David Currie

Spent a large part of today planning courses for the Junior Inter-Regional Champs individual day to be held on Bordon Heaths on 24 June. We have deliberately planned the courses long as previous events on the area indicate that times will be fast. However, running some of the legs later in the day revealed that all of the recent rain seems to be bringing the bracken on nicely in some parts. Nettles are also starting to take hold in some potential control sites so we’ll have to watch how things change over the next month.

Came across the interesting OpenStreetMap project which aims to create copyright free geographic data. Participants in the project are asked to upload GPS tracks and/or convert the tracks in to labelled features. The project seems to have a good start in Southampton with a recent weekend workshop also aiming to map the Isle of Wight. If I ever have a spare couple of hours at home (unlikely I know) then I’d be tempted to head out and fill in a few major roads around our house.

Competing again today, this time at the first round of the inter-club orienteering competition. The area (Black Park near Slough) held some promise with the details claiming only 30m climb for an 8km course! Unfortunately, what they failed to mention were the brambles which had a hold over parts of the area and, at times, my legs.

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52I hadn’t entered the British Relays as I was originally due to be out in the US for two weeks. The club captain had pencilled me in to fill a space on an M50 team but, when we eventually arrived at the assembly area after the usual car park fiasco, I discovered I’d been promoted to the M40 team.

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49My pre-race preparation for the British Champs wasn’t exactly ideal. My flight from Raleigh landed at Gatwick at around 8:15 in the morning giving me just enough time to get home, get changed and get back to Midhurst for a start time six hours later.

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46Back in Raleigh North Carolina next week with work so came out a day early to participate in the Backwoods Orienteering Klub Bubba Goat event. For the unitiated, this involved a mass start, a one control fork (where you decide which fork to take) and the chance to miss out one control of your choosing.

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Took part in the Wimborne Long-O in the New Forest today. At the start the sun was shining but there was a chill breeze blowing across the open moor. The navigation wasn’t particularly technical and the only major mistake I made was at the third control. I’d just spotted Christine and must have run straight past the control in my haste to catch her up. Took me a while to figure out that I had gone too far down the hill.

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