SLOWprint 141

OCTOBER 2002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIMON TURNER

 

http://sloweb.org.uk/

 

 

Chair: Chris Robinson,   :	Secretary: Don McKerrow :	Ladies’ Captain: Karen Jones,   :
Treasurer: Liz Armitage,   :	Mapping Officer, SEOA Rep. and Fixtures Secretary: Andy Robinson,   :	Club Kit: Teresa Turner,   :
Men’s Captain: Peter Huzan,   :	Publicity Officer: Paul Canham,   :paul.canham@btinternet.com	Social Secretary: Vicky Robb,   :
Membership Secretary: Ginny Catmur,   :	Beginners’ Rep. and Training Officer: Heather Walton,   :	Equipment Officer: Chris Fry,   :
Archivist: Sue Lumas,	SLOWprint Editor: Sarah Brown,   :	Webmaster: Andrew Trimble,   :

 

Copy date for Issue 142 will be  early December 2002. Letters, event reports, articles, cartoons, gossip, scandal, notices, small ads, court circulars, births, deaths and marriages should be posted to Sarah Brown (address above); electronic copies via e-mail are particularly welcome.

New Members: If you are new to SLOW, you might not know about ... Training: Tues. eve. (7.15 pm) training open to all, of all standards: every Tuesday at the clubhouse (Thames Hare and Hounds, Richard Evans Memorial Playing Fields, Kingston Vale);  After Tuesday evening training, following the closure of the Robin Hood Pub, the club has decided to try the Albert Arms until further notice. The Albert Arms is at the junction of Kingston Hill and Queens Road (the road out from Kingston Gate), up and over the hill towards Kingston from the Robin Hood.
Like the Robin Hood, it is on the 85 bus route, but it's also close to Norbiton Railway Station. Food is served until 9pm, about the time people usually arrive after training.

            … and Transport: we can organise lifts to events: ring any of the club’s officers, as listed above, and one of us will sort this out for you.

 

AGM 26th November 8pm

THAMES HARE AND HOUNDS CLUB HOUSE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AGM 26th November 8pm

THAMES HARE AND HOUNDS CLUB HOUSE

 

 

 

Many thanks to Pete Huzan and Alan Leakey for the last 2 events of the summer series – a loop the loop race on Wimbledon Common and a Last of the Summer Wine O in Richmond Park both well attended.  We’ve now left summer evenings behind but its street event season again kicking off with an event at the Street household on 22^nd October which reputedly has something to do with Ralph’s homework?!  Then, subject to completion of their conservatory there will be a Christmas street event at the Finches.  And, if you have forgotten what night orienteering is all about, I hope there will be a chance to remind yourself on Wimbledon Common on the Tuesday before the Southern nights. (Volunteers to plan please let me know). 

The full schedule is shown below.  As usual, unless otherwise specified, training starts at 7.15 pm for 7.30 pm at the Thames Hare and Hounds hut, Richard Evans Memorial playing fields by the Robin Hood Roundabout (see website for map).  Not as usual, we now go to the Albert Arms afterwards which is down Kingston Hill towards Kingston at the junction with Queen’s Road.  It is on the no.85 bus route (as is Thames Hare and Hounds hut) and within walking distance of Norbiton station.  Food is served until 9pm but orders can be phoned ahead.

 

15 October      Straight run

22 October      Street’s street event, 7pm 35, Halford Road, Richmond

29 October      Hill intervals, Broomfield Hill

  5 November   Straight run

12 November   Night run/orienteering pre Southern Nights. Bring headlamps.

19 November   Hill intervals, Ballet School hill

26 November   7pm Short run pre AGM

 3 December    Straight run

10 December   Hill intervals, Broomfield Hill

17 December   Xmas street event at the Finches 7pm 24, Park Farm Road, Kingston

 

That’s Tuesdays but there are still more training activities on offer: a beginners coaching day on Sunday 17^th November (joint with Guildford Orienteers, venue to be confirmed, please let me know by 8^th November if you are interested) and a coaching weekend for everybody on the weekend of 30^th November/1^st December.  Details in a separate article.

 

Keep the fitness up so you can run to keep warm in the months ahead!

Heather.

 

 

Changes of address:

The McMillan family: Silver Trees, Park Lane, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 1EJ; tel.: 01372 272276

Guy Cory-Wright: 4 Lister Street, Pt Chevalier, Auckland 1002 NEW ZEALAND; tel.: 64-9-8454106

Changes of e-mail address:    Terry Marsh:

Ginny Catmur

 

 

SLOW Team News

*** Juniors - Yvette Baker Trophy ***

Well done to the juniors at the Yvette Baker Trophy regional round in September. We came second to Southdowns. And because Southdowns did well at the final last year, we too have qualified for the final this year on Sunday 8th December at Sutton Park, Birmingham. Juniors up to M/W20 (& parents!) - please make a note of this date in your diary and let me know if you can or cannot come along. Remember that ALL standards are welcome; you run a course appropriate to your ability (between Yellow & Green). It would be great to get all or most of our juniors to this showcase event! Please let me know if you would like to travel in shared transport to the event on the Sunday morning - that could be more fun!

Our regional team was: Green - Ed Catmur; Light Green - Ralph Street, James McMillan, Michael May; Orange - Christopher Wroe, Katherine Skingsley & Greg Street; Yellow - Robert Jones, Alex Robinson, Charles McMillan. Congratulations to you all, you all scored valuable points for the club. And there were a lot of excellent runs including wins for Ed & Ralph. Well done to Katherine & Greg for getting round Orange together - fantastic!

Also if any juniors want to try night orienteering in preparation for the Peter Palmer Junior Relay next year then please get in touch. There are low-key colour-coded night events in the South-East over the winter on 9th November, 7th December, 8th February (probably), & 1st March, and maybe one more. We can arrange for an adult to go round with each junior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HELP IS NEEDED

 

OK NUTS TROPHY - SLOW BADGE EVENT   15 DECEMBER 2002

 

This is the club's premier event of the season and is being held at Hankley Common, 8 miles south-west of Guildford.  The area has over the years been used for SLOW badge events, the Harvester night relay and a Junior International competition.

 

Hankley Common is used for military training (the large open area in the centre of Hankley is used for parachute exercises) and is a mix of open heathland with scattered trees and mixed forest, all being mainly runnable, although the heather is high on some of the hillsides.  The area has some steep slopes and fine contour features. 

 

We will be using the large area of hard-standing, by the army DZ (Drop Zone) huts as the event car park, registration and the general assembly area.  The start is about 100metres from the car park and the finish is in the car park.  The String Course is adjacent to part of the car park.

 

The area has been recently remapped by the Mapworks and Chris Fry is planning the Badge courses and a limited range of colour coded courses for novices.  The event Flyer is on the SLOW web site and has been circulated at both local and regional events.  The competition should attract a good entry and for it to be a success, sufficient manpower is required for a whole range of tasks.  On the administrative side, to reduce the load on organisation and to speed up processing we have asked that entrants only request printed copies of the final details and results if they actually need them, as full information will be on the SLOW web site.

 

Most of the manpower will be needed on the day but some tasks such as map bagging/sending out final details will be done the weekend before the event and other tasks such as putting out controls and limited setting up of the assembly area will be done the day beforehand.

 

I hope that there will be sufficient volunteers for all aspects of the event to enable everyone who wants to run to be able to have an entry.  As a guide to the tasks needed to put on the event, I am looking for volunteers to be part of the following teams. 

 

 

Pre event        Bag up maps                            Download        Set up tent and systems

                        Send out details                                                Input on the day entries

Controls          Put out                                                             Download SI dibbers

                        Collect in                                                          Trouble shoot problems

Road Signs     Put out                                                             Hired SI dibber return

Collect In                                 Finish               Set up the Finish

Car Park         Entry gate                                                         Monitor Finish

            Parking cars                             Drinks             Set up Finish Drinks

Registration   Set up room in DZ huts                         Operate drinks

SI dibber hire                           Results           Set up Results Display

Course allocation                                              Display results

Payment                                                           Monitor the Finish

Start Time allocation                 String Course Prepare String map/plan

Enquiries                                                          Set up tent

Start                Set up Start lanes                                              Operate Start/Finish

                        Operate the Start                      Safety             Plan/administer search

                                                                                                 party

 

Please contact me if you can spare some time to help with this event.

 

Charlie Turner   01306 711201   

 

 

If you want to enter the OK Nuts Trophy

 

If you want to enter a Trophy/Badge course you must enter the event using either the Event Flyer form or the standard BOF form and send this to the published address.  Peter Huzan is handling entries.  Peter and I will try to accommodate your preference for an early or middle or late run, dependent upon helpers who have volunteered or have been press-ganged!

 

If you want to enter a Trophy/Badge course on the day there will be some be some limited entries but it would help our general organisation if you could pre enter.  Entry to the Colour Coded, courses (White, Yellow, Light Green and Red) will be available on the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IT'S FIXING TIME

and that means we're looking for volunteers.

 

Below are listed all SLOW's races for 2003. They all need planners and organisers, and we're looking for you to put your head above the parapet and say "I can do that". Most of them are really small and so are suitable for your first attempt, and plenty of guidance is at hand. Remember these days the organiser's job is a lot more simple because of SportIdent - all that computer stuff is taken out of the organiser's hands.

 

The larger races that would need previous experience are those at Holmwood and Hankley. All of them will need controllers too, and with the exception of those larger two will be suitable for someone inside SLOW (we have to appoint controllers from other clubs for larger races); so volunteers are needed for the controlling job too.

 

So here's the list. Please put your name down for something.

 

February 8. Senile (that's the regional night league) Wimbledon Common. Start/finish near a pub (Fox and Grapes?). Three colour-coded courses.

 

March 1. Box Hill Fell Race. Actually I'm organising that one  and will be nobbling the usual suspects for help nearer the time.

 

March 2. Holmwood Common, south of Dorking. New map. Usual range of colour-coded courses, except no Brown but a Purple and Red in Trail Challenge format (i.e. massed start).

 

April 12 (or maybe 26^th). Southern Express. The Nower, near Dorking. 2 or 3 sprint courses.

 

May 31. Also The Nower (while Moles doing the Surrey Hills Race). 3 or 4 colour-coded courses.

 

July 20. Frolic (3 or 4 colour-coded courses) - probably Wimbledon Common (but could be Richmond Park or Ham Riverside).

 

13 December. Southern Night Champs. Hankley Common.

14 December. Hankley again. Full range of colour-coded courses. These would be simpler if the same organiser and the same planner did both. Our biggest event of the year on the nicest piece of terrain.

 

I'm waiting your call

 

Andy Robinson (020-8255-7176; )

 

PS Brief job descriptions.

 

Organiser - deals with all admin (except SportIdent); recruits helpers.

Planner - the forest job. Designs the courses, prepares maps, sets out controls.

Controller. Independent overseer. Usually spends most of his/her time checking planner's work is fair, reasonable and error-free

 

 

 

*** Recent Events ***

We've also won some trophies recently! On the August bank holiday, we won the South-East Score Champs on our own Wimbledon Common. Congratulations to all who turned up, especially the 12 scorers: Charles Bromley-Gardner, Alan Leakey, Peter Huzan, Simon Evans, Sarah Brown, Caroline Catmur, Diane Leakey, Chris Robinson, Alison Kinnon, Michael May, Terry Marsh, & Dick Clark. If anyone would like to hold the lucky horseshoe trophy for a few weeks then let me know!

And we had a raiding party go up to the Harvester Night&Day Relay in September at Dipton, Northumberland - they came back with the A Handicap Trophy. Unfortunately given the distance to the event, we only got one team there, unlike for past years. And we were the only southern club present. Next year the event is much closer in Derbyshire and I hope a lot more people will be able to go. Congratulations to: Mike Murray, Richard Catmur, Chris Robinson, Ed Catmur, Andy Robinson, Caroline Catmur, & John Dowty.

You may notice that Caroline Catmur & Chris Robinson were in the winning team at both of these last events - well done!

*** Next Year ***

Current information about next year's team events follow. Remember that ALL abilities are welcome to these events - we will always try to make up teams containing people of the same standard. If you know of other events then please let me know. In addition we will have the usual North Downs Way Relay in June, and the South-East Relays.

January 19 - South-East Team Score Champs, Long Valley, Aldershot. We will need a good turnout to retain our trophy & beat the home team, Southern Navigators.

March 16 - Compass Sport Cup Regional Round

April 21 - JK Relays, Maidenhead

May 18 - British Relays, Sheffield

June 1 - Compass Sport Cup Final, Thetford, East Anglia - only if we win the regional round!

June 14 - Harvester Night & Day Relay, Matlock, Derbyshire

September 7 - Peter Palmer Junior Relay, West Midlands

Watch out for any 'Hot Pick' events that SLOW decide to focus on as a good club day out. For these events it would be good for as many people as possible to run the same course as others so we can compare routes and split times - excellent material for coaching feedback.

Peter Huzan

AGM 26th November 8pm

THAMES HARE AND HOUNDS CLUB HOUSE

 

 

 

 

Lakeland One Day

 

It was Day 4 actually, if you are at all interested.

 

Day 1. Abandoned M6 to W12 with their loving M&W65 who DON’T GET TO SEE THEM ENOUGH – my how much they’ve grown! Purchased 2 pairs of walking boots and cumfimatresses locally in Lakeland, thus easing our consciences over the effects of foot & mouth on the local economy. Hauled half a ton of gear up to Camp One at Stickle Tarn in glorious sunshine. Pitched tent and hung out M40 sweaty shirt to dry like a sun-ripened tomato. Selected Jacks Rake and Harrison Stickle from Scrambles in the Lake District and completed both without calling on few remaining unused nine lives. Watched sunset over Langdale from our patio, M40 shirt dry but not tasting like a sun-ripened tomato.

 

Day 2. Hauled half a ton of gear down from Camp One to the valley in glorious sunshine. Purchased cooked brekka and hung M40 sweaty shirt to dry like a sun-ripened peach. Selected Bowfell, Crinkle Crags and Pike o’ Blisco from The Southern Fells and completed all three, although W40 ran out of gas on the way down P o’ B and conversation flagged. Secured quarters at the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, despite M40 shirt not tasting like a sun-ripened peach.

 

Day 3. Hauled half a ton of gear up to Camp Two at Levers Water under hazy skies. Pitched tent and hung sweaty M40 shirt out to dry hoping that it would work. Selected Great Carrs from Scrambles in the Lake District and chickened out of the steepest pitch, thus still holding onto few remaining unused nine lives. Ambled back over Swirl How, Brim Fell and Coniston Old Man. Watched dusk gather over Coniston from our patio, M40 shirt had not dehumidified as hoped.

 

Day 4. Hauled half a ton of gear down from Camp Two in mist above 1000 feet. Sealed M40 sweaty shirt in a plastic bag. Purchased cooked brekka. Refer to title of article. Secured quarters at the Bridge House Hotel in Grasmere, wahey!

 

Day 5. W40 suggested a 2-hour fell run. M40 selected Nab Scar, Heron Pike ,Great Rigg, Fairfield, Hart Crag, Dove Crag, High Pike and Low Pike from The Eastern Fells. Purchased three-hour parking ticket in Ambleside and put on brand new M40 Helly Hansen. Completed the first six within the estimated time. Seven-minute last mile just avoided a parking fine, but not a justifiable complaint from W40, or unpleasant dampness of the brand new M40 Helly Hansen, characteristic of older garments often worn by members of Mole Valley. Purchased placatory ice-creams, witnessed by J. Chapman. Tricked M6 to W12 into leaving their loving M&W65 – my how much they’ve grown!

 

                                                                                                      Andy Jones

 

 

 

 

 

  The Harvester Night Relays:

SLOW triumphant but a little disappointed.

 

 

Peter Huzan only managed to put together a single Handicap team for this year’s Harvester (although one or two other “volunteers” had to be left behind).

 

He described the team, of 3 Catmurs, 2 Robinsons, Mike Murray and John Dowty, as “having a good chance” and we didn’t disappoint him, returning south with one of the famous Combine Harvester trophies.

 

However other circumstances of the event were rather more disappointing.

 

The location, just south of Hadrian’s Wall near Newcastle was probably the main reason for there being only 17 teams in the “A” race, of which only three were in the Handicap section. Indeed SLOW were the only team from south of Birmingham.

 

The strangely late start time for the seven-leg relay of 2am meant that, for the handicap teams, all the legs after the third were in daylight. And in order to keep to a reasonable finish time all the legs after the second were sent off in mini-mass-starts, which destroyed all sense of a head-to-head relay. Even so the Handicap “prize giving” was performed in an almost empty finish area, witnessed only by some bemused people who had arrived for the daytime colour-coded event!

 

The Handicap race itself was not uneventful however, with the lead alternating for the first four legs between SLOW and SROC, despite Mike taking an unexpected ducking in an unmarked pond on the first leg!

 

After Ed’s run on the fourth leg we were just 25 seconds down (although this could only be ascertained by looking at the posted results). But then SLOW’s strength-in-depth revealed itself, and after Caroline and Andy had run the next two legs we were 32 minutes clear. This lead could have been crucial for what followed, as nobody had remembered to brief John, who had arrived around dawn to run our final leg, that he had a map exchange after three quarters of his course. As a result he stormed round his first map and then “finished”, downloaded and collected his splits. He then discovered a number of mysterious “miss-punches” and was informed that he still had the second map to go! As it was e-punching nobody could think of a good reason why he couldn’t just continue with the second map, and we finally finished with a very convincing lead of just over one hour!

 

Richard Catmur

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EVENT INFORMATION

You are strongly urged to confirm these events using the following answerphone services. The SEOA website has links to SE clubs and other regions.

 SEOA (020-8948-6056): http://homepage.ntlworld.com/simon.errington/seoa/seoa.htm

(SCOA (0118-946-4354)           (Army (01256-883265)               (SO (01903-239186)

(SAX (01303-813344)                (MV (01372-279295)

DATE       CLUB       TYPE                    PLACE                         GR             Org./Contact

13.10.02	TVOC	CC	HIGH WYCOMBE		Richard Cummings 012357 68692
27.10.02	HH	CC	WELWYN GARDEN CTY	TL235133
27.10.02	WAOC	CC	ROWNEY WARREN, SHEFFORD		Mike Capper 01733 235202
27.10.02	BKO	CC	BUCKLEBURY FARM PARK	SU552702	Liz Turbin 0118 9345412
02.11.02	HH	SAT. Series	RUISLIP WOODS	TQ080896
03.11.02 enter by 19.10.02	SOC	BADGE Nov. Classic	DENNY WOOD NEW FOREST	SU334068	01264 358931
9-11-02	SN	SENiLe	Mychett	SU 894549	01483 474728
9-11-02	SN	SN Jun League	Mychett	SU 894549	01483 474728
10-Nov-02	GO	CC	Hascombe		01428 713935
10-Nov-02	CHIG	CC	Epping NW	TQ 412981	01279 506003
17-Nov-02	SO	CC	The Hyde, Crawley	TQ 245302	01293 511288
24-Nov-02 enter by 11.11.02	SN	Badge	Frith & Old Windmill Hill	SU 905580	01276 24079
01-Dec-02	DFOK	CC	Westerham	TQ 455515	0208 8580489
07-Dec-02	HH		Hatfield, Millwards Pk	TL 239059	020 8723 0134
07-Dec-02	SN	SN Jun League	Ash South	SU 914516	01483 474728
07-Dec-02	MV	SENiLe	S Ashdown
08-Dec-02	MV	CC / SE Vets	S Ashdown
15-12-02 enter by 25.11.02	SLOW	Badge OK Nuts	Hankley	SU 887411	01306 711201

 

AGM 26th November 8pm

THAMES HARE AND HOUNDS CLUB HOUSE