Street-O: 7 February 2012

The next Street-O race of the Winter 2011-12 series takes place in Brockley in south-east London. This event will use electronic timing for the start and finish – please bring your SI card if you have one.

This event is on Facebook This event is on Facebook. Say you are coming here!

Like all our Street-Os, this a public race – all are welcome. Please RSVP to the event via Facebook (link above) to let us know you are coming – you can also see who else is coming here and post queries. If you are not on Facebook, please let the organiser know you are coming, at at so that the correct number of maps are printed.

Registration, Start and Finish Location

LocationBrockley
AddressThe Brockley Barge, 184 Brockley Road
Latitude/longitude51.4644, -0.0365
OS grid referenceTQ365758
Nearest postcodeSE4 2RW (34m away)
MapsGoogle Maps, Ordnance Survey, OpenStreetMap

Registration

The Brockley Barge. We will have an area at the rear of the bar reserved for registration and bag storage during the race. The pub is only 150m from Brockley station. Brockley Station is on the London Overground network and is well served by regular trains from London Bridge. Buses number 171, 172 and 484 stop outside the pub. There are bicycle racks outside the station. There is onstreet parking in the area.

Entry Fee

£1 for SLOW members, students and juniors, £2 for others.

Timings

RegistrationBetween 1830 and 1930

Race Format

Normal Street-O format with clues located at each control site. You have 60 minutes to visit as many controls as possible, in any order, and return to the finish. SI will be used to time the start and finish, please bring your SI card if you have one. Don’t forget to bring a pen to write down your answers to the clues as you go around, and a watch. All controls have been located under normal street light but as always a head torch may be useful in picking up detail and on certain route choices which may not be so well lit. General information about street orienteering.

Safety

Fluorescent clothing is recommended for safety. All competitors take part at their own risk. You MUST be over 16 to take part in this event, unless you are accompanied by a parent or guardian. This is a condition of our insurance.

Post-Race

Tuesday is Wetherspoon’s Steak Club, so excellent value on steaks and drinks and also on Wetherspoon’s regular menu. Last orders for food are at 2200.

Results

Results will be available on the SLOW website shortly after the event.

Officials

Organiser/Planner: Eoin O’Callaghan

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Results from the 31st Box Hill Fell Race

Results are here. Click the tabs at the bottom to see the team results and results grouped by age class. Photographs of the race, courtesy of Angus Lund, are on Flickr here. You can also see the original race details.

Organiser’s Report

It’s always good to see new faces come though to win, but especially when the face belongs to a “junior”, which means under 21 in these terms. Joe Morwood became the youngest ever winner of the race, and by breaking into the all-time fastest times becomes only the tenth person to break the 50 minute barrier. He managed this despite being totally unfamiliar with the course, which was something that gave the chasing Harold Wyber some hope all the way round. Harold was 12th last year and had very much his best run over the race. Third place went to another “junior”, Alan Cherry from Oxford University Orienteering Club, followed by his team mate, Ben Stevens. It was a pity that one of their entrants couldn’t make it as they may well have taken the team prize.

Fifth was 39 year old John Smallwood and he told me he would be aiming for the veteran prize next year. First veteran for the second time was the legend that is Chris Beecham, eleven time winner of the race. Chris was a minute behind John this year, but a minute ahead of him last year, so next year’s battle could be interesting. Less than a minute behind Chris was the first super-vet, Chris Phelan – that must be the best “age-adjusted” run of anyone. Geoff Newton again took the over-60s prize, perhaps for more times than he cares to remember. 81 year old Peter White was our only starter over 70 and he finished in 251st equal place.

Although youngsters dominated the men’s results, in contrast veterans’ swept the board for the ladies. Rachel Bennett just pipped Victoria Basquill after a race-long duel, with Rebecca Black in third. Between them they reminded me that forty-somethings look younger every year.

First under-40 was Iona Craft just ahead of SLOW’s Abi Weeds. Katherine Harvey was first super-vet and Claire Hall the first (and only) over-60.

The team result proved to be very close and Springfield Striders regained the title despite a higher score than they achieved in fifth place last year. They achieved this despite their fourth and last scorer finishing in 83rd place. Another multiple winner from previous years, Tring, were close behind, and then Dorking and Mole Valley. Tring were the best represented club with 23 finishers. We fail to give a ladies’ team prize for the simple reason that it’s too difficult to work out at the time. This year three clubs had at least three female finishers, with Serpentine being well ahead of Dulwich and then Tring.

TEAM RESULTS

1 Springfield Striders	122	9  Cambridge Harriers	362
2 Tring R C		130	10 The Stragglers	367
3 Reigate Priory	135	11 Bishops Stortford RC 419
4 Serpentine RC 	199	12 Cambridge Harriers	467
5 Tadworth AC		233	13 Dorking & Mole Vall.	493
6 Guildford & Godalming	259	14 SLOW			530
7 Rowena’s Runners	332	15 Portsmouth Joggers	751
8 Dulwich Runners	361

We again filled the entries in good time, putting up the “race full” signs 2 weeks beforehand. We accepted more than the 250 limit, knowing that there would be several no-shows. With 252 finishers we seemed to have that about right. We are quite happy with the race being pre-entry only as that saves a lot of volunteer time on race day.

Thanks go again to all the usual suspects. Neil Edeson and the staff at Friends Provident for use of the car park and social club. And of course the many helpers from SLOW – Dan (entries), Mike M, Martin, Richard, Mike G, Peter, Chris, Angus, Elaine, Linda and Nigel. Missing from that list is the late, great Dick Clark, who did entries and results for more years than I can remember. Sadly he lost his battle to cancer last October. He was sorely missed.

Keep an eye out for SLOW’s races in the summer. The Surrey Hills Races are just the other side of Dorking on Sunday May 27th. Although the courses are not flagged they are the same each year and so the navigational burden is eased. Also we will be providing guided course recces with the likely date being April 28th – keep an eye on the website. Slightly trickier are the Summer Trail Challenge races – a series of three 10km races, where the course to be navigated is revealed just before the start and you only have a few minutes to study it and discuss it with your mates. These are on summer evenings in the Kingston/Richmond area. We hope to see you at some of these.

Report by Andy Robinson. Photographs by Angus Lund.

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Wimbledon Common District Race

South London Orienteers present

Wimbledon Common District Race

Sunday 26 February 2012

The area is a fast and fairly run-able semi-open plateau contrasting with re-entrants featuring a variety of woodlands to provide a surprisingly challenging mix. Seven courses available. This event uses electronic timing (SportIdent).

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Location

Parking at The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Somerset Road, Wimbledon, SW19 5HN. Car keys may be left at registration/download while competitors are in the forest. Nearest tube: Wimbledon Park (District Line).

LocationWimbledon Common
AddressThe All England Lawn Tennis Club, Somerset Road
Latitude/longitude51.4329, -0.2153
OS grid referenceTQ242719
Nearest postcodeSW19 5HR (143m away)
MapsGoogle Maps, Ordnance Survey, OpenStreetMap

Courses

White, Yellow, Orange, Light Green, Green, Blue, Brown
A string course will be provided (free).

Registration and Starts

Entry on the day (EOD) only, in the car park. Start max 1km walk from car park (pushchair friendly).

RegistrationBetween 0930 and 1130
Start TimesBetween 1000 and 1200

Dogs

Dogs are allowed on Wimbledon Common but please be aware this is an area used heavily by the public (often with children, dogs or horses in tow).

Facilities

Port-a-loos will be provided in the car park. A clothing dump will be provided close to the start and finish. Please provide your own plastic bag. The finish is close to the start. Download is back at the car park.

Map

Scale: 1:10,000. Contour Interval: 5m. Updated: Winter 2009/10. Printed on waterproof paper.

Fees

Seniors: £5 for British Orienteering Members (National or SEOA-Local), £7 for others. Juniors: £2. SportIdent card hire: £1

Flyer

Download a printable flyer (PDF)

Officials

  • Organiser: Ruth King (SLOW)
  • Planner: Nicola Morris (SLOW)
  • Controller: Andy Robinson (SLOW)

Further Enquiries

Please contact Ruth King on 07795 411219 if you have any queries

Competitors take part in this race at their own risk. Entries and results will be processed by computer, your entry will be taken as agreement to this.

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1 & 2 for Ed, Strong SLOW Showing at Holmbush Race

It was a busy weekend for SLOW athlete Ed Catmur, with a win at the 44-mile Country to Capital off-road running race on Saturday in an impressive 5:22:38, 13 minutes clear of the second-placed runner. Not content to put his feet up, Ed then ran the Black (10.4km) course at the MVOC Holmbush and Buchan Country Park orienteering event near Crawley on Sunday, finishing second, behind fellow clubmate Matthias Mahr. Seven of the top eight finishers on the Black course were SLOW runners, and there were also wins for SLOW on the Brown and Blue courses.

SLOW results for MVOC Holmbush and Buchan Country Park

Black
1. Matthias Mahr
2. Ed Catmur
3. James Lyne
4. Oliver O’Brien
6. Helen Gardner
7. Paul Nixon
8. Phil Marsland
15. Peter Huzan
17. Edward Stott
20. Eoin O’Callaghan
22. Richard Jones
23. Ben Lovett

Brown
1. Paul Couldridge
15. Vince Roper
17. Gavin Hurley
21. Ian Griffiths

Short Brown
6. Abi Weeds
21. Mike Garvin
23. Peter Foulkes
29. Hugh Hurley
MP. Carys Morgan
MP. Jo Reeve

Blue
1. Jevgenijs Petrovs
7. Charlie Turner
10. Charlotte Turner
19. Libby Schofield
32. Dorte Torpe Hansen
69. Nigel Saker
MP. Terry Marsh

Short Blue
4. Mike Murray

Green
21. Teresa Turner

Organge
3. Kit Foulkes

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Nearly 100 People Pre-Registered for Marylebone Street-O

Nearly 100 people have pre-registered for the Marylebone Street-O taking place this evening, including over 60 through the race’s Facebook event page. With the continuing mild weather and the very central location, this could be a record-breaking Street-O event for London or possibly even the UK!

SLOW Street-Os are now using SI timing, to allow for accurate recording of start and finishing times. Competitors without their own SI cards are loaned one for the race free-of-charge.

Photo by Ewan-M.

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31st Box Hill Fell Race: Entries Have Closed

Entries are now closed for the 31st Box Hill Fell Race, taking place on Saturday 21 January 2012. Successfully entered people and bib numbers can be viewed, along with race details.

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SLOW’s City Race Features in National Orienteering Press

The Fourth City of London Race, which was organised by SLOW in September 2011, has featured in both Orienteering Focus (Winter 2011/2 edition), the official national magazine of British Orienteering; and CompassSport Magazine (October 2011 edition), the independent national orienteering magazine in Britain.

Focus’s article (above) was a double-page spread, it was written by SLOW member Brooner and featured many photographs from the race and an extract from the map. The CompassSport article (right) ran to four pages, including a two-page copy of the complete map with the routes of the top three on the Men’s Long course, and was written by SLOW member and City Race organiser Alan Leakey.

The Fourth City of London Race was Britain’s biggest ever standalone urban orienteering race, and the second biggest such race in the world after Venice. The next edition of the race takes place on 22 September 2012. Full details of the race will be on the dedicated website.

SLOW are also organising a second urban race in 2012. It takes place in Kingston, in early August, as part of the borough’s Olympic Games celebrations.

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Minutes from the 2011 AGM

The minutes from the 2011 Annual General Meeting of SLOW, which took place in November, are now available in PDF format.

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Street-O: 10 January 2012

The next Street-O race of the Winter 2011-12 series takes place in Marylebone in central London. PLEASE BRING YOUR SI CARD IF YOU HAVE ONE.

This event is on Facebook This event is on Facebook. Say you are coming here!

Like all our Street-Os, this a public race – all are welcome. Please RSVP to the event via Facebook (link above) to let us know you are coming – you can also see who else is coming here and post queries. If you are not on Facebook, please let the organiser know you are coming, at so that the correct number of maps are printed.

Registration, Start and Finish Location

LocationMarylebone
AddressThe Angel in the Fields, 37 Thayer St
Latitude/longitude51.5181, -0.1515
OS grid referenceTQ284815
Nearest postcodeW1U 2QY (5m away)
MapsGoogle Maps, Ordnance Survey, OpenStreetMap

Registration

The Angel in the Fields. This is a Sam Smiths pub, so the beer is cheap. We should have upstairs. Note that the toilets are pretty small and changing in the pub is awkward, so please arrive ready to run.

The pub is between Baker St. and Bond St. stations. There are two Livingstone Cycle racks nearby on George St. and Hinde St., and there are public bikes racks opposite the Waitrose (2) on Marylebone High St. and another at the south end of Marylebone Lane (3). Failing that you could try chaining them to the fence in Manchester Square Gardens or a near by lamppost. There is onstreet parking in the area but it is expensive and operates on a pay by phone system.

Entry Fee

£1 for SLOW members, students and juniors, £2 for others.

Timings

RegistrationBetween 1815 and 1930
Start TimesBetween 1815 and 1930

Race Format

Normal Street-O format with clues located at each control site. You have 60 minutes to visit as many controls as possible, in any order, and return to the finish. SI will be used to time the start and finish, please bring your SI card if you have one. Don’t forget to bring a pen to write down your answers to the clues as you go around, and a watch. A headtorch will be useful. General information about street orienteering.

Safety

Fluorescent clothing is recommended for safety. All competitors take part at their own risk. You MUST be over 16 to take part in this event, unless you are accompanied by a parent or guardian. This is a condition of our insurance.

Post-Race

Last orders for food are at 2045.

Results

Results will be available on the SLOW website shortly after the event.

Officials

Organiser/Planner: Bryn Monnery

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Merry Christmas from South London Orienteers

South London Orienteers wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Photo by Neil Hunt, via Flickr, CC licence.

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