Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category

Frozen forest

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

Orienteering again this weekend just gone. This time it was Guildford’s regional event at Ambersham Commons and Hoyle Plantation. Whilst Christine was out, Emma and I sheltered in the woods, firstly on the string course (not last this time) and then at the finish, in order to avoid the freezing cold wind blowing across the exposed car park. When I eventually got to the start Mark Saunders was just lining up to go. I gave him a three minute head start which also gave me the opportunity to do enough of a warm-up that I could feel my fingers again!

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Tenth again

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

A slightly belated report on the BKO Concorde Chase last Sunday. Unlike the previous night’s event, this was an all out running race. That’s not to say that there wasn’t a reasonable amount of terrain running – just that the controls themselves were never hugely technical. I was tenth again but out of a larger field and a more respectable 10 minutes behind the winner. I was pretty happy with my run and you can see my route round the Black course over on RouteGadget.

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Top 10 in British Night Champs

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

OK – when I say “Top 10” I mean I was 10th… and there were only 15 finishers… and I would have been 11th if Mikko hadn’t subsequently been declared non-competitive… but anyway, that’s mere detail! Saturday night was the British Night Orienteering Championships held at Mytchett. There was a clear sky and frost on the ground as I got ready beforehand but it was warm enough once you started moving. Matthias was back from his run just as I was about to start. He thought his 87 minutes was slow and wasn’t sure where the time went. I managed to take five minutes longer so here’s where I think I lost it (you can follow along on RouteGadget – just select Course 1 and my GPS track) …

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Oak Orienteering

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

SOC held a local event at Knightwood Oak (just west of Lyndhurst) today and we went along with my in-laws. The area has some nice runnable patches but unfortunately last night’s rain made other parts hard going. I’m sure the Forestry Commission volunteers who were removing conifers in the open patch near control 206 had a good laugh as one orienteer after another disappeared up to their waist in one of the ditches!
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Highfield Street-O

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

Tonight it was the second SOC street event of the year. This time we were starting at The Crown, Highfield, Southampton. There was a much better turnout from the club this time probably reflecting the more central location.
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Thursday night run

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Tonight was my first Tuesday night run of the week having attending the SOC club night last week. We did the Thursday Night Run backwards (apparently!). I was just glad to keep my dinner down having finished eating only half an hour before the run. I’ve got used to eating at half five these days and find it hard to wait until eight o’clock or later. I put it down as good mountain marathon training!
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Frosty Cross-Country

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

706It was the Hampshire Cross-Country Champs today which, as in recent years, was held at Dibden. The temperature was in the low single figures and, as we drove down to the event, the trees had a good frosting on them. The timing of the senior races is always a bit awkward with Christine off at 12:50 and myself 50 minutes later. This meant I was feeding Emma her lunch whilst Christine was out running and trying not to eat too much of it myself!

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New Year Score

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

704Happy New Year! We’re over with Christine’s family at the moment and today took the opportunity of some more local orienteering by attending NGOC’s score event at Parkend. When Christine, her Dad and I set off from home I still wasn’t quite sure whether I was going to run as my cough/cold is still lingering but, as we drove through the frost covered forest, I decided that it was simply too cold not to (the car thermometer was showing -2°C)!
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