Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category

Hursley 10K

Sunday, September 28th, 2008

670Christine having run it last year (whilst I was recovering from my appendectomy) it was my turn to run at the second Hursley 10K. The second half of the course is part of one of my standard lunchtime runs in Ampfield Woods but the first part was a chance to take a look at some of the paths through the private Hursley Estate.
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Last run from Rufus Stone

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

In a break with tradition, tonight’s run will be the last from Rufus Stone this year as the venue can’t really support five different runs. With a bumper attendance, Neil ably led us round a triangle(ish) containing Ocknell Inclosure. On this occasion we managed to stay out of the re-enterants on the North edge of the Inclosure and remarkably we were back at Rufus Stone with time (and daylight) to spare. In case Mike’s memory fails him (!) I should probably say that we ran round clockwise.

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Sunny Loughrigg

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

The reason for our trip to the Lakes was the JOK Champs, AGM and Annual Dinner. The first of these was held on Loughrigg Fell above Ambleside. The sun was breaking through as we arrived and while Christine was out running I had an easy time of looking after Emma as she played with the other JOK kids.
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Search parties

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

We were missing all of usual navigators on last night’s run (after 10 years I’m still learning the ropes!) and the route suffered a bit as a result. Things started off okay as Neil found the golf course without too much trouble and from there it’s an easy route to Janesmoor Pond. We struggled a bit finding a good line to Cadnams Pond and popped out on the road far too early (although I was sufficiently confused by this point to think we might have overshot). There was then yet more confusion about the location of Ocknell Pond and the route we should take to the campsite (we ended up half way between the path route and the high and dry route i.e. undulating through numerous marshy re-entrants). We eventually found our way back to Rufus Stone though in around 75 minutes and semi-darkness.
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Running from Rufus

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Having discovered the excellent XML Google Maps for displaying maps on a WordPress blog I’ve decided to add a few more GPX routes to this blog. So here’s the route from Tuesday night’s run from the Rufus Stone around two underpasses. It was a bit wet underfoot but not as bad as anticipated (perhaps because Neil’s absence meant we took less direct routes!).
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Return to New Forest O

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

Today we headed over to Redshoot for the SOC District Event and our first orienteering since returning to the UK. There wouldn’t be time for me to do the Long-O (26km) and for Christine still to get a run in so I settled for the Black course (15km). The navigation wasn’t particularly taxing with the control sites being sufficiently obvious that one could afford to be a bit wayward on compass bearings. The terrain was hard going though, particularly after all the recent rain. After 95 minutes I was therefore perfectly happy not to have to go on to do another 10km.
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First and last RR10

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Fortunately my current desk location in Hursley is away from the windows otherwise the sight of the rain hammering down might have deterred me from turning out for tonight’s RR10 – my first for the year and also the last of the season. The race was, however, actually at Hursley and, with the disbanding of IBM Hursley Runners earlier this year, it was my first chance to actually compete in this race.

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Tuesday night running resumes

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

Having driven through the pouring rain (and crawled through the roadworks on the M27) it was a pleasure to arrive at a sunlit Wilverley Plain for my first Tuesday night run of the year. It made a nice change for an hour long run not to involve half an hour running up hill followed by half an hour running downhill and also to have something other than solid rock (or bilberry) underfoot! Even better was the fact that I could buy six pints (admittedly three of which were shandies) and a corresponding number of packets of crisps and still get change from a twenty pound note!
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