Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category

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OMM Lite Alone

Wednesday, May 29th, 2019

After last year’s success, we had signed up for our third Long Score at the OMM Lite, this year taking place on Cannock Chase over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Unfortunately, a week and a half beforehand, Christine decided to kick a hotel bed sufficiently hard that she suspected she had broken a toe. I failed to find a replacement partner but, for better or worse, this year they were allowing individual participants…

I set off on Saturday morning with a certain amount of trepidation. At the forefront of my mind was the 53km that we had run on Saturday in the Forest of Dean and the expectation that in similar terrain, on my own, I should be going further than that. Having taken a few minutes to pick an initial direction and set off for the first checkpoint, I started to do the mental math about the pace I was doing. Given the size of the map, I fairly rapidly worked out that it was not a question of which controls was I going to do, but which I should leave out.

I panicked a little when I couldn’t find the second checkpoint but it was an early lesson in how important it was to read the descriptions containing the detailed location of the SI box. After that, I settled into a steady pace and, in hindsight, it was remarkable that it was only after about 4.5 hours, as I was wading through bracken along a path that didn’t really exist, that I was starting to struggle. The only problem was that still left over two hours to go!

I slowed the pace and managed to keep moving. I even managed to force myself to do a dogleg to pick up some extra points towards the end. At the finish, I’d covered over 66km collecting 800 out of 900 points and was placed first. I had, however, been overtaken by another individual runner travelling at speed and he duly finished 40 points ahead of me.

The next morning, I was very stiff and started at a much slower pace. It was quite refreshing to be able to just focus on what controls it made to sense to visit rather than having to go to every far-flung corner of the map. I made a couple of route-choice errors though. The first, trying to persuade myself that a purple cross on a junction didn’t apply to the direction I wanted to go and then having to retrace my steps when faced with a ‘Private’ sign. Later, I then managed to get tangled up in some housing where the exit into the forest wasn’t clear on the map.

I made a calculated decision to return late and collect a 50 point control near the finish although another dogleg down a hill and back up again was soul destroying! I wasn’t surprised to be 100 points behind the winner but, having covered just under 70 miles over the two days, I still managed to hold onto second place.

The rest of the family hadn’t just been resting on their laurels. Christine went out on the Bike Score but didn’t fare too well after a major blowout on the first day. The children did some helping, a bit of biking, and also ran the trail race. A fun if tiring weekend was had by all although, writing this three weeks later, I am still enduring some enforced rest from a dodgy knee.

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South Central JK

Tuesday, May 28th, 2019

We arrived back from our US trip just in time for Easter and the JK. We decided to skip the sprint race to give us a little time to recover (and Christine was doing the entries and isn’t a fan of the discipline). Saturday’s middle-distance event at Windmill Hill wasn’t optional though as we were organising the string course!

There were mixed fortunes in the Currie family. I had a decidedly average run, making a few mistakes and was generally slow in the physical terrain. Amidst lots of controversy about the Emit Touch Free punching, Emma was disqualified on her course for a missing punch (at a control she definitely visited). Christine took fifth place and Duncan had a storming run on M10 to finish first. Regardless, it was a lovely day and we had a great turnout for the string course!

On Sunday, the action moved to Cold Ash for the long distance race. Christine was out first with the rest of us getting to run in the midday heat. Duncan sadly succumbed to the electronic punching and was disqualified (although probably would not have retained his lead anyway). Emma, in contrast, was out an age but was pleased to actually finish successfully. My effort was pretty much on a par with the previous day. We stayed for the prizegiving as Emma was meant to be helping but the results had turned into a bit of a fiasco and it was eventually cancelled.

The relays were at Minley and, after a brief stint on parking, I watched Emma head off in the mini-relay. She handed over to Duncan and then, unfortunately, the club had exhausted its supply of juniors! Christine’s team was also non-competitive as they had swapped in a New Zealand ringer due to injury. I was running third leg on the JK trophy and continued my run of mediocre efforts.

All that said, there was some good orienteering to be had over the course of the weekend and the good weather made for a sociable event (which is largely why we attend the JK).

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Days in DC

Monday, May 27th, 2019

On arrival in Washington DC from New York for the second half of our holiday, we checked in to our hotel and headed a few blocks south to the White House. It ended up being a longer lap of the building than we had anticipated as the immediate area was cordoned off due to a security incident earlier in the day.

The next day was a Saturday and we took the Metro to Roosevelt Island, somewhere that is probably not high on the list of attractions for most visitors but is the home to one of DC’s parkruns. It was nice to be out doing something other than seeing yet more sights. After showering back at the hotel, we walked along the Mall where the Cherry Blossom Parade was just coming to an end and went to the Botanic Garden. My eyes were streaming by the end of the day which I put down to the tree pollen and spent the rest of the holiday on antihistamines.

The next day was spent at the National Air and Space Museum. The downside of the Smithsonian Museum’s being free is that it was absolutely jam-packed with people. We’d booked in to see a 3D film which was a relief from the crush even if two out of the four of us ended up watching the film in 2D (with the same colour glass in each eye!). We walked back to the hotel via the tidal basin where the cherry blossom was, unfortunately, past its best.

Christine was working the next day so we were left to our own devices. We started at the far end of the Mall this time with a trip to the Library of Congress where the baseball exhibition was somewhat wasted on us. We then moved onto the Postal Museum which was a surprise hit (even if just because they were giving away free stamps to start your own collection). Next stop was the Natural History Museum which was as packed as the Air and Space Museum had been; the butterfly exhibit that Emma had quite fancied also turned out to be a paid extra. We rounded off the day with a quick whizz round the Museum of American History and eventually found the superheroes exhibit.

Christine rejoined us for our final day when we spent about seven hours at the zoo! The main aim was to see the giant pandas and they duly obliged (if only because they had been kicked out whilst their cages were being cleaned). Emma also finally got the large soft pretzel that she had been the object of her desire for most of the holiday!

We were flying back from New York although out of JFK so the following morning we took the Amtrak back up north. Christine had ended up on a different flight back (a long story) and so had an extra five hours to kill at the airport. We were having breakfast on our flight around the time she was having dinner on hers! I’d had several hours asleep at home when I was woken by the phone asking us to collect her from Winchester station.

All-in-all a fun ten days away even if it did sometimes feel like we were working our way through a long list of tourist attractions. Indeed, Duncan was heard to remark at one point: “I just want to do something rather than see something”. I suspect we’ll probably revert to our normal formula in future of a few days in the city at one end or other of a more outdoorsy holiday.

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Eastleigh 10K PB

Sunday, March 24th, 2019

It was the Eastleigh 10K this morning and I managed to clock up a new PB of 35:34 – almost a minute faster than my previous fastest time on the course and just edging my previous 10K PB from 2003 (although admittedly that was on a hilly course at Ryde on the Isle of Wight).

Preparations had gone pretty well, managing to complete most of a Runner’s World training plan. A couple of overseas work trips threatened to derail things: the early morning’s around Cary were not particularly inspiring – the same cannot be said of running along the waterfront in Marbella! The effect on the waistline was likely to be the most problematic!

Conditions on the day were pretty spot on with cool temperatures and a light breeze. I started far too quickly but the pace didn’t feel uncomfortable and it wasn’t until around the 6k mark that I settled into something closer the pace I had been anticipating. I must have judged it about right as, despite my best efforts, I slowed a fraction for the final kilometre.

I’m looking forward to some time off road running now but the result was sufficiently encouraging to make me wonder whether I could still break under 35 minutes…

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Another Classic Weekend

Sunday, November 4th, 2018

It was another two day’s of racing this weekend. On Saturday BAOC had an urban race around Winchester based at Peter Symonds college. Christine was resting her knee so it was just the children and myself competing. Their courses were confined to the college grounds with Duncan finishing 5th M12- and Emma 3rd W12- (although they were running the same course and Duncan actually beat Emma).

The navigation wasn’t particularly challenging with many long legs meaning there was lots of hard running to be done. With a late start, I knew what time I should be aiming for and things became increasingly frantic as I headed into the last five controls. Needless to say, I managed to waste time on the last two controls, but still managed to take first place. The time of 43 minutes looks more respectable in the context of the 10k I ran and not the 6.4k quoted for the course length!

Sunday brought the November Classic. We all started today although only because I’d entered Christine by mistake! There was light rain over Hampton Ridge whilst we were out (the picture above was taken later in the day). We met with mixed fortunes. Duncan had a good run, finishing second on M10A. Christine walked round a few controls before returning. Emma was out for over an hour without finding any of her controls. My legs didn’t feel too bad until the last part of the course. My downfall was repeatedly hunting for pits in the bracken which saw me finish in 5th place. Thankfully, no events planned for next weekend!

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OMM White

Sunday, November 4th, 2018

Last weekend it was the OMM in the Black Mountains, South Wales. Christine’s parents had offered to mind the children so Christine and I were running the Medium Score together. There was a biting wind but blue skies as we set off on Saturday morning. There was some early indecision but we soon settled down to a steady mountain marathon pace. As the morning went on, the skies started to look increasingly ominous and, as we cross one bit of particularly bleak hillside, the snow began and persisted for long enough to paint the mountainside white. We reached the campsite with around twenty minutes to spare – not long enough to have fitted anything else in.

It was a long night in the campsite, made more bearable by being able to chat to Christine brother and his wife in the tent next to us. Due to the cold, we both ‘slept’ in all of our clothes, including waterproofs. We were certainly glad to discover that, as third mixed pair, we qualified for the chasing start and had an hour less to spend in the campsite in the morning.

Although we removed a layer, we both kept our waterproofs on for the whole of the second day. Christine’s knee was giving her grief (a likely outcome even before we started the weekend) and, as a consequence, we were setting a pretty stately pace. We reined in our plans as we went round and, although we finished with another 25 minutes to spare, at the speed we were going it still wouldn’t have got us another checkpoint. We were 47th on the second day which brought us down from 13th to 28th over the two days. Still respectable but not what we would have hoped for had we both been fit and healthy. On the plus side, it did mean we could slip away before the prize giving and make it home in reasonable time!

If you watch the promotional video, you’ll catch a brief glimpse of us finishing on the first day around the 1:33 mark. Thanks to Christine’s dad who purchased the image above where we were reunited with the children at the finish. You can also find our routes from Day 1 and 2 on RouteGadget.

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British Schools Score Champions

Saturday, October 13th, 2018

Today we were down at the British Schools Orienteering Association Score Champs, taking place at Moors Valley Country Park. It was a lovely day to be out in the forest (particularly compared with Friday’s weather). This was the first score event that Emma and Duncan have done on their own and the game plan was simply for them to head around the loop of white-standard controls, picking up a few others on their way. They both executed on this and, despite (or perhaps because) of being back well inside the 45-minute time limit, won their respective courses. (Duncan ran up as the event starts at Year 5.) Prizes were presented by Gillian Cross, author of the Demon Headmaster series, and member of the organising club. Results and more pictures can be seen on the British Schools Orienteering Association website. We won’t be travelling up to the non-score Champs in Blackburn later this year but nearby BADO are due to host the event in 2019…

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Hursley 10k

Sunday, September 16th, 2018

It was Christine’s turn to run the Hursley 10k this year so the rest of us went along to spectate (Emma is always keen when there’s prospect of a cake stall!). There was lots of Eastleigh Running Club orange out for us to cheer on. As you’d expect given the location, there were also a few IBMers although, looking at the results, I also failed to spot many I should have seen.

On Christine’s return, I raced off for a quick run (a chance to knock out the September Challenge). It took longer than I anticipated but I made it back just in time to see Duncan cross the line in the KS2 race. He seemed pleased with his run. It’s just a shame that it’s another four years before Emma is allowed to take part in any of the races again.

More photos on Flickr.

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