SLOWprint 148

June 2004

 

 

http://sloweb.org.uk/

 

 

 

Chair: Chris Robinson, + :	Secretary: Don McKerrow, +70   :	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; VACANT
Membership Secretary: Ginny Catmur, + :	Beginners’ Rep. and Training Officer:   :	Equipment Officer: Chris Fry, + :
Archivist: Sue Lumas, +	SLOWprint Editor: Sarah Brown, + :	Webmaster: Andrew Trimble, + :

 

Copy date for Issue 148 will be September 04. 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,  PLEASE  READ about our  Hot Picks page 5 - a chance to meet other members and socialise after events

            … 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.

 

********************************************************

Come to the Coaching Day

September 5th

Wimbledon Common 10am

 

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South London Orienteers really are Wonderful.  Read on to find out why:

 

·Summer evening events programme is well underway and proving popular.  SLOW organised the first one in Beddington Park on behalf of Mole Valley who were too busy organising the Harvester to do it themselves.  See page 5 for details.

 

·        Our final monthly club nights/street Os was organised by Don McKerrow' at his squash club.  Overall series winners were Rachael Holmes for the women and Alan Leakey for the men.

 

·        Congratulations to all those who won prizes at British and Harvester Relays.  Well done Peter for organising the teams.

 

·        Trail Challenge: first of this year's series was in Richmond Park on 25 May.  Word about this series is spreading: numbers were well up on last year: 68 competitors, 65% of whom were non-orienteers.  Fast and furious running and great fun.

 

·        Stragglers Go Orienteering:  Andy R organised orienteering for the Stragglers running club, from the Hawker Centre on 17 June.  Over 80 people took part, most getting their first experience of orienteering and they all seemed to enjoy it immensely.

 

·        Surrey Hills Races on 6 June had its usual great weather and performances.  Thanks to Jeremy Denny for organising this for the last few years.  A new organiser is needed for next year - main jobs are to arrange parking etc at the school and a publicity programme.  Turnout was slightly better this year, but this event requires a major publicity push.

 

·        Coaching day on Puttenham on 9 May, organised in collaboration with Guildford, had a big turn out.   Next coaching day: 5 September, Wimbledon Common ie just before the Peter Palmer Relay.

 

·        Development work - 10 introductory sessions held in Battersea Park for Salesian College; two sessions held in Richmond Park for Tiffin School 6^th formers; the Southfields College map has been revised and extended.

 

·        We now have permission for orienteering in Bushy Park, following a meeting with the Head Ranger.  We plan to hold a Trail Challenge race there next year and to organise introductory sessions for schools.  It is also a good area for summer evening events.  Mapping will begin in September.

 

·        Club fleeces have arrived and very smart they look too.  A must have for those chilly evenings at the Welsh 6-Day!!!  Contact Simon Evans to get yours.

 

·        World Cup 2005: Alan Leakey and I have been appointed respectively as Event Manager and Event Development Officer.  Expect to hear a lot about this from us over the next year!  Dates are 30 April-8 May 2005.  See page  7

 

·        Webmaster Andrew T has woven his web magic and now if you type London orienteering into Google, SLOW appears in 6^th position. Typing Orienteering London finds us in 13^th position. Much better, but how do we make it to No. 1?  Any suggestions for improvement welcome.  Contact

 

·        Jim Reader, the Wimbledon Common ranger who has been our contact and friend for many years, is retiring.  We will be presenting him with a framed map of Wimbledon Common.

 

Coming up:

·        Frolic on Sheen Common 11 July incorporating SLOW Club Sprint Race championships, followed by socialising in the Victoria.

                             The Victoria website is : http://www.thevictoria.net/

·        SLOW BBQ end of August Bank Holiday Sunday 29th chez McMillan.

                             Please phone Caroline and Andrew as they need to know numbers. BBQ from 12 noon, probably a chance for a run in local woods, details on web page nearer the time.  McMillan’s tel: 01372 272276

·        Coaching weekend provisionally planned for 5/6 March 2005 on sand dunes in preparation for British on Penhale.

·        World Cup 30 April-8 May 2005 - book the week off now.  Opportunities to participate and officiate all week, rubbing shoulders with the world's elite orienteers.  It will be fantastic.

 

Chris Robinson

Chair

 

Ralph Street has been selected for the summer tour to Lagganlia for 2nd year M14’s. He was given £50 by the SEOA to help with Lagganlia expenses

 

 

                        .

 

 

SLOW can offer transport from south west London.  For this we suggest start times from 11.00-12.00 for Sunday events.  If possible, we will have the Club tent for changing, coaching – or whatever.  We aim to meet afterwards for a drink at a nearby pub.  See us at the event (in the club tent if it’s there) to find out where we’re going.

 

Summer Tuesday Evening Orienteering in South and West London

A series of informal events is taking place on Tuesday evenings at different areas in south and west London.  These are organised by SLOW, Mole Valley and Croyden O Clubs with different types of course at each including Score, Trail Challenge, Sprint and Medium race etc.  For details of all these events see sloweb.org.uk/summer04/Summer04.htm 

 

11th July         SLOW Club Sprint Champs and Frolic, Richmond Park/ Sheen Common

Light Green and Sprint Courses.  All EOD.  sloweb.org.uk     See page 4 for pub

 

18^th – 19^th Sep            Caddihoe Chase @ Longleat, Warminster

Day 1: Regional Event. Day 2: Chasing Start.      www.sarumO.co.uk        CD: 06/09/04 

 

3^rd October     SLOW Trail Challenge at Ham Riverside and Richmond Park       sloweb.org.uk

 

17^th October               Yvette Baker Trophy and Colour-Coded Event, Bagshot

 

7^th November Venice International Street-Orienteering Event

Contact Pete Huzan for more details. www.orivenezia.it

 

 

2004 Frolics

The summer season of Frolics is starting soon.  At these, everyone runs the same course (light green) and then times are adjusted based on age, sex and badge standard to give a handicap result.  The best six runners from the club count towards a club score.  The best four club scores over the five frolics events in 2004 count toward the FROLICS London Bus Trophy!  Here are the 2004 Frolic Series Events:

1.          27^th June         Epping SW/ Pole Hill                            www.orienteering-havoc.co.uk

2.         4^th July                        Trent Park                                            www.londonorienteering.co.uk

3.         11^th July           Richmond Park/ Sheen Common sloweb.org.uk

4.         18^th July           Keston Ponds                                        www.dfok.co.uk

5.         25^th July          Norbury Park                                        www.mvoc.org.uk

 

To arrange transport, contact Ginny Catmur   020 8398 8190

CD = closing date, often possible to get late entry.  EOD = entry on the day available.

We have had another coaching day since the last SLOWPRINT, this time on Puttenhan Common.  Many thanks to Pete Nicholls from Guildford Orienteers for planning the exercises.  Thanks also to all the more experienced orienteers who came along to coach.  We had a very good turn out of both juniors and adult beginners such as Richard Harpin (a reappearance from a previous coaching weekend in the New Forest), Paul Brooks and Justin Morrison.    There was some creative coaching from Nicky King, persuading Chris Wroe to carry a bunch of bracken in one hand to ensure he tried having the compass with the map in the other hand!  The results of the marathon team relay were unclear but Greg got lots of close controls.

 

Our next coaching day will be on Sunday 5^th September on the southern end of Wimbledon Common.  This is the weekend before the Peter Palmer junior relay for which we hope to have a team (see Captain’s report).

 

Although the orienteering fixtures are a bit quieter over the summer, the Frolics series (a series of events around London in July) is good for beginners.  Simple courses are available in reasonably close locations particularly Sheen Common on 11^th July.  It’s also the club’s sprint course championships so there will be experienced club members around to talk to you.  If you are a runner or beginner, Trail Challenges are good events (see page 5).

 

There was a good group of juniors at the JK in the Lake District.  This was very challenging and you should all be proud of yourselves.  Running in this type of terrain when you are young is good experience for the future.  Robert Jones, Thomas Jones (his first relay!) and James Haynes were third in the mini relay and James McMillan, Matthew Haynes (also his first relay) and Ralph Street were 6^th on M/W40- only a minute off third.

 

Congratulations to Ralph Street who has been selected for Lagganlia – a week in Scotland being coached with other top M/W14s as attended by James McMillan last year.  Ralph was 7^th on M14A at the JK and 3^rd at the National Event in the Forest of Dean achieving a Championship badge time.  James McMillan also achieved a Championship time at the Forest of Dean and just beat Ralph on the Blue course at Frith Hill beating several SLOW adults in the process.  Ralph beat all the SLOW adults on the orange course at the SE Relays including his mother!

 

Chris Wroe has been to his first JK and competed in the main M18 course in the short race at the Forest of Dean.  Michael May sprained his ankle at the JK but came back at the British relays with a legtime close to Ralph and James and held his own in the adult teams at the SE relays.  Charles McMillan and Greg Street both did well, along with Ralph to win the junior class at the SE relays.  Robert Jones came back in 3^rd place in the first leg of the mini relay at the British and James Haynes came back in 3^rd place at the JK mini relay. 

 

Good to see Matthew Haynes and Matthew Jones out on M10B and doing relays for the first time.  Matthew Jones was 4^th on M10B at the National Event in the Forest of Dean.  Thomas Jones has also been out on M10B, had a good run at the JK relays bringing the team up to 3^rd and won the White course at Frith Hill.  We also had good SLOW representation on the Yellow course - Holly Clemens won, Matthew Jones was 4^th and Nicola Hanson was 14^th. 

 

Looking further ahead, I am hatching a plan for a technical sand dune training weekend in South Wales (hopefully Pembrey and/or Broughton Burrows) on the weekend of 5^th/6^th March.  The British Championships are on a sand dune area (Penhale Sands) next year so we will all need the practice!

 

Happy summer orienteering,

 

Heather.

 

 

WORLD CUP 2005

 

The World Cup is coming to a forest near you! 

The South East is hosting the 1^st round of the 2005 Orienteering  World

Cup  from 30 April-8 May 2005.  This means 9 days of opportunity

 to see and participate against the very best orienteers in the world.

 

GB has hosted World Cup and World Championship races before - but in Scotland or the Lake District.  The IOF has awarded the World Cup to the South East of England specifically to bring orienteering closer to a larger population and also to the media.  For this reason Battersea Park has purposefully been chosen as the venue for the Sprint Final.

 

There will be 7 World Cup races, accompanied each day by races on the World Cup areas for the public.  The draft programme looks like this:

 

Date	World Cup Races	Venue	Public Races
Sat 30 Apr	Sprint Qualifier + Opening Ceremony	University of Surrey, Guildford	Sprint Race   + Future Champions Cup Medium Final
Sun 1 May	Long Qualifier	Mytchett, Frith, Old Windmill Hill	Regional Event   + Future Champions Cup Long Final
Mon 2 May	Sprint Final	Battersea Park	Young O Festival  + Sprint Race
Tue 3 May	Rest	-	Mountain bike O, venue tbc
Wed 4 May	Medium Qualifier	Leith Hill	Medium Race
Thu 5 May	Medium Final	Leith Hill	Medium Race
Fri 6 May	Rest	-	OUOC Sprint, Oxford
Sat 7 May	Long Final	Winterfold	National Event  + Trail Challenge
Sun 8 May	Relays	Long Valley	Sprint Race

 

A Scottish 6-Day type scoring system will be used for the Public Races, with age class winners presented with their prizes at the along with the World Cup Relay Medal Ceremony.

 

The World Cup offers fantastic opportunities to raise orienteering awareness and increase participation in our sport.  I have been appointed as Development Officer, working 1.5 days per week from now until May 2005, to make sure this happens.  This will involve me and others working with young people to develop their orienteering skills leading up to the World Cup; they will take part in local town festivals and the best from each town will be selected to compete in a Young Orienteers Festival, to be held at the World Cup Sprint Final.

 

SLOW is making a big commitment to this event: in addition to my job as Development Officer, Alan Leakey has been appointed as Event Manager and  Andy Jones, Diane Leakey, Andy Robinson and David May are all playing leading roles.

So book the week off now; offer your help as an official and prepare to see how well you can do against the best in the world.

 

Christine Robinson    World Cup 2005 Development Officer and Chair of SLOW

www.wcup2005.org.uk

April - JK Relays, Lake District
---------------------------------------------

Seventy South London orienteers made the long trip to the contoured lands of the Lake District for the annual JK International Festival of Orienteering. The format is a training day, two individual days (with times added together), & finishing with a relay day.

On the individual days, there were very good performances from: Rachael Holmes (W21L 2nd), Diane Leakey (W45 1st on day 1), Monika Bonafini (W50 2nd), Sarah Brown (W50 3rd), Jackie Chapman (W45S 3rd), Ralph Street (M14 7th, 3rd GB), John Dowty (M45 4th on day 2), David May (M55 2nd), Mike Murray (M60 3rd).

The relays were well organised & SLOW had a front row view of the action. The forest seemed a lot faster than the other days as we cheered on our 17 teams. This included some running a relay for the first time, & some running a relay for SLOW for the first time. Particular highlights include: 3rd in the Mini Relay (Robert J, Thomas J, James H) 6th in MW40- (James McM, Matthew H, Ralph S) 7th in Women's Premier (Anja Stratford, Caroline Catmur, Rachael Holmes) 3rd in W120+ (Monika Bonafini, Sarah Brown, Diane Leakey) 5th in M120+ (Peter Haynes, Andy Jones, John Dowty) 1st in M165+ (Alan
Leakey, David May, Mike Murray). Also Ed Catmur came 11th on 1st leg of Men's Premier (2.5 minutes off the lead); the team finished 28th.

This was one of the best events this year, and was an inspiration for the rest of the season.

 

May - British Relays, Forest of Dean
---------------------------------------------

We had 14 teams competing at the British Relay Championships in the Forest of Dean last bank holiday Monday. And came away with two 1sts, two 2nds, one 3rd, & four other top ten positions.

Firstly, we had teams in both the Men's & Women's Premier Class. Both teams gained UK cup points, & the women are doing particularly well at the moment. The men (Charlie W, Mal L, Simon E) came 18th - Charlie was up with the lead pack for about 20 minutes on his first ever first leg. Simon had a good run on last leg. The women (Rachael
H, Nicky K, Anja S) came 9th - Rachael was 2nd on the first leg!

Our veterans always have a good chance of podium positions at the British Championships partly because there are so many classes. The number of classes may get reduced in the future.

The W40 team (Karen J, Jackie C, Christine R) got a silver medal. The W45 team (Kathy H, Sarah B, Diane L) won yet again - with extremely fast runs from Sarah & Diane; Kathy has been running well all year & now has a relay trophy to put on the mantelpiece.

The M45 team (Peter Ha, Andy J, John D) came 3rd. John had a great run on last leg to get in the places but we ended up 5 minutes behind Guildford followed by Hertfordshire.

 The M50 team (Paul S, Charlie T, Andy R) put in a very solid performance to come 2nd, just 3 minutes behind Thames Valley who had the youthful Neville Baker on last leg. Our 2nd M50 team (Don M, Alan L, Jim M) came a good 6th & were in 3rd place after 2 legs before other clubs' 1st teams hauled them in.

The last veteran's performance was in MW55 (David M, Teresa T, Mike M) where we came 1st by 15 seconds. This was an excellent team performance in a very competitive class. Mike was amazing on last leg & looked as though he was trying very hard on the run-in! Especially well done to Teresa running with two of our most in-form men.

The junior classes were harder than at the JK, especially the yellow which was gaffled (ie had variations) as well. Everyone successfully finished their course & our younger juniors have gained a lot more relay experience that will be good to build on next year.

Our Junior Ad Hoc teams came 4th & 7th, with especially good runs from Ralph S, James M & Michael M. Our Mini Relay team came 11th, with a great run from Robert J on 1st leg coming back in 3rd place. The Short & Ad Hoc classes had the most teams! Our Ad Hoc team came 13th including a good run from Chris W.

In the seniors, the Women's Short team was 7th. Heather M was in the team & brought the team back 1st after 2 legs. Sarah C  wasn't overawed by this & brought the team back in a very respectable position. The Men's Short team came a solid 22nd.

Overall the weekend was very enjoyable. The new SLOW red fleeces made their first appearance (thanks Simon), & many of us stayed in 'luxury' group accommodation very conveniently located for all the weekend's events. We had carbo-loading feasts in the evenings, & were able to use up any excess energy playing table tennis, and table football. That was one part I was able to take a more active part in & allowed myself & Don to show Charlie & Simon how to play the beautiful game - roll on the re-match.

May - Harvester Relays, Pippingford Park, Sussex
------------------------------------------------

The Harvester relays were near Ashdown Forest this year & it was good to see that SLOW had quite a few teams. These relays are more team-focused than the other orienteering relays during the year - there is no individual race, & you are in a team of seven or five, with half the people running in the dark. Fortunately no-one mispunched! The event was very well organised by Mole Valley including having several radio controls, a spectator control &
great weather.

Our age-handicapped teams were looking to get into the prizes this year and they all came away with tall shot glasses to savour the event. Our first team back was the B Handicap. In fact they won the B course overall with Charlie T just managing to hold off the other teams on last leg.

Our Women's Handicap team were second women's team overall, but given a team could win only one prize, our team picked up the Women's Handicap Trophy & more valuable UK relay league points. SLOW's women have done really well in the league this year.

Our final team on the B course was a team out to enjoy themselves & totally succeeded. Well done to Sarah C & Dick for getting round in the dark, & Tony C & Gordon brought the team home in the daylight
Our A Handicap team had some serious competition in the handicap class from Bristol, the Army & Southdowns. Eventually Bristol pulled away & we ended up 3rd, 25 minutes behind (8th overall).

Our youthful A Open team (Mike G, Gavin, Simon E, Mark V-R, Phil, Paul N, Charlie W) all performed very respectably & ended up 13th.

Thank you to the Catmurs & Chris Fry for lending spare headtorches - I'm sure they were well appreciated by those using them. I only once had to get up in the middle of the night during the week to swap batteries while recharging! Thanks to all of you for making things reasonably straightforward on the weekend by camping early or letting me know when you
were going to arrive. Next year the relays are near York on 4th June - I hope this year has generated a lot of enthusiasm so that we will have some teams going up (by coach?) next year.

May - South-East Relays, Wimbledon Common
-----------------------------------------
These were very ably staged by CROC on our very own Wimbledon Common. The memorial on the playing fields was a good setting for the handover & spectator control & the weather was good for the whole day. The relay prizegiving was preceded by the individual south-east galoppen presentation, where several SLOW members got certificates for their performances at local age group events last year.
There were only two teams in the junior relay. Charles, Greg & Ralph managed to get round well to win, especially given that the orange course was quite tough.
The rest of the SLOW teams battled it out on the Handicap course, which had the most teams. A Handicap team has three members, running blue, green & orange; each age class has a points value & the combined points value must be below a certain maximum. This gave the team captain lots of fun trying to work out the best combination, especially when he realised someone would not be there with 20 minutes to go before the start. Southdowns won, with
SLOW teams taking 2nd (Andy J, Sarah B, Mark V), 3rd (Simon E, Karen J, Paul St), 6th &13th & 16th places. The top 3 teams were within 3 minutes of each other. It was especially nice to see Jenny C & Justin M running their first relays for the club.

It has been a great year for team competitions. The events have all been well organised, there have been lots of SLOW successes, & we have managed to get out lots of teams of all standards who have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There were several people who made their SLOW debuts, including several juniors. It has been especially pleasing to have representation in the UK Relay League, including some great performances by the women's squad. Let's build on all this next season.
One disappointment was that we came second again to Southdowns in the Compass Sport Cup. We were very close this year. It will be good if all the very potential scorers try as hard as possible to get to this competition next year. The main consolation was that we did not have to travel to the final in the middle of a very busy May.

Other things I have enjoyed have been the new club fleeces (!), the training weekend in the Lake District, the junior/beginner training days, & the club accommodation we arranged for the British Relays weekend. Things like this help turn a set of individuals into a real team. We shall try to continue with these things in the future, so please help out with club activities
wherever possible to spread the admin load. Also look out for more Tuesday evening training events & the future Hot Picks events.

Two Junior Competitions in the Autumn (Pete Huzan)
----------------------------------------------
(The club will pay for all the junior entry fees for these events.)

First up is the Peter Palmer Relay on Sunday 12th September at Sutton Park, near Birmingham. Teams of 6 juniors compete in a relay that starts before dawn. Only the first leg is run in darkness, then dawn breaks. The 6 legs are: Red, Red, Yellow, Orange, Light Green, Green. Teams arrive at the Event Centre on the previous evening, can compete in a friendly 5-a-side football competition, go out for a meal nearby, then sleep over in provided accommodation before getting up for breakfast & the start. This is a great social & competitive occasion. We need at least two boys & two girls (age range M/W12-M/W18) in the team of 6. Also we can run up to three people on the yellow course! There may also be a training event on the Saturday. So please contact me asap (& definitely by 13th July) about your availability for the relay (especially for the girls)!

Second is the Yvette Baker Trophy. This is for *ALL* juniors (very youngest to M/W20) of *ALL* standards from Yellow through to Green.You run a course appropriate to your ability (based on gold standard) rather than your age. Last year we did amazingly well to come 5th in the National Final. To get there again, we need a full turnout of our juniors on Sunday 17th October at Bagshot Heath. So please I'd like EVERY SINGLE ONE of our juniors to be there - the rest of your team will be so glad! (The final is on 5th December at Cannock Chase.) 

 

Peter Huzan

 

We’ll start this time with what’s happening over the next few months and the appeal for officials to make them happen.

 

11 July. “Frolic” and sprint race. Sheen Common. As its only a week or so away this one is all sorted. Nigel Saker is the organiser; Andy Jones planning, Gavin Andrews - SportIdent.

 

3 October. Long distance Trail Challenge (also a couple of colour-coded courses). Starting from the Hawker Centre and also using Richmond Park. A planner is needed (and an SI supremo). I’ll do the organising.

 

12 December. Loop races. Hankley Common. Nicky King is planning, but an organiser is needed. Gordon Parker is doing the SI again - having finally got the ranking points sussed for last December’s loop races!!

 

22 January. Box Hill Fell Race.

 

29 January. South-East Night League at a venue yet to be thought of. All officials needed.

 

13 February.  Score event Holmwood Common. . All officials needed.

 

Next bit – what’s been going on recently.

3 April saw our contribution to the Southern Express series. Di Leakey organised and Mike Garvin planned. Gavin tried out a new low maintenance way of running the SportIdent and it seemed to work fine. In fact everything else went pretty well too.

 

On 6 June we staged the annual Surrey Hill Races. Jeremy Denny was once again the organiser, while Gordon looked after the SportIdent. Yet again the main disappointment was a shortage of entrants. The long course seems to maintain a regular number of devotees, but in recent years it’s been the middle course where numbers have really dropped. So we think the race format is right, and just have to keep plugging away at getting it the best publicity.

 

After several years Jeremy is now standing down as the regular organiser, and a replacement is needed. Ideally we would like someone who would do this for a number of years. Each year it involves booking a school for parking, liasing with landowners and registering the races. In even number years when we provide the manpower it also involves recruiting helpers. And finding some nice prizes is another job. So not too onerous then  - said he wistfully.

 

….and finally a World Cup update.

Remember this it all happens from 30 April to 8 May next year. We’ve just had the carve-up is doing what when, and as expected SLOW’0s main day is the sprint race final at Battersea Park on the bank holiday Monday May 2^nd, when yours truly is race director. So book that date in your diaries  - we’ll be aiming to make it a spectacular and fun day.

 

But what’s also needed is people who can help all week. So consider taking the week off work and getting really involved; it should be a really rewarding experience as you’d be put on one of the specialist teams. All offers in this respect should go to Alan Leakey. So far both Ann-Marie Kjos and Stephan Rudolf (remember them?) are planning on flying in for the week. It should be fun.                                                                   Andy Robinson

 

North Downs Way 2004

Saturday 19^th June, 05:00 at Dover saw Andy Robinson set off to lead the SLOW team in this annual event. This year we engaged the interest of some our younger and faster runners and so it came to pass after the first two legs, newcomers Simon Evans and Andy Hodgson both won their legs and put SLOW into first place, a position we only then relinquished once thereafter.

 

There were some fine performances throughout the day. Charlie Whetham had a blistering run to beat the previous record by nearly a minute, and Mike Farmery also put in a fast run on leg 14.  Good runs by Angelika and Rachael consolidated our lead through the day; in fact the ladies were well represented with four in our team whereas the minimum required is two.

 

A good number of us met afterwards in The Good Intent. The food and beer was well appreciated.

 

There has been some comment that this event is organised in a rather closet way, but this is not intentional. In the past we have fielded not one, but three teams and next year I’ll strive for more publicity to involve all of members. Likely date is June 18^th, possibly 25^th.

 

My thanks to all the team, especially those who stood in at the last moment. Congratulations to all for a convincing win. Finally thanks once again to Andy Robinson for his invaluable help throughout the day, and for the production of the definitive results.

  

 

 

    

You will get the best and latest details of all events primarily from  websites. These can be accessed individually or centrally by going through the BOF website and then looking at individual clubs. Events listed here are merely a skeleton sample and you are strongly urged to confirm these events using the following websites and 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)

WEB sites:

Army www.baoc.org.uk                  SO www.southdowns-orienteering.org.uk

SAX www.saxons-oc.org               MV www.mv.org

DFOK www.dfok.co.uk                CROC www.croydon-orienteering.co.uk

CHIG www.chig.org.uk                GO www.go-pages.fsnet.co.uk

SN www.geocities.com/southern nav