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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
Up to Cannock Chase for the West Midlands Relays. Not a huge turnout, but a good atmosphere. And a run-in that will go down in O lore as one of the toughest ever. The last 200 metres was straight up hill – 50 metres of climb!
I was running in an Ad Hoc team with George Chambers and Julian Green and we came a respectable third. My time was 44 minutes for 3.1 km, which I was pleased with, considering there were five climbs altogether. Another Harlequins team, Hoc Chocolate, came first. Well done, guys! here they are, Lester, Nigel and Laura:
Congratulations also to the Hoctegenarians, Colin, Barry and John for winning the men’s Supervets contest. This year’s Men’s Open Champions are Michael Barnby, Mikey Hopkins and Iain Stamp of Walton Chasers, who completed the 16 km in 118 minutes.
My route:
My first-ever relay event, and what a dismal performance! Just under 75 minutes for just under 5 km… It was interesting seeing how the whole thing worked, and exciting to watch the mass starts and the handovers. But oh dear, I shan’t be looking forward to going back into that little wood again.
It was the closest thing to an orienteering version of The Twilight Zone that I’ve experienced for a while. Somehow I got lost on the way from control 1 to the open area, and later on the same thing happened exiting from control 5. In both cases I lost minutes just making it from the controls to the major track. Other mistakes too: I drifted to the right after #2, disturbing a small herd of deer in the process, I couldn’t find the fence on the way to #5, and I overshot #7, caught by the lake at the top of the hill. But by that stage at least I had the excuse that I was running in a blizzard and the little path had been obliterated.
To be honest, I was too sloppy… It was a shame. Despite the weather and the mud I actually felt pretty good and I’m sorry that I let Alison and Russ down. My mistakes cost us 15 minutes, leaving us back in 53rd.
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