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Congratulations to Walton Chasers for their excellent national event on Cannock Chase yesterday. Checking the results, I counted 1,000 competitors! WTG
My legs didn’t enjoy the 12 km they had to traverse at the Compass Sport Cup Final, and my brain didn’t enjoy some of it either, though the Brown course did make pretty good use of an area that turned out to be as grotty as predicted. The Leicestershire club ran the show well though, and the sun shone for us too.
Early on in the proceedings, Harlequins were constantly in the medal places, but some of the other teams saved their best till last and we eventually ended up fifth. A very good result for our first time in the Final. Congratulations to team captain John Embrey and to the 70 club members who took part.
The next big event for me and the rest of my club is the CSC Final at Fineshade in Rockingham Forest. Unbelieveably, it’s the first time Harlequins have qualified, and at least 17 of us will be travelling over to Northamptonshire on the 18th to do our best to put Worcestershire (and environs) on the orienteering map. As you can see from the 1994 map, it’s a complex area:
Good luck to us!
The large versions are followed by the reduced-size versions.
Oof. Last but two of the finishers. Two and a quarter hours. This after the guy on car-parking had estimated I’d take an hour. An hour! There was only one runner inside one hour on M40 today, and I’d say that was a heroic effort. 8 km with 22 controls and 500 m of climb, in 30 degrees of heat. I’ll save the inquest for later, but I don’t really mind my lowly position – I had an enjoyable run really (except for the pain in my feet towards the end) and hopefully I’ve learned something from it. The stars and the part-timers are all heading north tomorrow for the final day. Follow the Long Final at worldofo.com
I’m finally in the Miskolc area and I ran yesterday in the middle distance event at Bükkszentkereszt (63rd) and the sprint today in Miskolc city centre (55th). This afternoon I went up to Csanyik to watch the WOC sprints. Photos here.
Today was the middle-distance qualification at the World Championships and two Brits have qualified for Wednesday’s finals: Rachael Elder and Oli Johnson, and there were a couple of near misses.
Three live video feeds will be available at a cost of 5 euros per day (sprint+middle count as one day).
Since I was somewhat confused by the recently published Hungaria Cup event details I emailed the organisers and I’ve received a kind and helpful response from Miklós Bogdány. So, to clarify (if clarification is necessary):
1. The first start times are now 12:30, 10:00, 15:30, 12:30, 9:30, 8:30. (The times on the “Invitation” page on the website have yet to be corrected.) Add your start times to those start times! In my case, adding 60, 43, 48, 32, 135, 72 makes 13:30, 10:43, 16:18, 13:02, 11:45, 9:42. Though all of these are, of course, subject to change. 
2. Directions aren’t given to the sprint assembly (“Downtown Miskolc” is somewhat vague) but this info will be available at assembly on the previous days, and if someone tells me I’ll put the address here!
3. If several people are going from the same club, the organisers will prefer to give all those people’s bumf to one person (the “team leader”) at registration. This will not be rigidly enforced though, so separately-travelling team members can receive their bumf separately.
4. By “bib” they mean “rectangular piece of paper or paper-like substance with your competitor number on it”. Clearly it will be best if you get hold of your number before you go off to the start, but you will be allowed to start if you fail to manage this.
5. The warning in Section 5 “Parking” refers to Day 6 only.
6. I was surprised that so few courses will have access to water. It could be blisteringly hot, so I think there’s little alternative but to carry a drink, on the Long days at least.
Miskolc isn’t a shining jewel in Hungary’s tourist crown, but for those people who are stuck there for a week or more, the area does have a lot to offer besides a great deal of orienteering.
Going west from the city centre, first there’s the castle of Diósgyőr, and then there’s the spa resort of Lillafüred. This is the gateway to the Bükk mountains (with its miles of marked trails), beyond which is the beautiful city of Eger. An hour to the south-east is Debrecen, whose annual carnival is taking place on the 20th.
The final day’s competition is in Aggtelek, which has some of the most impressive caves in Europe. If you have even more time, just across the border is Slovakia. Kosice and Presov are interesting towns and the country’s mountains give it a deserved reputation as the poor man’s Switzerland.
These are the closest approximations I could come up with without resorting to the phonetic alphabet. I’ve broken the words up into syllables (not always logically) and respelled them as if they were British English words. I’ve also given the meanings of the placenames.
magyar mod-yor Hungarian
Bükk book beech
Hernád hair-nahd
Kosice kohsh-eats-eh
Lillafüred leel-loff-oor-ed lily spa
Miskolc meesh-cohlts
Palota-szálló pol-oh-ta sahl-oh palace hotel
Sajó shoy-oh
Tapolca top-ohlt-sa
Tisza teess-sa
Aggtelek og-tel-eck old land
Bánkút bahn-coot lord’s well
Bodzás-rét bohd-zahsh rate elderflower meadow
Bükkszentkereszt book-sent-kerr-est holy cross
Galuzsnya-hegy gol-oozh-nee-a hedge dumpling hill (?)
Hollós-tető holl-ohsh tet-ur raven top
Királyasztal kee-rye ost-oll king’s table
Kurta-bérc koor-ta bayrts short hill
Létrás-tető lay-trahsh tet-ur ladder top
Lófő-tisztás low-fur tee-stahsh horsehead clearing
Nagymező nodge-mez-ur great meadow
Szelcepuszta selt-sep-ooss-ta ? plain
Szép-hegy sayp hedge pretty hill
Szögliget sug-lee-get nail grove
Vivrát-hegy veev-raht hedge ? hill
Áron Less ah-rohn lesh
János Sőtér yah-nohsh shirt-airr
László Solyom lah-sloh shoh-yom
Száva Zsigmond sah-va zheeg-mond
Tibor Zsigmond tee-borr zheeg-mond
Zsolt Gerzsényi zhohlt gair-zhayn-yee
cél tsayl finish
rajt royt start
tájfuto tie-foo-toh orienteer
tájfutás tie-foo-tahsh orienteering
világbajnokság vee-lahg-boy-nock-shahg world championships
Just discovered these notes Dave Peel made a year ago. (pdf)
I enjoyed watching the Middle distance event yesterday, and right now I’m watching the Relay. Britain are 6th after the first leg, just over a minute down. The Taiwanaese guy has just struggled in, 10 minutes down. No tracking yet in case the waiting runners get a glimpse.
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