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We had a good day in Shropshire – cold but mainly sunny, with mist drifting in and out to increase the challenge. It seems difficult to get good turnouts at events south-west of the conurbation and Sunday was no exception, even though the hill is one of the most interesting areas available for orienteering in the region. I enjoyed my run – the rough open land is tussocky but is almost all runnable, which is more than can be said for some areas! – but made a couple of small navigating errors and ended up 21st out of 42 on Blue.
On Tuesday I came first on the middle course at the first event of this year’s Night Street League, 54 minutes for 6.1 km. Though I know the town quite well, I don’t think I’ve run round Walsall before, and don’t remember having come across the windmill, which was one of the controls.
At both events I was being careful not to jar my left knee, after the trouble it gave me at Fineshade, but it seems fine. I did make a point of trying to keep to the grass alongside the tracks on Titterstone – there’s not much cushioning in my O shoes!
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.
Photo: Rob Vickers
For the first, and probably the only time, I’ve come first in an orienteering competition! Last night the final round of this season’s night street league took place in distant Malvern and I needed to come at least third and beat Peter Langmaid. Well, Peter made it easier for me by running a different course, which was a shame in a way since a showdown would’ve been exciting, but instead he’d lined up a few ringers to try and deprive me of the points I needed. 
Needless to say I pushed myself hard and completed the 5.8 km in around 44 minutes, several of which were the walk up through the town centre! First place, ten points, trophy. 
The other champions were John and Jacky Embrey. Thanks very much to Brian Hughes for running the league, and to the MacKenzies for planning/hosting last night’s event.
Of course, relatively speaking what I did wasn’t that impressive. Some of the runners on the longer course were doing 8 km in under 50 minutes, and I suppose I’ll have to move up and try my best to compete with them next season. Meanwhile, I could have a try for the summer league trophy, but there is only one men’s trophy and for someone like me to win would require 12 well-placed runs on the medium course and an absence of consistent runners (e.g. Richard Dearden) on the long course.
While trying to savour the moment, I’m depressing myself by trying to remember any normal (daytime cross-country) event ever that I won…
Well done to those West Midlanders who ran well at BOC today. Foremost among them are new national champions Andy Hemsted (M60), Sheila Carey (W60), Jane Christopher (W65) and Hilary Simpson (W70).
Meanwhile I’m here in Birmingham saving up my brownie points for the JK weekend! It’s been a relatively quiet week – I ran in Stourbridge on Thursday night, another good run, and last Saturday I took Catherine to Coventry for the busy event at the scout camp there. OD are rather generous in their course classification. The “yellow” course we went round was a very pale shade of yellow indeed!
Update: successes in the relays… OD 4th and 5th in the men’s and women’s premier respectively; HOC 7th and 4th in the men’s short and M40 respectively. OD 1st in mixed-12, M14, W14, W40 and mixed-60. Congratulations – the Droobers maintain their winning ways!
Although we Harlequins aren’t as competitive, the club has an excellent participatory spirit and I’m looking forward to being part of one of our eleven teams at the JK.
I think this is the most I’ve run in one week since the JK. 6k at the Lickeys (77 mins), 6k at Donisthorpe (47 mins) and 6k tonight in Weoley Castle (47 mins). My knee has felt a bit sore after each event but hasn’t given way during any of them, so I’m really happy. It could be that the solution to my knee problem is more regular running rather than taking it easy. (?)
And I climbed a mountain this morning. In preparation for the Carneddau event in July, Stuart Rees gave me a guided tour, followed by a very late breakfast at the excellent Seven Stars in Aberedw. Surprise, surprise, the main headache in organising the event is the carparking. If (!) we have a wet summer, plans will have to change. But it is a beautiful area so we hope to entice as many people as possible to make the trip.
Bugger. I spent loads of time planning my night-street event but then I went and let myself down badly by missing a street off the map! Booths Lane, to be precise. It comes in three parts and I only included one of them, so my checking system wasn’t foolproof after all… Alison and Jacky bore the brunt of this error, ending up lost and (not unnaturally, considering how cold it was out there) ready to concede defeat, but luckily for me they met and helped each other to puzzle it out. Both of them have the opportunity to get their own back (they’re hosting night-street events in the new year) so I better keep my wits about me!
As promised, there was a seasonal theme, with most of the “controls” being houses with Christmas lights on them. (Not a bad idea, even if I say so myself, and worth trying again, next time perhaps with a score format.) My map was of the roads-and-paths-only variety, which I know doesn’t suit everybody, especially as it’s not always clear in open areas whether it’s possible to get from one path/road to another.
Thanks very much to everyone who braved the elements to take part. A couple of the non-festive control sites are pictured above.
Fancy a ride to Milford on Sunday morning?
Out today in the freezing sunlight, getting details for the map and courses on Tuesday night. The brave souls who try the long course will be taken off the streets a few times into the parks and open spaces but the first course I came up with measured over 13 km (straight-line distance)* so it’ll need a bit of pruning!
Hard to believe, but today was my first ever foray into Queslett Nature Park – some of you will sample its damp delights on Tuesday. 
If my memory serves me correctly, there was supposed to be an event in the park a few years ago but it was cancelled, so perhaps there’s an O map for it somewhere?
*If you really do want to run so far (the actual running distance would be around 18 km), just shout and I’ll do you a map!
(Just noticed this is my 100th post!)
My calves! 48 hours after my jog round north Brum, they’re still sore. Serves me right for going out for a four-mile run after a month off! The first night street event of the winter and I had home advantage, seeing as Andy’s house is only 3 miles from mine. The running was surprisingly easy – the cool, damp weather helped – and full of interest…
Control 3: I’d been here just a few days before, visiting a Hungarian family; control 5: a bicycling policeman stopped me here and asked me what I was up to; control 7: cries of “Brake! Brake!” and then came the inevitable Crash; control 12: a menacing-looking dog in the middle of the pavement, tied to a car full of young gentlemen.
I’ve finally done my first sprint event! Of course it’s just a glorified night street event–glorified in the sense that there’s a proper map and SI punching–but it was fun. I combined the event with visiting some friends in the city, and their excellent food was sitting rather heavily in my stomach as I attacked this course.
The reaction of the locals was interesting. Soon after I started a guy shouted out of his car window at me to ask what was going on, and towards the end of the race a police car drove slowly past me. The local kids by controls 209 and 214 were good natured, and I think altotgether we created some interest among the inhabitants of Darwin Park.
My run was okay; the only mistake I made, apart from a few questionable route choices, was running a little way back up the red line towards #6 after dibbing #7. The area, being a new housing estate, was suitable for the event, but perhaps a bit on the easy side, there being few shortcuts between the roads. Most of the difficulty, really, is introduced by having to interpret a very detailed map.
The map’s an interesting fish. There’s no BOF number, no mention of the OS or other base survey, and no mention of mapping software. I have an image of the Barnbys putting their theodolite in the car after work every evening!
Good results for Harlequins today at the British Sprint Championships at a snowy Warwick University. Blog photo star Chris McSweeny won the Men’s C race by a mile (okay, not literally), clocking 14 minutes for the 2.8 km. And Andy White, who has apparently now fully recovered from his achilles injury won the D race in 16 minutes over a slightly shorter distance.
Although it was a shame I wasn’t there to cheer them on, I did win my section at a local Scrabble tournament!
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