David Currie

I nearly didn’t make the SOC street event on Thursday night thanks to Virgin Cross Country. I’m working in Reading this week and next and the train, for what’s only a 45 minute, left half an hour late. A quick change at the University Playing Fields and I made it to the Crown Inn in Highfield, Southampton with minutes to spare before the start.
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We were over at my parents in Hertfordshire for the weekend and had consequently entered the CHIG event at Epping Forest. We nearly didn’t go as Emma had decided to have another wakeful patch of a couple of hours in the middle of the night – something she seems inclined to do when we are away from home. Christine had therefore let me have a lie-in (until eight!) and we had just two hours to pack everything in the car, hot foot it over to Epping and get Christine to the start…
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458We headed up to Oxford this weekend for the second annual City Race. As you can see from the photo, I was seeded number one. I suspect this had more to do with our request for split starts than my form. Unfortunately, when it comes down to events of this nature I usually do best in a head to head race so starting last and with lots of fast people just in front of me wasn’t a good omen.
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455Here’s a rather belated report on last weekend’s November Classic. Bolderwood seemed to make an excellent assembly area although, as helpers/a family, we had the benefit of using the car park rather than being strung out along forest tracks. (The final details probably should have said “young families” as the car park was overflowing and seemed to have more than a few cars containing children in their late teens!) Christine was off first and for once I was able to take Emma out and about in the morning sun to keep her amused (which was just as well given she was getting a bit hungry towards the end).
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We spurned the OMM this year where, if the event reporting is to be believed, they had a very stormy and wet night but clear skies for much of the competition. Instead, we stayed at home and, on Sunday, went to BADO’s event at Blackwood where it rained continously the whole time we were there! This was only the second time we’ve used split starts, the first being the last day of the Scottish Six Days, and it’s been wet both times. Still, I just about managed to amuse Emma in the back of the car whilst Christine was out on the blue course.

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Another sure sign that winter’s on its way – the start of the SOC street events. First up on Thursday night was Dibden courtesy of Jon Forster. Jon had reduced the area covered from last year and lay down the gauntlet by stating that he thought it may be possible to get all of the controls (lamposts). I made a better start than last time: remembering a head torch and not getting too disorientated in the small pockets of woodland. My plan for the controls ahead kept changing and things started to go a bit pear shaped when I missed out 19. When I eventually came back to collect it I was starting to run short on time. It didn’t take long to decide to drop 6 and 2. The clock shows me 13 seconds late back but I put that down to following an unmapped path round the back of the shops rather than the one to the car park. You can see my route on Google maps.

Having agreed to take over SOC’s postponed local event at nearby Hut Wood (between Chandler’s Ford and Southampton) it transpired that most of the work required for an event was still to be done. Attendance at local event’s can be as low as half a dozen so, given the time I’d spent, it was gratifying when nearly 40 competitors turned up. In addition to the white, yellow and orange for beginners, there was a 45 minute score event. The latter had a snooker theme inherited from the event’s original organiser, Philip Cooper, who, in turn, had brought the idea back from Hungary.
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