenge team trophy this year. The official scorers were Ralph Street, Ed Catmur, Sarah Brown, Paul Street, Mal Lyon and David May. They won a trophy and a visit to a vineyard! At this event Caroline Catmur (W20), Ralph Street (M10), and Charles Bromley-Gardner (M40) became Southern Champions.

We played Foxhills Country Club third team in order to qualify for the last eight in this competition. As their first team eliminated us from the main event it was an opportunity to gain revenge.

The first half of the match went swimmingly and we led by 2,220 as we took refreshments. In truth this is an unbeatable lead in all normal circumstances and despite some slack play by Ned and me in the second half we came out winners by 1,260. Andy and Peter played well again making few mistakes over 24 boards.

This board is of some interest. It shows the value of competing aggressively at teams.

Dealer South; Love All

So SLOW are playing in game at each table. The 2§ bid at Table 1 is pushy, but not greatly so, and East unwisely failed to mention heart support. Ned’s jump to 4§ makes it very difficult for the opposition to bid or double. This contract went two off for –100. At Table 2 Andy’s decision to support hearts immediately made it easy, and South is not going to venture another bid in the absence of any support from partner. Because of the favourable lie of the diamonds Pete made 12 tricks in 4ª . That gained 380 on the board.

We met a team called The Economicals in this match to reach the semi-finals of the Plate section of the London Trophy. They are old adversaries who usually put up a competent performance; indeed it is surprising both are teams are rejects from the main competition. They hail from LSE and make a pleasant change, as we also do, from a regular diet of Golf and Tennis clubs.

The match was played in excellent spirit. After the first twelve boards SLOW were 830 down. Ned and I bid to a slightly dodgy 6ª which didn’t succeed and that pretty much accounted for the difference. The deficit was unwelcome but not irrecoverable by any means.

A key moment in any contract is the choice of opening lead. You are sitting West holding these cards after the following sequence:

ª A J 7 4 © J 9 8 4 ¨ none § Q J 10 9 4

Do you choose the "safe" Q§ , the A© to take a look at dummy, or perhaps a © ? It is a pity you haven’t a trump as that would be a good safe lead. It isn’t an easy choice and SLOW chose the A© . Oh dear! The whole hand was as below:

The lead is trumped and the losing © is pitched on the established Kª . 1370 to E/W. On a club lead –100, a difference of 1470. At the other table the bidding was:

North felt that competing to 6¨ might encourage a 6ª bid to which he had no defence and would force a further bid of 7¨ as a sacrifice. In the play the lead of the A© followed by K© avoided the embarrassment of giving a "ruff and a sluff" on the A¨ . West had to choose between finessing the Kª and playing for the drop. He played for the drop and made 5ª exactly for +450. If he’d been playing in 6 …. Who can tell?

A remarkable hand providing the opportunity of a double slam swing, and very unusually a partnership holding all 13 trumps between them.

The upshot was a loss by 1500 points in all. Taking 6¨ off one would have netted 1470; still not enough and we would have lost by 30 points!

Thanks to all who played this year and especially to Andy and Peter who showed good skills throughout the competition, despite their lack of experience.

We seem to be coming to the end of an era as finding a team has been real struggle. We need a pool of at least 6 players to compete again next year.

We are required to have a constitution if we want to apply for lottery funding (e.g. for electronic equipment). This is the constitution as passed by the AGM on 16 November 1999 and ratified by the Committee on 14 March 2000.

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After writing to our local school’s Head of PE, to give her the results of the British Schools ‘O’ Champs., I was invited to organise Orienteering in the school. In Year 7 (first year secondary, i.e. ages 11–12) the National Curriculum prescribes a module of ‘Outdoor Leisure’, and many schools have included Orienteering under this heading.

Of course, I was delighted to be asked: but then discovered that there is no map of the school: hitherto ‘Orienteering’ has meant taking bearings and pacing around the school grounds. I felt unable to organise any sort of Orienteering without a map, and the school could not afford to have one drawn. So I suggested a trip to Telegraph Hill. This is a small piece of common land about 2 km from the school which has been mapped: here I put out controls and punches for the children to find, using their maps.

This works very well. The children spend five weeks on each PE module. During their lesson in Week 4 I go in to the school to show them the map, controls and control card, and in Week 5 we meet on the Hill. The children have about 35–40 minutes to find 15 controls, and they compete amongst themselves to see who’ll get back fastest. It takes me about 25 minutes before the session to put out the controls; then I help supervise the actual Orienteering. The children collect the controls in – in total I spend half an hour in the classroom twice every five weeks, and two hours out on the Hill twice every five weeks.

Naturally, the children don’t learn much about navigation in these short sessions, but they do enjoy a very positive experience. One lad said to me, ‘What did you say this was called?’ ‘Orienteering,’ I replied. ‘Orienteering’s cool,’ he said.

SLOW puts on a programme of orienteering events each year, to put something back into the sport from which we all get so much pleasure. We are always looking for people who can take part in that, as event planners and organisers. If you think you’d like do either of these things, let me know.

It can be fun! The event planner lays out the courses. His or her role is crucial to the enjoyment of orienteers out in the forest. It’s an excellent way to improve your orienteering skills, by seeing how a course is put together, and by learning about the way terrain affects the shape of the courses you run.

The organiser makes sure that the event runs smoothly, before and after the competitors have run. It can be a huge satisfaction to see an event going well, and know that it’s your work that has made it so. The compliments you get from runners who appreciate what you’ve done for them are a great reward for the time and effort it takes.

Previous experience is not required! Just enthusiasm, and certain commitment of time. There’s lots of help available for both planners and organisers. BOF has published books on how to do it, and you can rely on the help of other SLOW members.

If you think you’d like to know more, get in touch with me: I look forward to hearing from you.

This is a night–day relay competition for juniors, starting at 4.30/5 am, so the first two/three legs are in the dark. SLOW are hosting the event this year on Sat./Sun. 23/24 September, using Southern Navigators’ land (Frith Hill) and Tomlinscote Sports Centre for accommodation. Ginny and Richard Catmur are organisers, Andrew Leaney planner and David Thomas (SN) controller. Sport-Ident electronic punching will be used.

The competition is very popular with juniors, as it enables them to meet and compare notes after the White Rose. The format is very junior-friendly, with competitors in the ‘Large Clubs’ race running the following legs: Red, Red, Light Green, Orange, Orange, Light Green, Yellow, Green. We should be able to field two teams: so, juniors, make sure you’ll be available!

There will be a huge need for helpers at the event: registration (including loading computers with Sport-Ident card data), supervision, refereeing the 5-a-side football match on the Saturday evening; hanging controls, map issue, start/finish officials, results, and breakfast on the Sunday (not to mention tidying up!), so please pencil the date into your diaries now. Thank you!

Fancy a club outing to the Eye one evening this Summer? Let me know if you are interested and what days/dates are best. Contact number/email below.

An idea of our Chairman that has had a warm reaction from contacts in GO and CROC. I am to continue my informal consultation with other clubs at the British. Again let me know if you would be interested in forming a SLOW team, know a good venue, or want to volunteer as quizmaster...

Will be happening again this Summer, probably late August / early September. Last year’s at the Clubhouse proved a great success, but if anyone knows of another good location, do get in touch.

A number of SLOWies are going to the 29 June performance at the open air theatre at Polesden Lacy, Surrey. If you are interested in joining us, contact Chris Robinson for the box-office details, time etc.

The SLOW annual dinner had a new venue this year, although not as published in the last SLOWprint. A number of competing events on 15/16 April meant numbers were rather small, so we ended up going to the Café Rouge in Esher. There was a choice of a 2 or 3 course menu, with almost all going for 3 – I was chastised for not ordering a pudding for the greater good of the rest of the table! Cafe Rouge also kindly included extra chips for hungry orienteers in the fixed price menu. We were introduced (courtesy of Andy Jones) to the delights of Pokemon cards and a couple of Pokemon toy characters, borrowed from the younger Joneses. I was glad I’d not signed up to any early orienteering start on Sunday as we were the last to leave the restaurant at well past 11pm.

Advance notice: next year the dinner will return to its usual slot of on or close to the weekend of the Box Hill Fell Race. I will be consulting you all in a SLOWprint later this year about venue, type of meal/entertainment etc you all want.

Don’t forget to look at the SLOW website, where I hope to post details of pubs we are going to pre/post big events (Compass Sport Cup etc.) and summer training evenings that are away from the Clubhouse.

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