David Currie

When we said ‘yes’ to running at Sunday’s CompassSport Cup qualifier I hadn’t quite realised where Agglestone was. It is the heathland that rises up behind the Sandbanks peninsula just over the border in Dorset. We were parked in one of the National Trust car parks on the seashore which meant that, whilst Christine went for her run, the rest of us headed to the beach. As you can probably tell from the photo, although sunny, there was a stiff breeze coming from the sea so nobody was going to be stripping off to run in to the sea but the children certainly enjoyed playing in the sand.

I had started to shed clothes as the scheduled time for our handover approached and was freezing when Christine eventually appeared. I couldn’t believe it when she said I didn’t need a hellie but it was a good call – in land and out of the breeze it was quite warm.

I can’t claim to have had a good run. At the fourth control I lost around three minutes as I just couldn’t get the flat terrain on the map to match the hill on the ground! Looking at my GPS trace, I think the control was also further north than mapped which didn’t help. Some judicious use of form lines on the map would have helped greatly as would more care over the mapping of the gorse and the inclusion of all of the major paths! It’s fair to say that I wasn’t the only one grumbling about the map back in the car park. I finished eighth, over eight minutes down on the winner. The club also came second by some margin to Bristol which means that we don’t progress to the final in the Forest of Dean.

On the ferry on the way back I asked Emma whether she’d prefer a beach or a string course at every event. The power of sweets is remarkable: she opted for the string course!

20130217 Agglestone GPX

After a dry night (no bed wetting for Duncan but lots of toilet trips) we had to drag ourselves out of bed this morning (I even found Emma getting the cereals out of the cupboard when I got down). It was well worth it though as there were clear blue skies as we set off for the New Year’s Day score event at Queen Elizabeth Country Park. I got to run the 45 minute score while Christine went round with the children. I felt a bit sluggish to start with heading up the first hill to a 50 pointer which is perhaps why only half way up I realised I should have just run along the road to get another control first! Other than that, I had a enjoyable run. I could have scored a little higher if I had realised earlier that I wasn’t going to get all of the controls but I got back with just a second to spare (by my watch – the results are a little more generous) and appear at the top of the results.

After lunch by the cafe, we drove up to the top of the hill and Christine had a run whilst the children went round the play equipment (or is it a fitness trail, I’m never too sure!), played in the dens and rode around on their bikes. I then made the mistake of suggesting we pop in to Cotswolds on the way home tp see of there was anything good in their sale. After the day’s exertions, Emma went in to meltdown when they didn’t have a pair of pink moon boots in her size! It was still a good day on which to end my holiday – back to work tomorrow!

20130101 Queen Elizabeth Country Park Score

On Boxing Day we were registered for Wimborne Orienteers’ Boxing Day Canter: a one hour score with bonus points for the unmapped Father Christmas, fairies and Christmas Tree. Sue hobbled round with the children (ankle operation in the New Year) so the other three of us all had a run. Christine having pointed out Santa in the distance shortly before the start, I was the first to reach him. This was something of a mistake as I failed to punch a control on the way and, as I then fell in just behind Tim Britton, I knew I was already a control down. Tim was making more direct routes and was generally faster in the terrain. I had to rely on the occasional falter on his part to stay in contention.

With 40 minutes on the clock I was in front and heading to the high point controls at the North end of the map. After a couple of blunders that must have cost me around four minutes in total it was going to be a long sprint back in to try to make it back in the allotted time. Instead, I decided a late return picking up more controls on the way would be a better bet. This also had the benefit that it increased my changes of finding the so far elusive fairies and tree. I was nearly eight minutes late in the end but I was rewarded with a clean sweep on the bonus points. In the final reckoning I was in fourth place. Interestingly, four out of the top five were also back late which suggests that this may actually be a good tactic. You can see my route on RouteGadget.