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Next weekend is another Seekend 
The OD charity event on Saturday is followed by Chasers’ maze event, and then on Sunday there’s a normal event on Cannock Chase.
Saturday 3rd: Tony Haw Charity Score event, Polesworth (OD)
and Maize Maze Challenge, Burton (WCH)
Sunday 4th: Cannock Chase event, Rugeley (WCH)
Saturday 10th: Leicester (LEI)
and Welsh Championships, Wentwood (SWOC)
and British Schools Score Championships, Chelmsford (SOS)
Sunday 11th: Chester City Race (DEE)
and Welsh Championships, Ystrad Mynach (SWOC)
Saturday 17th: Newcastle (POTOC)
and Cambridge City Race (CUOC)
SUNDAY 18th: COMPASS SPORT CUP FINAL, CORBY (LEI)
Tuesday 20th: Ratby (LEI)
Saturday 24th: Solihull (OD)
Sunday 25th: League event, Hereford (HOC)
Saturday 31st: Oxford City Race (OUOC)
Sunday 1st November: League event, Cannock Chase (WCH)
Of course it’s quite handy that Catherine’s school is so close, but from the training point of view it might be better if it was further away – it only takes me four minutes to jog there. (It’s 1k, btw)
Yesterday morning I was up at 4.30 am to go and help out at the Peter Palmer Junior Relays in Sutton Park. I couldn’t find my headlight or a decent torch** so I had some fun/trouble navigating from the Start to a suitable area to patrol, but eventually I plonked myself down on a log by control 77 for a while and had a pleasant time deep in the dark, peaceful wood watching headlamps come and go. As I said to Gerry, it was like watching the Tiomila on my PC. The only thing missing were the split times on the bottom of the screen.
In fact, it would’ve been great if there had been a camera at that spot, transmitting live pictures back to the arena (and to people at home). I imagine that these days the technology to do it isn’t so expensive, but what do I know…
Congratulations to the planners and to Gerry, COBOC, and the helpers from OD, HOC and elsewhere for a great event. The weather also helped, of course. There were 33 teams and the results show that the lead changed hands several times before OD eventually emerged victorious.
**I did have something with me that was surprisingly effective, once I’d realised. What was it? (Correct, Mrs H
1. Simon Errington’s blogged nicely about our plinthing efforts. In the end it all came and went so fast; I managed to forget most of Roger’s tips but I still had a great time. The sun shone, and I felt fine. I nearly tripped a couple of times on the stakes though, which I had to lay vertical (and all the bending down and leaning out over the edge gave me aching legs for the City Race next day). Thanks to everyone who helped beforehand and on the day.
2. It was a bit manic chez Bailey when I got home – the Himley event was just a few hours away. Come the morning, the sun shone again, the courses were good (even if I say so myself) and it was a pity that there were so few people there. I’m beginning to think that the Black Country is more like a Black Hole… My publicising efforts seem largely to be a waste of time, and I think I’ll go back to taking a back seat and/or organising things bog-standardly.
3. Yet another sunny day on Sunday for OD’s league event at Oakley Wood, with its mysterious “fort”. I thought I ran well, with only a couple of mistakes, and was disappointed to be so far down the results. I think the truth is that I haven’t got my speed (such as it was) back from before my injury. Also, of course, in most of the events I’ve been entering lately he average ability of the competitors has been quite high, making me look (even) worse!
Warwick Council bought Oakley Wood last year and is now consulting about its future.
It’ll be a kind of orienteering relay. There’ll be six “controls” on the plinth and six in the Square. I’ll do a course on the plinth, then a group of orienteers and members of the public will do the same course on the ground. Then I’ll do the next course on the plinth, and so on… The courses will spell out letters of the alphabet, and after the hour we’ll be able to use Routegadget and GPS tracking to see what we’ve been spelling out (if you can’t guess). I wonder how many letters we’ll get through? It rather depends on how fast you guys are round the Square. (I might end up doing my courses on my hands and knees but even so they should only take one minute each.) In the bits where I’m not “racing”, people in the Square can ring me on my mobile and see if they’re any good at following directions…
RUNNING IN THE AIR
I blame Twitter. I don’t think I’d heard of One & Other until one of my Facebook friends, Ben Norwood (aka mittfh), started tweeting regularly about what was going on on the plinth. Turns out artist Anthony Gormley had had the bright idea of getting the fourth, empty plinth in Trafalgar Square occupied by a different person every hour for one hundred days. And each person could do what they liked up there, within reason. Okay, fair enough, but what’s that got to do with me? Well, nothing at all to begin with; I’m no good at heights, and how could I compete with Thriller??
But then it struck me: I could use the time to promote the sport I love, orienteering. I’d have to think of an arty way to do it, but, never mind, I emailed in my application. I had a sneaky feeling that I’d be successful, even though there must be something like ten applicants for every place, but when the draw was made for September I wasn’t on the list. But then while we were away in Hungary the email came: someone had dropped out, and I was in!
You have to choose three words to describe yourself, and, being a paid-up member of the awkward squad, I chose the phrase “The unholy trinity”. This is a reference to
my being a son, husband and father (Sorry, brother, I’ve missed you out. What comes next after “trinity”?) and to my (lack of) beliefs. But apart from that I’d already made a decision to leave politics and philosophy out of my “performance”. Just as well, my appearance is on September 11th, the infamous 9/11, and I think it wise to steer well clear. I dare say some of the other “plinthers” on Friday will take a different view.
Anyway, with the help of the British Orienteering Association and several of its members in London (thanks Helen!), I’ve found a way of (sort of) turning orienteering into an artform, and anyone who’s in the Square on Friday afternoon will also be able to join in. They can also take part, like I am, in the City of London race the next morning, though doing so is leaving me a real headache: I’m organising the Black Country Championships at Himley Hall, near Dudley, on Sunday morning, so it’s not the best time to be out of town for two days!
Turns out I’m not the only orienteer to get an hour up there: Roger Williams from down Milton Keynes way orchestrated some night orienteering when he was a plinther a couple of weeks ago but I have the benefit of daylight! I hope it isn’t too windy…
If you can, tune in on Friday at oneandother.co.uk, and join me at Himley on Sunday, where you can watch the experts in action and have a go yourself.
The summer’s over and a new race season has begun. Yesterday it was the regional relay championships on the Long Mynd. For various reasons the turnout was a bit low, but Wrekin put on an excellent event in a beautiful area. Results
Himley and Baggeridge are nextdoor to one another so I thought it’d be a good idea to have an event with two races, a sprint around the parkland and woods of Himley Hall followed by a normal (or “Middle”) race around Baggeridge Country Park. Thus next weekend’s Black Country Championships were born. It’s clearly a bit more complicated to organise than a single competition, but in effect it’s only about an hour longer than a normal event would be. The Sprint starts are between 10 and 11, and the Middle ones between 12 and 1.30. The event details are here. For the sake of the championships aspect, the courses are organised according to age class, but people can treat it just like a normal colour-coded event if they like.
Paul Basher is planning the Middle race on Baggeridge, and Alison Sloman, as well as doing an excellent job updating the maps, has been out for us checking the controls. Updating the Himley map is a continuous process – trees keep disappearing!
I’ve been over there a couple of times this week and one of these mild days we’ve been having of sunshine and showers would be perfect. Poster
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