NEWSTRACK
Summer 2005
Great Moments from the Orienteering Archives
Jack adopts an extreme approach to land access negotiations.
(Alternatively: The Giant is disqualified following introduction of a BOF ban on Seven League Walsh’s)
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Newstrack is the magazine of Derwent Valley Orienteers
Editor: Dai Bedwell, 200 Leicester Road, Loughborough, Leics LE11 2AH
Tel: (01509) 260751 email: daiandkaren@tesco.net
Thoughts from the Chair
Summer events are here and they leave you with a different view of orienteering. Instead of searching for controls in a vast area only occupied by other orienteers you spend more time searching for ticks in the privacy of your rented house, tent etc. with yourself (or better company). At this point you realise that the area was not only occupied by other orienteers but by either 10 ticks (very intelligent) knowing exactly where you were going to be at any point in time or by several billion ticks just hoping to catch a wandering orienteer. After reading my Brother-in-Law’s book on the nasty little beasts after the event I hope all the other runners have checked themselves (or others – more fun!) thoroughly.
Putting the problem areas aside, the Scottish 6-Days was another well-organised event and enjoyed by all even though perhaps not as successfully as every one of us would desire. However, there were a number of successful DVO members. Pride of place must be to Tiege Malley coming first on M16B, Alex Whitehead second on M14B with Doug Dickinson and Pauline Ward third on M60S and W60L respectively. Some near misses were Evelyn Ross, Liz Godfree (both 4th) and our editor (5th) just failing to make the podium. Congratulations to all, irrespective of position as I always believe that competing for 6 nearly solid days is a triumph in itself. As Chair of the Club it was delightful to watch the growing band of juniors that I hope will form the basis of a very competitive team in the very near future. Now off to the White Rose.
Derek Gale
Annual General Meeting
The 2005 DVO AGM will be on Wednesday 26th October in the Sammy Crookes Room at Belper Sports Centre from 8-15pm. Meet at the Sports Centre at 7pm for a run or swim beforehand.
Club Championships 2005
As has been rumoured for a little while, the Club Championships will be on Saturday September 17th, at Calke Park, Ticknall (grid ref SK 367226). The format will be roughly as in recent years, i.e. handicapped starts so that everyone finishes at noon; if you run faster than the handicapper reckoned on then you win! There will be three senior courses (approximately blue length, green length and a bit shorter again) and one junior course (for the separate junior trophy) of about yellow standard (with some assistance aimed at preventing white course runners going wrong). Senior course handicapping will be based on all known form, size of any bribes offered, length of any articles offered for Newstrack, etc.
There will be a club picnic afterwards; there has even been talk of a shelter at Calke in case the weather is less than ideal!
Entry to the event is free to members of DVO, parking at Calke is subject to National Trust charges, and you need to remember your picnic!
Please let me know, preferably by email, if you'd like an entry so that pre-printed courses and handicapped start times can be prepared - I need a good indication of entry numbers by the end of August, please. If everyone leaves it to the last minute there won't be enough maps!
Dai
Captain’s Jog
In the Harvester Trophy we entered one team in the B class. They all had consistent runs to finish 5th overall but weren’t quite old (or female) enough to qualify for the handicap category, so no trophy was won this year.
Just 7 teams took part in the Footpath Relay this year and there was something of a surprise result when Ashbourne Running Club, who were the event organisers, came through to pass Holme Pierrepont on leg 19 and went on to win easily. In fact the Holme Pierrepont runner got badly lost, possibly due to some excellent work at the changeover by Mark Nowak who had carefully explained to him how difficult the leg was, and DVO closed to within 5 minutes to come 3rd overall and, perhaps most importantly, 5 minutes ahead of NOC. Dai Bedwell and myself achieved the fastest times on our respective legs, and Simon Davis and Mark Nowak were 2nd fastest on their legs. Next year this event will be organised by MDOC and hopefully there will be a bigger entry.
Very few people had approached me about the White Rose relay by the July medium-rate entry date, so after discussion at the Open Meeting it was agreed that members should make their own arrangements for White Rose relay teams this year.
So that brings us to the next major team event which is of course the CompassSport Cup Final, to be held at Clowbridge (near Burnley) on Sunday October 16th. As advertised in the last issue of Newstrack, Paul Wright is organising a coach for those who wish to travel communally, so please let Paul know if you want to travel on the coach but also let me know if you wish to enter the event when you get there. ( I will double-check my list with Paul but please don’t rely on this). I haven’t been advised of the closing date yet but expect it may be mid-September, so please let me know your availability as soon as possible. With a good turn-out I am sure we can do well in this competition, and of course Clowbridge was the venue of our magnificent victory in 1986 so the omens are good.
In addition to traditional methods I can now be contacted by e-mail: “johnhurley870 at btinternet dot com”.
Finally the end of an era was reached on July 20th when the final club training run from the Buckleys’ premises on Duffield Road took place. Steve has been the host for club training runs from Duffield Road, and before that from Derwent Avenue, and before that Belper, for a total of some 30 years, and it is going to be strange no longer to be seeing him regularly on a Wednesday night. On behalf of the regular Wednesday runners I should like to thank Steve for his hospitality over the years and to wish Steve and Margaret every happiness in their new abode.
John Hurley
Derbyshire Schools Championships. Foremark, 11th June
Year 5/6 (White Course) A good turn out with three schools well represented. Duffield Meadows Primary retained the trophy once again with several creditable individual performances. It was good to see Mickleover Primary and Ravensdale Junior children taking part. Although most of the children from these two schools are not yet at the stage where they want to run by themselves (i.e. they enjoy the social experience as much as the competitive orienteering)
1st Maddie Williams Duffield Meadows Yr.5 12.58
2nd John Evans Duffield Meadows Yr.5 16.12
3rd Amy Kimberley Brimington Yr.4 16.46
Year 7/8 (Yellow Course) Only three eligible competitors, but good runs from the Alvey children:
1st Paige Alvey Cloudside Yr.6 24.15
2nd Leanne Alvey Friesland Yr.7 24.31
3rd Ben Jones Ravensdale Yr.5 39.06
Year 11/12 (Light Green) The experience of the Wright twins showed and meant that Swannick Hall retained the Secondary School Trophy:
1st Simon Wright Swannick Hall Yr.8 33.45
2nd Thomas Wright Swannick Hall Yr.8 34.06
3rd Daniel Spencer Noel Baker Yr.10 39.10
Thanks to the DVO members who organised, planned and ran the event. I heard lots of very positive comments from parents and teachers who came along. Hopefully, as the years go by, these young people will join orienteering clubs to ensure that our sport flourishes.
Rex Bleakman
DVO Goes abroad – twice!
There is still time to join the DVO team for the Venice Street O. So far 14 of us will be running. There is a model event on Saturday 12th November to practise for the real thing on the Sunday. Doubtless we can then use the O map to find a restaurant for the team meal. Daily flights from East Midlands by easyJet to the real Venice airport so you can fit around as many nights away as you like. Let me know if you want details of the hotel we have booked into, or any other info.
Next year's World Masters (aka World Vets) Orienteering Championships are at Wiener Neustadt, south of Vienna from 1st to 8th July. From the photos on the web site there are plenty of mountains around so you can make a longer holiday of it. Same format as usual, 2 days qualification races on the Tuesday and Wednesday to decide which final you run in on the Friday (everyone gets a run at the final). Just like the British Championships this is completely open competition for the over 35s, only the whole world. We have a mind to look for an apartment(s) this time although I imagine the Austrian campsite might be a better standard than the Italian one was. See www.wmoc06.com for more information. Let me know if you are interested so that we can make a club entry and arrange accommodation together.
Mike Godfree
Slugging it out at Pillar Woods – Harvester 2005
This was a bit of a poor show from DVO. A national competition, 90 minutes from home and we could only muster a team of five. There were teams from as far afield as Clyde and Southampton, and even LOG put in an entry despite their membership numbering no more than three plus a cat (although I’m not sure whether the cat has renewed this year).
‘What on earth could be putting them off?’, I thought to myself as I stood on the start line at 4.30 in the morning.
Pillar Woods is a curious area that had somehow managed to escape me, although its situation, nestling halfway between Scunthorpe and Grimsby, may have something to do with this. The shape of the map resembles a pair of running legs - honest, it’s not the hallucinogenics - and right in the middle, in the, well, crotch position, is a massive open area about the size of ten football pitches. This conveniently served as a start and finish, and as the site of the spectator control as orienteers, having run like ferrets down one leg of the trousers, returned to explore the other.
DVO were entered for the shorter 5-leg competition and had been given a lie-in until one o’clock in the morning before starting. At this time of year, this should guarantee at least three legs in darkness, plus one in the creepy half-light of dawn and one in broad daylight. This was entirely theoretical for the Happy Herts team whose first leg runner managed to spend 2 hours and 43 minutes on the first leg alone. It’s true then, there is always someone worse than you.
I do not know if the Club Captain is nearing the end of his tenure, but the strain of coming up with a theme for relay teams is definitely beginning to tell. Recent DVO teams have been named after nursery rhyme characters, SI units and, er, lighthouses, so you’d’ve thought finding a theme for just the one team wouldn’t have been a problem. Well, alongside such rousing names as the HALO Flyers and the Ribble Raiders, we competed under a team name dedicated to DVO’s latest acquisition, yes, we were ‘DVO New Shed’. Now I’m very proud of our new shed but I don’t think jealousy was the reaction inspired amongst our competitors. I’m just glad we’d not just bought a toilet tent.
The 5-leg competition was tailored so the first and last legs ran the same courses. Steve Kimberley related the tale of how the first mob of runners descended into the forest to be met by a six-way split in the paths. As one solitary runner selected one path, Steve chortled to himself as he followed the mass down another, only to find that they’d all taken the wrong one. At least Steve had the excuse that he was running at night; I managed to make the same mistake a few hours later all by myself.
There were some ferocious brambles infesting much of the area but the rest was surprisingly runnable. The problem for the mapper was that these areas were largely empty of mappable features, a problem resolved by recording every single bump and indentation as a depression or knoll. The control was often three times as tall as the feature it was marking.
After my initial faux pas, I had a reasonable recovery and even afforded myself a chuckle of my own as, having been outchased by a NATO orienteer into the penultimate control, I paused as I watched him disappear down the wrong path of a seven-way split that Pillar seems to specialise in. I then waltzed in to secure a respectable 6th place for DVO, 13 mins behind the winners after over four hours.
I’d had a decent run so that, looking at the results, I can actually claim to have beaten the 2005 British Women’s Elite Champion, Helen Winskill, on the same course. OK, so she was running the night leg and I, the day, but she’s an international, for heaven’s sake, and several decades my junior. A meaningless success is still a success for all that.
The lasting memory of Pillar has nothing to do with the orienteering but the wildlife – if a plague of slugs can be called ‘wild’. I have never seen such a concentration in my life! In Norse mythology, the bodies of the slain were carried to Valhalla; in slug mythology, they come to Pillar Wood. Not only were they plentiful, they were huge too; bearing in mind, the mapper’s propensity to plot everything of a certain dimension, someone suggested that some of the slower-moving examples should have appeared on the map themselves!
They were literally everywhere and nothing got in their way. One intrepid adventurer scaled the side of Steve’s tent and, having reached the top, completed the journey via the south face, leaving its calling-card trail of unctuous slime behind. When I say they got everywhere, I meant it – several hours later, having returned home, I took a shower, and could not help but notice swimming towards the plughole (it was doing the crawl), a particularly large and oleaginous specimen. Where it had been for the previous half-day, I have no idea – and what is more I don’t want to know!
Graham Johnson
Email Addresses
It has been pointed out that a large proportion of the email addresses held in BOF and DVO membership databases is out of date. Maybe people change their ISP or just get fed up with junk email and change their address to start afresh with their spam “providers”, or maybe just changing to broadband means a new address. Could everyone who has an email that would be a useful means of occasional communication from the club (e.g. in the event of an event being cancelled at short notice) please check that their details are correct in the membership list and send any corrections to Paul Beresford at dvoclubsec@fsmail.net. The BOF renewal forms have the facility to correct out-of-date details too, when they arrive later in the year.
(I’m guilty of not keeping my details up to date, as BOF had my old AOL address in the database until very recently. I can vouch that even having the correct address registered has not resulted in unwanted emails filling my in-box! – Dai)
Day 5 of 6 in Scotland – A Cautionary Tale
I don’t know what it was about day 5, maybe I was tired, maybe it was the head high bracken (it seems to affect my brain in some way) and the lack of distinct features to relocate on, but whatever it was this was massively my worst day of the six. In fact the first control was my worst of the week, 32 minutes worth of confusion and frustration. I carefully located on the earthbank/wall corner (the last time I was to know exactly where I was for some time) set my compass and set off across the marsh. I came to a ditch, yes, that was on the map, and then an area of trees, raised above the marsh. Great. So, my control should be at the far end up a very marshy re-entrant. Found a marshy bit and thrashed around, but no control, worse than that, no elephant tracks, other that those going straight across. So started roaming round the raised bit, even though I knew it couldn’t be further back – why do I do that? Eventually I found another control at the other end of the raised bit – not mine of course, and while I was pondering another more youthful orienteer appeared scanning the area and looking confused. On enquiry it seemed he was looking for the control I’d just spotted, so I pointed out it was behind the fallen tree and in return he showed me where I was. Not really a surprise to know I was way off, but then I over corrected and ploughed through the marsh for far too long, eventually coming across a really distinct feature. Checking my map I was pretty sure it was where my second control should be. Just to be sure I went and peered at it. Normally finding my second control before my first is a depressing experience, but I was just delighted to be sure exactly where I was. And I managed to track back and find my first control without too much trouble. Mind you, if you’ve ever run the wrong way along elephant tracks through bracken you’ll know it can be a hazardous experience, a bit like running through green spears all pointing in your direction.
Having taken so long on the first control I decided there was no point in hurrying and I’d take my time and make sure I knew exactly where I was for the rest of the course. But no, I still made 2 more significant errors and never felt I’d got a grip on the map. I think I’ll just have to seek out brackeny areas to orienteer on until I lay this phobia to rest. Of course, the DVO BBQ the previous evening may have had some bearing on performance.
Jen Gale
I had a similar experience on Day 4 but eventually decided that the areas were only “brackeny” where there weren’t controls – ironically the low visibility, slow patches where it was really difficult to relocate were only visited by those of us who’d already made a mistake and really wanted to relocate quickly! - Dai
Editorial
Wow – a bumper edition with more articles available than space allowed. I hope no-one is offended if their contribution has been held till next time!
Dai
Local Fixtures
August
21st NOC Local
Summer League Event. Vicar Water, Mansfield. SK/587627. W/Y/O and 'Challenge'.
Starts 1030 - 1130. www.noc-uk.org
27th-29th White Rose Weekend
27th - Day 1 Regional Event. Heater Rigg, Helmsley. SE/598892.
28th - Day 2 Regional Event. Collis Rigg, Helmsley. SE/598892.
29th - Team Score Event. Heater Rigg, Helmsley. SE/598892.
Entries: whiteroseentries@btinternet.com CD3: 21/08/05. £9.50/£5.00. EOD + £2.50/£1.50 String course. Lim CC courses. Parking £1.00. Online entries available: www.eborienteers.org.uk
September
4th SYO District Event. Sandal Beat Wood, Doncaster. SE/610037.
Phil Haywood, 0114 236 3003. Philhsyo@aol.com £4.00/£1.00. EPS-SI.
10th - NATIONAL EVENT. Kilnsey Moor, Skipton. SD/980642.
11th - Regional Event. Malham Moor, Skipton. SD/908646.
Entries through website CD: 4/9/05. www.aire.org.uk
17th DVO Club Championships, Calke Park, Ticknall SK 367226
Handicapped starts, mass finish at 12 noon. Dai and Karen Bedwell, 01509 260751 or daiandkaren@tesco.net. Pre entry essential to secure start time and map.
17th-18th Caddihoe Chase Weekend
17th - Regional Event. Wheal Franco & Virtuous Lady. SX/507685.
18th - Chasing Start Event same area.
Entries: Cris Tween, Blackthorn Cottage, Fiddleford, Sturminster Newton, Dorset, DT10 2BX. 01258 861804. CD: 01/09/05. Fees £8.00/£4.00 or £14.00/£6.00 both days. Chq: Devon Orienteering Club. Lim EOD
18th WCH District Event. Ansons Bank, Cannock Chase, Stafford. GR/979171.
Chris Horwill, 01889 270529. lornaandchris@btopenworld.com
18th LEI Score Cup Event. Burbage Common, Hinckley. SP/447953.
David Anderson, 0116 287 4088. david.anderson30@btopenworld.com
18th NOC Local Event. Blidworth Forest, Mansfield. SK/592524.
David Cooke, 01773 770278. d.cooke4@ntlworld.com. String course.
24th DVO Local Score Event. Bottom Moor, Matlock. GR/323633.
Val Johnson, 01773 824754. Gmjandfam@aol.com £2.50/£1.00. Dogs on leads at all times. www.dvo.org.uk
25th HALO District Event. Driffield Airfield, Driffield. TA/001560.
Steve Marin, 01482 866172. smarin@smarin.karoo.co.uk £4.00/£2.00. White to Blue, String course. No dogs. www.halo-orienteering.org.uk
25th OD Score Event Coombe Country Park, Coventry. SP/403795.
Janet Richardson, 01788 832648. mass start at 11-00am.
October 2005
1st-2nd October Odyssey Weekend
1st - Regional Event. Nenthead Mines, Nenthead. NY/782434.
2nd - Regional Event. Hamsterley, Bishop Auckland. NZ/085308.
Entries:
Andrew Nicoll, 47 Holywell Avenue, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear, NE26 3AQ, 0191
252 2383. www.northern-navigators.org.uk
2nd WM WCH District Event. Shugborough, Stafford. SJ/986212.
Phil Green, 01889 882436. philip.green100@btopenworld.com £5.00/£2.00 SI card hire £1.00 and 50p. String course. Dogs on leads. www.walton-chasers.co.uk
8th DVO British Schools Score Championships. Shipley Country Park, Heanor. GR/455430.
Organiser: Val Johnson, 01773 824754. BSSC05@aol.com
Entries: Christina Wright, 4 Ripley Road, Riversdale, Ambergate, Belper, Derbyshire, DE56 2EU, 01773 856387. cpstwright@supanet.com
9th DVO District Event. Carsington Pastures, Hopton, Wirksworth. GR/251546.
Stuart Swalwell, 01335 647814. £4.00/£1.00. Family £9.00. EPS-SI. String course. Parking £1.00. Dogs on lead in car park.
16th CompassSport Cup Final Clowbridge, Burnley. GR/820280.
Clive Atty, 01204 301390. atty-family@ntlworld.com Fees TBA.
Entries through John Hurley, bus arranged through Paul Wright
23rd EBOR District Event. Silpho, Scarborough.
Nev Myers, 01904 767677. neville@myers-n.demon.co.uk £4.00/£2.00 www.eborienteers.org.uk
23rd EM LEI District Event. Fermyn Woods, Corby. SP/952850.
C4 Chris Phillips, 0116 255 0330. onecphillips@lineone.net £4.00/£1.50. EPS-SI. String. Parking £1.00. www.leioc.org
29th EM NOC Local Night Event. Thieves Wood, Mansfield. SK/541576.
C5N David Cooke, 01773 770278. d.cooke4@ntlworld.com £2.00/£1.00. EPS-SI. www.noc-uk.org
30th YH SYO District Event. Loxley Common, Sheffield. SK/310907.
C4 Louise Guillaume, 0114 2212990. l.r.guillaume@sheffield.ac.uk £4.00/£1.00. EPS-SI. String course. Parking £1.00.
November 2005
6th DVO District Event & Yvette Baker Round. Stanton Moor, Birchover, Matlock. GR/243622.
Tracey & Ian Grant, 01629 580781. iansgrant@btinternet.com £4.00/£1.00. Family £9.00. EPS-SI. String course. Parking £1.00.
Scottish Championships 2005
The late May Bank Holiday always signals a time to return to the land of my birth, despite the alternative attraction of Springtime in Shropshire, and a further attempt on my part to gain selection for the Scottish veteran’s team as the Scottish Individual Championships forms one of a series of selection races. Traditionally I have always done poorly at this race due mainly to inept orienteering on my part.
2005 had some additional attractions in that Evelyn and I would have a stone tent for overnight accommodation by staying with friends, one of whom was Evelyn’s bridesmaid on that fateful? day in 1974, and with whom we have kept in contact since we were all students together in Aberdeen. The downside of this attraction is that they still behave as students so large amounts of alcoholic beverages have to be consumed which is not the best preparation for orienteering racing although our son would doubtless disagree.
The other attraction was an intriguing and novel relay format for the Scottish Relay Championships held on the same weekend.
Saturday went exactly as expected with my efforts on Tentsmuir having the same effect as my attempts in previous years. As usual it was the control in the green that was my nemesis. Why do Scottish planners always insist in putting one there when there are so many other interesting places and why have I not learnt from my earlier mistakes to take due care. I will make no mention of the poor quality mapping, planning and controlling of the event which dominated discussions on nopesport for so long after the event. There is always next year!
The relay competition in 2005 consisted of four traditional classes (M Open, W Open, M/W 48- and M/W40-) with the addition of five handicap classes based on a points system generated from age classes. As six members of DVO made the trip north we were confident that we could produce two fairly competitive handicap teams.
The handicapping system was such that optimising the age class composition of the teams was important. This meant breaking up the successful Steve Buckley, Mike Godfree and Liz Godfree team (winners in 2004) and replacing Steve with myself (a not so spritely M50), much to my dismay bearing in mind my previous days performance and the fact that I would be running leg 3 with a team that was accustomed to doing well. On the day the other team also had to be rearranged due to an injury to Evelyn on the individual day but that is another story.
Leg 1 was unusual in that all teams went off together in a mass start in a short loop through the forest in full view of all the spectators before reaching the start kite. This was not appreciated by some of the more elderly ladies, much to the amusement of the assembled masses and the chagrin of the start official.
Mike was first up and according to the published results brought us back in fourth place although it was impossible to tell as no delineation of numbers between classes had been attempted so there was no way we could judge what other teams were on our course. At this stage a simple commentary system had been put in place manned by another Godfree (Chris) who also planned the event. Thus Mike was duly announced and Liz was cheered on her way. An excellent run meant that Liz was fastest on her course and, again according to the results but completely escaping our attention, in second place overall. In hindsight I am grateful that I did not know as the stakes and the pressure were about to be raised.
While Liz was out on her course, the commentary team had obviously done some boning up and so when she was sighted on the run in I had been identified as the third leg runner and was duly announced to be greeted by a comment from the SOA Chairman who was marshalling the changeover that this “signalled the end of a brave team effort”.
This witticism galvanised me, all thoughts of the previous day’s performance disappeared, and I was “in the zone”. Obviously the excellent planning which made so much better use of the terrain and no controls in the green helped immensely. I only wish I had known that when I passed John Coon, who had started three minutes in front of me, at control 4 that we were in the lead, then I might have been able to relax and jog the rest comfortably and enjoy the sensation.
What did happen was that I found myself racing against three other teams from different handicap classes, although there was no way for me to know that. The overall effect was for me to have the fastest time on my course and for four of the five handicap classes to finish within less than a minute and a half of each other. An excellent indictment of the skill of the handicapper. The biggest thrill was of course to have a clean run and to be part of the winning team.
The Chairman of SOA got his just desserts as he had to present that winning team with their prizes, an excellent mug (what else) and a bottle of wine, duly drunk with our “student” friends in Perth.
A terrific weekend and well worth the trip.
For those of a certain disposition, the relay results can be perused on www.rstrain.ndtilda.co.uk/results_05/soc05/srcresplus.htm
Alex Ross
A 2½ Day Holiday Event in Shropshire
OK, so it was the first holiday event of the season but, with other things arranged for the Saturday and Sunday, the Bedwell Clan only entered the third day of the Springtime in Shropshire 3 day event. I suspected a typo in my control descriptions when I downloaded them from the web, as I had less climb on M35L than the M21N and many other courses, some of which were only half the length of mine. However it was true – just 6.5km and 155 metres of climb for this my grand return to long courses after a surprisingly successful JK running the short. I trundled around this “long” course in 45 minutes, still 7 minutes down on the winner but rather disappointed not to have been tested a little further. I’m glad I didn’t enter the short course but even so, the ratio of the time spent driving to the event to that taken to negotiate the challenge was disappointing! (Am I beginning to sound like another newsletter editor? – maybe it’s part of the selection criteria?). The word on the street (or in the huddle around the finish banner) was that people wanted a shorter final day after the exertions of the earlier days. As I spent Saturday checking out my route for the footpath relay (and thereby running about 10 miles across some of the more lumpy bits of Derbyshire) I can’t really judge the merit in this approach, but I thought that a district event was a district event, and it commanded certain planning guidelines? The entry fee for the third day didn’t reflect any reduction in the amount of entertainment on offer. It wasn’t even billed as one of these new-fangled “medium distance” events.
Otherwise we quite enjoyed our brief taster of SinS. Even though it was only when the final details arrived that we realised that there was no White Course for EOD, and no String course either, a helpful on-line entries system and person obliged and we secured a late JW1 entry for Elizabeth, and they even made a special note in the start list to allow James to have a map as well, in case sibling rivalry caused a dispute over who navigated. The walks to start and finish didn’t seem as long as advertised, the weather held fine (just about) and a pretty good time was had by all, though I still wonder what happened to the other half of my course?
Dai
The End of a Long Run
It was a low key ending but a perfect one because it was just the same as every Wednesday night run. The kitchen at the Buckley’s was crowded with runners and the huge teapot was steaming alongside a particularly fine looking chocolate cake. The welcome smells from both soon overcame the whiff of something nasty that had drifted in from the men’s changing room. Then there was the friendly buzz of conversation, which, fuelled by tea, cake and that euphoria that follows a good run, soon grew in volume until we had to speak up to be heard.
Of course it was not the same as every week, it was the last run from Duffield Road; the end of a tradition that spanned over 28 years. To put that in perspective Steve calculated that the beginning coincided with John Hurley graduating from university! Even John, our unofficial club historian, would struggle to calculate how many times DVO have been welcomed in by Steve and Judy and more recently Steve and Margaret over the years; how many times the highs, lows and ‘if only’s of orienteering de-briefs have been heard; how much friendship and warmth has been shared.
And we must not forget the running. Early in those 28 years the classic training routes from Duffield Road were devised and they have not changed much since. Bunkers, Smelly Lane, The Parks (always a sure sign that winter is on it’s way) and, the Mornington Crescent of DVO training runs, Bunkers In Reverse, have all found their way into club folklore. Good routes that have themselves spawned countless stories as we pounded round in all weathers and at every level of fitness. It will never be the same when we start running from our new venue, Derby Rugby Club, on Wednesday 13 September.
Steve and Margaret are soon to be off to the Lakes, though no doubt they will still be seen at events and training runs in the future. How can we show our gratitude to them for their unstinting hospitality over the years? Our thanks are heartfelt but seem insufficient. Lifetime membership of DVO seems the least that we could offer.
Brian Denness
Sports Personality of the Month
There is a series of road races organised as the Booths road league for members of Derbyshire running clubs. One Tuesday in June the race was from near Ilkeston with the start at 7.30pm. Being very popular 165 runners turned up.
At 7.20pm the masses left the car park and headed for the start a couple of minutes away.
At 7.30pm everyone is huddled together on the start line waiting for the off. Faster runners at the front slower at the back.
7.31pm no start everyone wonders why we haven't been set off. A short while later the rumour goes round that we are waiting for a car-load of runners. Quite a few mutter about how cold they are feeling and why can't we start now.
A bit later the rumour continues and someone says that we are waiting for just one runner. Disbelief in the ranks! Comments are made about how good the runner must be if we are made to wait.
Finally the runner turns up, some cheer, some cheer but with a heavy hint of sarcasm. Some are not quite so charitable and various comments are muttered at the runner as he makes his way to the back of the start area, past icy glares.
And who was this runner, the runner who 165 others had been kept waiting?
Well, lets just say that Graham Johnson did admit that never before has
he annoyed so many people before he had even started.
Some Quotes and observations from The Scottish 6 Days:
· "Mind the cars," Kathy Whitehead to Alex, crossing run-in @ Scolty
· Aleth Smith, completing the string course every day, then promptly eating the map.
· LEI moving into the DVO tent during the shower at Day 5, performing this trick again on Day 6.
· Only injury of the week: Steve Kimberly twisted his knee in the kitchen on the rest day, missing Day 4 as a result.
· Large bus seen negotiating the white course at Scolty caused minor panic amongst those trying to complete the course by more conventional means.
· Dave Bennett suffered the first recorded double shoe failure at Scolty.
· 6 different methods used for pitching the tent, all of which worked, more or less, while the flag seemed guyed the same way each time but fell down twice.
· Day6: The terrible commentary "that's for sure" by nopesport eventually abates at 1-45pm, not a patch on Scott Smith, commentating on the tug o’ war at Perth Show en route for home, who turned the basically glacial sport of tug o’ war into something really quite exciting. For a minute or two.
· Ben Beresford loses dibber at day3, getting it hooked on a branch as he ran past; only notices when trying to punch at next control.
· Mat Dickenson disturbed a wasp nest on Day 2 and was stung 18 times for his troubles, losing his compass in the process. Throwing your compass at stinging wasps doesn’t make them go away apparently.
· Day 3: one day but 2 areas joined by a common finish; most of the M/W10B course acting as spectator controls for those on their way to the starts
· The area of forest designated for the elite warm up at Day 6 seemed to double as the gents urinal; I hope this wasn’t symbolic.
· Sense of humour in the tapes and signs on the trek to the starts on day 6: panic for red starters when reaching a sign, 1km after leaving assembly, which said 1km to blue and white starts; with no mention of the red start, several people turned back. Later there were 2 "red start 250m" signs, about 400m apart!
· Alex Whitehead getting lost on the run-in on Day 5; understandable as this wasn't actually on the map (though miles of red and white tape and several dozen other runners might have given it away.)
· Approximately 45 DVO members running during the week but only about 30 of them seen in the club tent at any stage?
COMPASSSPORT CUP 1987
Following the magnificent DVO victory at Clowbridge in November 1986, it wasn’t long until the cup competition started again for 1987. Inevitably there had been a change in the rules and for some reason the red course was now to be used for M13, M15 and M50. This meant that our first year M13s (Alaistair Buckley, Ian Finlayson and David Godfree) would potentially be running against boys 3 years older and also M50s, and of course we would have to find some more M/W11s to run on the orange course. However with Steve Buckley now into M40 and John Seaston and Mike Jubb running well in M17 there was scope for cunning captain Roger Wilkinson to switch his brown and blue teams around a bit to match the expected strengths of the opposition.
In the first round we were drawn against LEI who raised no objection to holding the tie at the DVO event at Robin Wood on Feb 15th. Of course this meant that the main event officials ( organiser Mike Godfree, planner Mike Jubb, controller Dave Brodie) could not compete but despite this DVO romped to a comfortable 83-43 victory. Tony Berwick contributed with 2 points on the aforementioned red course (and would have had 3 points if he’d been a minute quicker).
In the second round we were drawn against POTOC. For some reason this tie never took place and DVO were eventually awarded a walk over.
Competition became more serious in the third round tie against Harlequins, at Blidworth on Sept 13th. Only Dave Nevell and Roger Wilkinson managed to win their courses, but DVO packed well particularly on the Brown and Blue courses and in the end came away with a clear 70-56 win. For HOC the Hemsted children accumulated 11 points but dad Andy failed to trouble the scorers, beaten by nine DVO runners on the Brown.
In contrast the fourth round tie against Bristol was as close as it was possible to get under the rules which then applied. [*see below] This tie was held on Brindley Heath, Cannock, on Oct 25th. Dave Nevell suffered his only defeat of the campaign, to Clive Hallett, but Steve Buckley, Judy Buckley and John Seaston won their courses and Roger Wilkinson and Chris Godfree achieved second places. On the red course Bristol had a strong team of M50s but Ian Finlayson just got in among them for third place, a crucial 13 seconds ahead of J Parker. This tied the scores at 63-63. Under the tie-break rules the first places were 3-3, the second places were also 3-3 and so the tie was decided on third places where we won 4-2.
The final was held on Nov 15th at Witherslack in the South Lakes. As for the previous year, this was a 4-way competition with the other clubs this year being South Yorkshire, Happy Herts and Edinburgh Southern. The area was by far the most technically difficult we had visited in the competition and I think this proved to our advantage, with all our experienced and technically proficient runners scoring well. Dave Nevell was back to form winning brown ahead of the SYO squad of Adrian Pickles, Charlie Adams and Rob Pearson, and there were also wins for John Seaston and Zoe Wilkinson. The juniors on the orange course did very well with Chris Godfree and Kim Buckley both ahead of R Marston (SYO). The final result was DVO 139 points, SYO 130 points, HH 105 points and ESOC 94 points. The cup had been successfully retained and it didn’t seem as far back down the M6 as usual.
Table of Scorers (showing scores in rounds 1,3,4 and the final)
|
BROWN 1 |
|
BROWN 2 |
|
|
Dave Nevell |
6-6-5-12 |
Tony Thornley |
6-3-0-10 |
|
Andy Thomson |
4-0-4-0 |
Steve Buckley |
0-0-6-9 |
|
John Hurley |
1-5-0-0 |
Doug Dickinson (Jr) |
5-0-0-7 |
|
Ian Whitehead |
0-0-0-5 |
John Hopper |
4-0-1-0 |
|
Alex Campbell |
0-4-0-0 |
Mike Jubb |
0-5-0-0 |
|
Pete Jones |
0-0-0-4 |
Dave Brodie |
0-0-4-0 |
|
John Hawkins |
0-0-3-0 |
John Seaston |
0-4-0-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
BLUE |
|
RED |
|
|
Roger Wilkinson |
4-6-5-10 |
Alistair Buckley |
6-2-2-3 |
|
John Seaston |
6-0-6-12 |
Dave Godfree |
5-3-1-2 |
|
Steve Buckley |
5-5-0-0 |
Ian Finlayson |
0-5-4-1 |
|
Roz Clayton |
0-0-0-9 |
Tony Berwick |
2-0-0-0 |
|
Andy Hawkins |
0-3-0-0 |
|
|
|
Mike Jubb |
0-0-2-0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
GREEN |
|
ORANGE |
|
|
Judy Buckley |
5-4-6-11 |
Tessa Wilkinson |
6-4-1-6 |
|
Deborah Wilkinson |
4-2-3-8 |
Chris Godfree |
0-1-5-10 |
|
Zoe Wilkinson |
0-5-0-12 |
Kim Buckley |
5-3-0-8 |
|
Jo Thornley |
6-0-0-0 |
Ian Forrest |
3-0-4-0 |
|
Helen Finlayson |
0-0-1-0 |
|
|
* All right, it is theoretically possible for the tie-break to be decided on fifth places if the teams are incomplete. If anyone would like to buy me a pint I will explain how.
John Hurley
DVO Message Board
Courtesy of Mark Nowak a new facility is available for DVO members to use: an online message board / forum available at http://www.marknowak.co.uk/DVO/ Forum /index.php
Note that this is not designed to replace the yahoo group but more to encourage more discussion (or banter) between DVO members and supplement the group.
There are advantages and disadvantage of both means of getting messages spread: Any message sent to the yahoo group will go to all members of that group; it is useful therefore for items of news which will be of interest to all.
Some members of the group however don't want to see everything that is broadcast on that group. E.g. discussions on meanings of relay names. Some members are not too happy on having to use their email address for accessing the service.
The message board can be used by anyone who can use a browser. They don't even have to register to send or respond to a message. They can dip in and out of the board when they like. Also, if someone sends a message they don't have to worry that it will go to everyone’s email box. The message board is therefore better for those non-essential bits of information e.g. if there really are ten differences between the two images in Newstrack..........
I will ensure however that all messages sent to the e-group are also put on the message board.
There are set places for messages to go in the forum with separate boards for:
· All things DVO
· Upcoming events
· Rant room
· Past events
but if you have suggestions for others then let me or Mark know.
Similar message boards are working for a few other clubs but if we find that no-one is using the DVO board then we can always lose it.
I hope this is clear but if not I am sure you will let me know!
Stephen Kimberley