Archive for the ‘Orienteering’ Category

White Downs tumble

Monday, February 26th, 2007

After a sleepless Saturday night on a scout hut floor I was up early to get to Dorking for the Mole Valley National Event. The bussing out to White Downs and Netley Heath ran very smoothly and I had half an hour to warm-up and investigate the delightful portaloos that had been pushed over during the night!

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Chasing Sprint

Sunday, February 25th, 2007

276An early start yesterday morning to get to Banstead Heath, Surrey, where this year’s JOK Chasing Sprint was due to be held. As the last time I used the SportIdent software was at the Chase two years ago I left the computing in Jon Marsden’s more than capable hands. Instead, Christine and I were on enquiries/first aid which meant that, for once, I was actually able to get out and about and see a bit of the action. The National Event the following day wasn’t enough to draw the top competitors but there was still some good head-to-head racing going on. Maybe some day I’ll actually compete again as I tend to run better when pushed. We then proceeded to the pub to watch the rugby (and upload the results over a dodgy GPRS connection) before moving on to the nearby Blue Anchor for a very pleasant meal.

Valley Park victory

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

My luck improved this evening with Christine’s street event around Valley Park. I had two advantages: local knowledge and some inside information that it was going to be border-line as to whether you could get all the controls. Putting these two together it was just a question of picking a vaguely sensible order for all of the controls and then running as hard as I could. The warren of branching streets and small footpaths joining them meant even then some thought was required for the best route between any two points. I made it back in just over 55 minutes and this time, not only had I visited all of the controls, I had only visited them once! There was a good turnout so it was a shame that I then had to rush off rather than enjoying the traditional post-run beverage. I haven’t had a chance to put all of the controls on my route this time but you can probably guess where most of them are from my convoluted route!

Turf Tribulations

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

Sometimes I can be so stupid! Yesterday afternoon I went to the Military League event that the Sarum juniors were organising at Turf Hill and Millersford. Things started well enough with the best split to the first control and, although my legs were sluggish in the heather and marsh, I didn’t feel too bad.

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Ibsley Common

Sunday, February 18th, 2007

Neil asking if I wanted to a lift to today’s event on Ibsley Common prompted me to put in a late entry. It’s an area I haven’t orienteered on before and one club member claimed it be the most technical in (or at least on the edge of) the New Forest. How could I resist?

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Wet night out

Saturday, February 10th, 2007

We went out to the SOC night event at Ocknell Inclosure this evening. Fortunately the afternoon’s rain gave way to a clear evening although this did mean waiting until after seven for it to be sufficiently dark. There was no chance of staying dry thought as the ground was pretty sodden.

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Frosty starts and caterpillars

Sunday, February 4th, 2007

261We headed out to the New Forest again yesterday morning for the SOC junior training session. Whilst the trainee coaches were busy setting up I had a chance to wander around taking some photos of the local wildlife. In particular, a group of ponies who were very obligingly standing motionless as the bright sunshine burnt off the morning frost. As well as being a lovely colour, this one seemed to have a cheeky grin!

264After lunch, Christine had planned a novel caterpillar relay. Once again, I was just a bystander so could enjoy watching the chaos unfold! Had to collect a few more controls at the end of the day which was a great excuse to wander in the peaceful woods (and take a few more shots).

Dibden Street-O

Thursday, February 1st, 2007

Always a glutton for punishment, I followed up my lunchtime orienteering yesterday with the SOC street event in the evening. This time it was down in Dibden courtesy of Jon Forster. Jon’s innovation (as a maths professor) was that the difference between each lamppost number and the control number on the map was always a multiple of five. This meant you knew when you were in the right (or even the wrong) place.

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