David Currie

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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Spent the weekend at the Oxford-Cambridge orienteering Varsity Match. Usually we have the individual competition on the Saturday and the relays on the Sunday. Unfortunately, the organiser (Phil Marsland) was soon receiving phone calls from the CUOC minibus saying that they were stuck in traffic on the M11. OUOC were dispatched to wait at the nearby accommodation (Holmbury St Mary Youth Hostel) whilst the alumni were let lose on Leith Hill.

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We took a full car to the Happy Herts event at Egypt Woods and Burnham Beeches today. After our joint effort at the last National Event I harboured hopes of catching Paul Nixon four minutes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Instead, I made a beginner’s error on the sixth control, searching for the control one hillside too soon. A little later, having executed the long leg perfectly, I then wasted at least two minutes on the following control. I tried to cut a corner but then failed to find the path I was cutting the corner to! When I eventually located the control Roger Thetford was hot on my heels.

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Unfortunately my last minute trip to Germany meant that I missed the SOC Street-O on Thursday. Roger Pleasant has surveyed our local area: Knightwood Park and Valley Park, so we decided to take the map out today and run round the controls together. Took us just under 50 minutes so, even in the dark, it’s not surprising that most competitors got all the controls. Roger is apparently now mapping the wooded areas in more detail which should make for a fun summer event.

Made the most of my flexible hours and nipped out to the Military League event at Turf Hill and Millersford in the New Forest. The 9.25km was a bit of a cross-country race – not because there were trains of competitors but because you could often see the next control from the one before and, with the area being so runnable, there was nothing to do but head straight for it. In the end I clocked up 54:05.

I fumbled the 13th control (unlucky for some) but the results show that I just don’t have the speed to compete with the likes of Dave Rollins. Good fun though and I should make an effort to get out to more of them. Paid for it later though – while working late to make up time my manager caught me and is sending me to Bonn first thing tomorrow morning.

The sun was shining brightly as we arrived at the BKO Concorde Chase but it was still pretty chilly once you entered the woods of Cold Ash. My pre-race preparation wasn’t ideal with most of it spent in the toilet queue (two cubicles for all the men isn’t quite enough)! For the second day running I was quite by my one minute man. This time it was Paul Nixon and at the first control.

Paul was just the motivation that I need to push my tired legs round the 13km course. We proceeded to take in turns out in front and, between us, managed not to make any major blunders. Unfortunately, just before the end I overshot a thicket coming diagonally downhill and that was the last I saw of him. Although GG and Matt Crane demolished the rest of the field, just four minutes separated me from fifth place in the results. Maybe I should go on holiday more often!

Congratulations go to Christine who had a steady run and, though beaten by Helen Palmer, becomes Southern Champion.

BKO held the British Night Champs at Hawley and Hornley this evening. We were fortunate to turn up at Gibraltar barracks sufficiently late that we weren’t subjected to the same thorough searches that earlier arrivals had experienced (in fact, we were just waved through the gate).

I started reasonably well and it wasn’t until the fifth control that Nick Barrable caught me a minute. I managed to hang on for a few controls before missing a small knoll and relocating badly off some unmapped vegetation. Nick went on to win so it’s a shame I couldn’t stay with him for longer. Indeed, the results showed that the second placed Tuomas Tala was the other runner to pass me in the dark. Sadly I was probably checking out a horse jump at the time, mistaking it for a hide on the map!

Unfortunately, that wasn’t my last mistake as I then proceeded to thrash around a gorse covered hillside looking for a small re-entrant just two controls further on. Still, I mostly enjoyed myself even if the final results revealed me in fourteenth place and fifteen minutes down. Christine fared better and despite her torch failing towards the end of her course she finished in third place. The evening was rounded off nicely by a hearty JOK meal courtesy of Ali and Gary.