Sorry to see Chasers’ night events have been cancelled. But there’s still plenty to do…

Saturday 7th: Brandon Wood, Coventry (OD)

Sunday 8th: Titterstone Clee (HOC)

Tuesday 10th: Walsall (HOC) – evening

Saturday 14th: Brocks Hill, Oadby (LEI)

Sunday 15th: Eyam (DVO) and Wroxall Abbey, Solihull (OD)

Tuesday 17th & Thursday 19th: Outwoods, Loughborough (LEI)

Sunday 22nd: Aberedw Rocks, Builth Wells (POW)

Wednesday 25th: Worcester (HOC) – evening and Burbage Common, Hinckley (LEI) – night

Saturday 28th: Charlecote Park, Warwick (OD) and Wyche Ridge, Malvern (HOC)

(Wyche Ridge is hosting a day event and a night event that day.)

Sunday 29th: Swynnerton (POTOC)

I was late getting to the Chase today for the Brindley league event, and made myself later by parking in the wrong car park, meaning I had an extra climb up to registration… Then I nearly put the kibosh on my run altogether by somehow losing my hired dibber by the time I got back to the car on the way to the start. But, weirder still, my own dibber, which I thought I’d lost, suddenly turned up, so I ran using that!

Like Fineshade a couple of weeks back, Brindley Heath is somewhere you stick to the paths, and it wasn’t surprising that my attempt to run direct through the heather to the sixth control (#171) ended in tears. Still, I ended up 8th out of 48 on Green. I chose a shorter course because my left knee is a bit iffy and I need it for next Sunday’s run at Titterstone Clee. Looking forward to it.

Results

A common complaint or comment from runners after the short race at Himley last month was that there was something amiss with #42 (south part of copse):

Certainly quite a few people lost time on it, some claiming that it was in the wrong place or that the map was wrong. But I was happy with it, and so was Alison, who mapped it and checked it, and Richard, who controlled it. John Embrey went and had a look afterwards and confirmed that the control was in the right place but something doesn’t seem quite right – I wonder if we’ll ever get to the bottom of it?

Results

Took Catherine to the Droobers event at Brueton Park on Saturday morning. As you can see it was a bit damp, but not dispiritingly so. By the evening I was feeling quite ill though, so wasn’t up to the trip to Fownhope yesterday.

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!

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.

Results

**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…