NEWSTRACK
January 2005
The Return of Great Moments from the Orienteering Archives
Kenny Everett’s prototype dibber was not an immediate success
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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
Editorial
Oh dear – it was all going so smoothly too. Only my second issue and I’ve nominated two of my most prolific contributors for SPOTM and the chairman’s spot has disappeared (well we did have a bumper double issue last time!) Nevermind, at least the Great Moments from the Orienteering Archive has returned (thank you Graham!) Thanks to all contributors, please keep the copy rolling in, ideally by 16th March for publication and circulation ahead of Easter.
Dai Bedwell
Karrimor 2004
The Karrimor International Mountain Marathon (The “KIMM” to most people) is held each year somewhere wild, wet and windy on the last weekend of October. It is a two day fell race run in pairs whilst being self-sufficient i.e. carrying tent, clothing, food etc. I have done this race about 10 times since 1986 and it has often provided an excellent incentive to do some decent fell running and training in the early autumn.
Traditionally my training starts in early September by doing some longish fell races in the Peak District typically about 15 miles. This is then followed by the Lake District Mountain Trial (6 ½ hours), the Peris Horseshoe (4 ¾ hours), Dark and White Mam Tor And Kinder Race (3 hours) and the Sandstone Trail (2 hours). Interspersed between these races I normally manage several other runs of greater than three hours in the Peak District. By mid October I am running fit but exhausted. This training has generally paid off and I have had some really good results.
This year however, out of the races listed above I only managed the Sandstone Trail, a weather-shortened Mountain Trial and very few decent training runs. This proved to be a major handicap and is the reason for the somewhat shortened report on the race. The first day was long but should have been completed in ~7¼ hours. Sadly it took us over 8 hours with my partner, Dave Lawson, looking rather tired as we pitched the tent at the overnight site. I still felt fine at this stage. After a good night’s sleep all of the lack of training came back to haunt me. One trudge up Fan Brycheiniog later and I was exhausted with still 5 hours to go. I decided that we had better call it a day and we walked back to the finish to retire.
On this walk back there was much thought as to what had gone wrong. The weather was excellent, we had good, lightweight kit, the new “balloon bed” was comfortable, we had taken and eaten all of the right food and had slept well. Sadly the only excuse was the lack of training.
The moral of the story is train, train and train some more if you want to do well.
Our action for next year: we could either not enter but that seems to be a waste of all of the kit or we could train more or we could be more realistic. I think the realistic option will be taken and we will enter a shorter course in the hope of being fit enough to make a race of it.
Here’s to next year wherever it is.
Andy Jackson
Greetings from Birdcage Cottage
Firstly greetings to all our old friends in DVO and Happy New Year. Having reached ‘official retirement age’ Roger and I hope to create a bit more time next year for catching up with old friends and hope to get to some DVO social event. It is over three years since we moved up here and we have nearly finished the big jobs doing up Birdcage Cottage. If you are nearby (and we are at home!) we’d be pleased to see you and chat over a coffee.
Secondly, thanks to Graham Johnson for the pleasure he has given us during the many years he has edited Newstrack. I have always found his dry humour and the amazing sidelines he incorporates in event reports very amusing. I hope Graham will find time to continue to write for Newstrack.
Thirdly (or as an oddment) I can’t resist extending the Kevin Cunniffe saga:
Whilst on our recent ‘ retirement holiday’ in New Zealand (where incidentally we greatly enjoyed visiting Roz and Andy [Clayton]) we went for a day ‘tramp’ up Ben Lomond. This involved a three hour contouring path round to the North side of the mountain away from civilisation, followed by a climb to the summit and hopefully half the descent using the cable car. Having set off rather late, by time we had reached the rear of the mountain at 1pm I was becoming concerned about the time of the last cable car. So I hailed an approaching mountain biker (the only person we had seen so far) to ask if he knew the time of the last cable car. He paused, and then said “it’s Roger and Debbie isn’t it”. For those who don’t know, Roger taught Kevin and he was a member of DVO for many years and a regular on Wednesday nights until he moved to York. Our lunch sandwiches took a good hour as we caught up on news. Fortunately he was also able to tell us that the last cable car was late in the evening so we had plenty of time to finish our walk and enjoy a (free) lift in the cable car. As the taxi driver pointed out whilst he took us back to our camp site, it’s a badly kept secret that they don’t check tickets for the downward ride.
Regards to all,
Debbie (and Roger)
Accolades Still Coming in For JK04
Congratulations to John Duckworth on being voted Best Elite Planner by the GB Orienteering Squad. The award was presented at their Inaugural Weekend in early December and was for John's planning of the elite courses on Day 2 of the JK last Easter.
You can next sample John’s planning on the String Course at Longshaw on March 6th.
Street O with a difference!
First Belper, now Venice, or from one World Heritage Site to another! Each year Venice holds an orienteering event around the streets at the beginning of November. Spurred on by Dai and Karen’s reports of last year’s event, some of us are determined to go this year. You can be sure it is a challenging event with plenty of route choice and a need to keep map-contact (Japanese tourists are shown as rough open because you can see over them but they're difficult to get through!). The main event is on Sunday morning but there is a model event on the Saturday.
With cheap flights from East Midlands to the real Venice airport courtesy of EasyJet it shouldn't be too expensive to get there. We will probably fly out on Friday 11th November and back on Monday 14th November, but with daily flights you can make it longer or even come back on the Sunday if you want. You can even catch a Vaporetto or take your personal water taxi direct from the event centre back to the airport after your run on the Sunday provided you’re not too late finishing. Flight times currently are about 1:30 p.m. going out, returning to land at EMA about 6:30 p.m.
If you let me know you are interested I will let you know the moment flight bookings open (after I've booked the one really cheap seat of course!). This is likely to be in June and I will arrange a hotel and entries.
Mike Godfree (01332 515862, Mike.Godfree@bosinternet.com)
Extract from last year’s Venice Street O Model Event Map
What is the Difference between a District Event and a Regional Event?
Judging by the district event at the Budby district event, just before Christmas, the answer is:
£3.50 and a mince pie.
If you can cast your mind back, ooh, three years ago, life was simple and straightforward. You knew exactly where you stood and there was no chance of confusing a district event with a regional event (I’m now reverting to club and badge event so everyone knows what I’m on about, just don’t tell Alex Ross).
At a club event, you knew you’d have a range of seven or eight colour-coded courses graded by length and difficulty, you’d be copying your course from a mastermap, using old-fashioned punches and, like as not, squatting on a reservoir of Elsan fluid (Reservoir Bogs!) for your basic functions. In contrast, a badge event guaranteed you a pre-marked map, entry to your own age class and use of electronic punches and portaloos. You’d happily coughed up double the usual fee in return for these advantages (although shouldn’t the economies of scale actually make the bigger badge event cheaper?)
In the last few years, everything has changed. At club events it’s becoming the norm now for pre-marked maps to be handed out, portaloos are not uncommon whilst old-fashioned punches have become an endangered species rather like John McCririck. In contrast, the new BOF initiative for badge events seeks to introduce a range of 10 courses, one of which you select, not necessarily according to your age class, but according to your whim, taking into account length and difficulty. It only remains for the new BOF scheme to be colour-coded and no-one will be able to tell the difference – except when it comes to forking out an entry fee.
The narrowing gap between the two types of event was emphasised at Budby by the fact that we’d had a badge event on practically the same area, using virtually the same map, only 10 months previously - in fact, I even had the same control at both events. On the other hand, in February, we’re going to have the Midland Championships on Blidworth, an area which should come with a public health warning. My views on Blidworth have been well rehearsed in previous issues of Newstrack., suffice it to say that I regard this venue with the same degree of affection as Jerry Springer The Opera for a fundamental Christian, and it’s about as suitable for a family audience too. I will not bore you any further, but the point is that, at Budby, we had a badge event area being used for a club event, whereas, at this year's Midland Championships, we will have the reverse.
So, I ask myself, what are we actually getting for our £7.50 at a badge event that we’re not getting for our £3.50 at a club event? Precious little, it seems to me, so is there any point any longer in separating the two? The main reason for perpetuating the distinction is a purely financial one, because as matters stand, clubs, the regional association and BOF make far more money from the former than the latter, because they charge more. Nothing wrong with that, the money has to come from somewhere, but if this remains largely the only reason for maintaining the labelling, would a little honesty not go amiss?
Graham Johnson
Local Fixtures
January
30th EM DVO District Event. Whitesprings, Matlock. GR/292655.
C4 Dave
Walker, 01332 574003. dave@walkerj222.freeserve.co.uk £4.00/£1.00. Fam
£9
EPS-SI. String course. No dogs in competition area.
February
6th YH SYO Regional Event. Bradfield Moor, Sheffield. SK/236919.
C3 Entries:
D. Best, 94 Ringstead
Crescent, Crosspool,
Sheffield, S10 5SJ, 0114 230 2621.
colinallanb@yahoo.co.uk
CD: 19/01/05. £7.50/£3.00. Lim EOD + £1.50/£1.00. Chq:
SYO. EPS-SI. Lim CC course - up to Lt Green, String course. Parking £1.00. No
dogs.
6th EM LOG District Event. Stapleford Woods, Newark. SK/862573.
C4 Karl Pickworth,
01526 320136. pickworths@aol.com
£4.00/£2.00. EPS-SI. Dogs on leads. Parking £1.00. www.logonline.org.uk
13th EM NOC Robin Hodd Trophy Regional Event & Midland Champs. Blidworth Woods,
C3 Mansfield. SK/598524. Entries: Joy Cholerton,
The Doves, 40
Fairdale Drive, Newthorpe,
Nottingham, NG16 2FG, 01773 715234. peter@cholerton.fsnet.co.uk
CD: 31/01/05. £8.00/£3.50 (inc Studs + over 65's),
Family £19.50 +50p SI hire. Lim EOD. Chq: NOC. EPS-SI. String course. Lim CC
EOD £4.00/£2.00. www.noc-uk.org
17th EM DVO Half Term Local Event. Shipley Country Park, Heanor. GR/455430.
C5 Val
Johnson, 01773 824754. Gmjandfam@aol.com £2.50/£1.00. White to Light
Green.
19th NW MDOC British Night Championships. Watergrove, Rochdale. SD/910180.
C2N Entries:
Sue Birkinshaw, 221
Hale Road, Hale,
Altrincham
Cheshire, WA15 8DN, 0161 980 5068. bnc2005@mdoc.org.uk
CD: 05/02/05. £8.00/£3.00. No EOD, but late entry up to
17/02/05 +£2 surcharge. Chq: MDOC. EPS-SI.
Starts 6.00 to 7.30pm. Internet Entry preferred via website. No
dogs. www.mdoc.org.uk
20th YH HALO Regional Event. Broughton Woods, Scunthorpe. SE/955108.
C3 Entries:
Mike Cope, 18 Burniston
Road, Hull, HU5 4JY, 01482 442489.
mike.cope@ukgateway.net
CD: 07/02/05. £6.50/£3.00. Lim EOD +£1.00/50p. Chq:
HALO. EPS-SI. Lim CC courses - O & LG. No dogs. www.halo-orienteering.org.uk
20th WM HOC/BUOC District Event, Lickey Hills, Birmingham. SO/997753.
C4 Peter
Broad. £4.00/£2.00. String course. www.harlequins.org.uk
26th EM DVO Local Event. West Park, Long Eaton.
C5 Rob Shooter 0115 9322945 £2/£1. Dogs on leads at all times. www.dvo.org.uk
27th EM LEI Compass Sport Cup 1st Round. Belvoir, Grantham. SK/817337.
DVO Entries via John Hurley. £7.00/£3.50. EPS-SI. String course. Dogs only in Car
Park.
www.leioc.org.uk
March
6th EM DVO Regional Event & East Midland Champs. Longshaw Estate, GR/268790.
C3 Organiser: V Macdonald & M Keeling, 01629 734307. r.macdonald@shu.ac.uk
Entries: Mike Godfree, 26 Rangemoor Close,
Mickleover, Derby, DE3 9JU, 01332 515862. mike.godfree@bosinternet.com
CD: 28/02/05. £8.00/£4.00. Family £20.00. Lim EOD +
£1.00/50p. Family + £2.00. Chq: DVO. EPS-SI. String course. Parking £1.00. Dogs
in car park only.
12th EM NOC Local Night Event. Bulwell Hall Park, Nottingham. SK/534467.
C5N Tony
Donaldson, 0115 8774089. tonyxdonaldson@yahoo.co.uk £2.00/£1.00.
13th YH CLARO Regional Event & YHOA Championships. Brimham & Hartwith, Pateley
Bridge. SE/209643. Entries: Tim Moon, 18 Middleton Avenue Ilkley West Yorkshire LS29 0AH, 01943602429. www.claro-orienteering.org
CD: 28/02/05. £6.00/£2.00. Lim EOD + £1.00/£1.00. Chq:
CLARO. EPS-SI. String course. Parking £1.50 Dogs on lead in car park CD for
internet entries - 06/03/05. www.claro-orienteering.org
13th EM NOC District Event. Bestwood Country Park, Nottingham. SK/572465.
C4 Garry Drew, 0115 8406748. garry.drew@ntlworld.com £4.00/£1.50. EPS-SI. String
course.
www.noc-uk.org
19th EM DVO Local Event. Black Rocks, Cromford, Matlock. GR/292558.
C5 Mike
Godfree. mike.godfree@bosinternet.com
£2.00/£1.00. Dogs on leads at all times.
20th YH AIRE Regional Event. Simon's Seat, Barden Bridge, Skipton. SE/053574.
C3 Entries:
David Shelley, 33
Newfield Drive, Menston,
Ilkley, West Yorkshire, LS29 6JQ, 01943 875935 (before 9pm). CD: 07/03/05. Fees TBA. No EOD. Chq: Airienteers. EPS-SI.
String course. No dogs. www.aire.org.uk
20th EM LEI Regional Event. Wakerley, Corby. SP/960987.
C3 Entries: Roger Williamson, 63 Loughborough Road, Quorn, Loughborough, Leics, LE12 8DU, 01509 412132. rwilliamson@rawlinscollege.org.uk CD: 28/02/05. £7.50/£2.50. Lim EOD + £1.00/£1.00. Chq: Leicestershire Orienteering Club. EPS-SI. String course. Lim CC courses - W to LGr +Red. Dogs on lead. www.leioc.org.uk
26th-28th WM JAN KJELLSTROM ORIENTEERING FESTIVAL
C1 26th - JK INDIVIDUAL DAY 1, WRE, Brown Clee, Ludlow. SO/595855.
C1 27th - JK INDIVIDUAL DAY 2, WRE, Cannock Chase, Stafford.
R1 28th - JK Relay Championships. Hopwas, Lichfield. SK/167052.
Individual Entries: JK 2005, Oak Lodge, Wellington Heath, Ledbury, HR8 1NB. 01531 631220 (up to 9pm). indentry@jk2005 CD1: 10/1/05, CD2: 28/2/05, CD3: 18/3/05. Fees CD1: £24.00/£12.00, CD2: £28.00/£12.00, CD3: £32.00/£12.00. (half for 1 day). Chq: JK 2005. The preferred method of entry is by internet via the JK 2005 website. Debit cards preferable. Credit cards are acceptable but bank charges are higher. EPS-SI. String course. Lim CC courses - £5.00/£3.00. No dogs on Day 1. On leads other days. Relay Entries through John Hurley by 20th February
April 6th DVO 'Come and Try It' event for 8 year olds and upwards. Rosliston National Forest Centre Wednesday 6th April 10.00 until 12.00 am Rex Bleakman (01283) 733363. Volunteers required to help for this event in the school holidays.
Dave McGivern
Colleagues will be shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Dave McGivern on Friday 14 January. Dave was an enthusiastic orienteer and willing helper and he will be sorely missed by the Club.
Our thoughts are with Jean, his wife, and his family and friends.
An article about Dave will appear in the next edition of Newstrack.
An Exchange of Correspondence Between A DVO Member and the East Midlands Fixtures Secretary
Dear Ian,
On 30th January :
· DVO are organizing a district event at Whitesprings.
· Walton Chasers are organising a district event at Hawksmoor.
· DEE are organising a regional event at Delamere Forest.
If these had been held on consecutive weekends, I would certainly have gone to the Whitesprings and Hawksmoor events, and may have travelled to the DEE event too. As it is, instead of going to three events, I am restricted to going to only one. I have one third of the enjoyment I otherwise would have done and two clubs are deprived of my income and that of others in a similar position.
If this were not bad enough, the previous Sunday, 23rd January, there is no orienteering event of any description for a 75 mile radius, the nearest being EPOC's Ogden Water regional event.
I assume this imbalance is not deliberate and wonder therefore how this can be, and what discussions go on at a national and regional level before fixtures are listed. Is there any attempt to avoid fixture congestion as on 30th Jan and, if so, how did the clash occur, and why is there no Midlands event on 23rd?
I hope this does not read as if I am getting at you, I am not, I am getting at the system which has allowed this to happen. Unless somebody, ie me, raises questions, nothing will ever change.
Yours inquisitively,
Graham Johnson
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Dear Graham,
The method of allocating fixtures is as follows:
Nationals and championships are allocated at the national fixtures meeting, supposedly at least 2 years ahead. As you are probably aware, most parts of the country are experiencing access problems in one form or another. Therefore, this period shrinks to sometimes less than a year. Badge events are then allocated at the national meeting by negotiation, to avoid clashes. The excepted distance is 100 miles, unless by mutual agreement. We are currently up to the end of 2006. But, all these are liable to change, and a lot do. The changes are handled by e-mail, with notice going to all regional fixtures secretaries asking for comments and objections.
After all these slots are filled, I ask for bids for EM C4 events. I allocate these based on all known events in surrounding regions, but taking special account of C3 and above.
Unfortunately, the period from mid Jan to mid April gets very congested, so it is very difficult to please everybody, and avoid clashes. I work on the principle that there shouldn't be clashes of C4 and above in the EM. To answer your specific concerns, I try to avoid close clashes, but unless I keep a close eye on the National Fixtures list, clashes like this will slip through. I do send our list to neighbouring secretaries, but I rarely get one in return. We get more visibility of events coming up now there is partial registration available.
Now to get personal!
You are purely speaking as a northern resident of the region. Persons in the south of the East Midlands have a perfectly good C3 at Star Posts on the 23 Jan. Also, on the 29/30 Jan, it is as quick for me to get to the Thetford Thrash as Whitesprings. Therefore, for this reason it is even more difficult to please all people, everywhere in the EM, all of the time!
We are very fortunate/unfortunate (dependent on your point of view) that we are in the centre of the country, surrounded on most sides by other regions holding events. You are very fortunate most of the time living where you do, so just catch up with all those jobs you keep putting off if you don't want to travel to Star Posts.
Regards
Ian.
(So, that’s sorted that. Thanks to just one letter, this conflict can never happen again. With the aid of just a bottle of correcting fluid, Captain Keyboard saves the day. Cue heroic music)
CIRCUITS
Get rid of those extra Christmas inches, with the added bonus of getting fitter and stronger at the same time.
Circuit training, DVO style, happens every Friday evening in term time.
Venue: Woodlands Community School, Belenheim Drive, Allestree, Derby.
Time: 6.30 – 7.30pm
Cost : £1.50
What is it? A mixture of exercises, done to music, at your own pace.
Nobody counts what you do, we’re too busy counting our own.
What exercises? Traditional sit ups, press ups, skipping and weights plus wobble cushions, (to help those dodgy ankles) and exercise balls (the fun bit).
Come along and join us, all abilities welcome.
Val Johnson 01773 824754 or gmjandfam@aol.com
East Midland Champs on 6th March at Longshaw.
Could club members who want to run please enter in the normal way by post in good time but with half the advertised entry fee. Please don't leave it to do entry on the day as distances between start, finish & registration will be longer than usual. I will give you an open start time so you can fit in with whatever job you do.
For children please make sure you enter the correct class if you want to be considered for the East Midlands Trophy. M/W10 will be awarded on JM/JW2, M/W12 on JM/JW3, M/W14 on JM/JW4, M16 on JM5M, W16 on JW5S, M18 on JM5L, W18 on JW5L, M20 on JM5L, W20 on JW5L.
Mike Godfree
To celebrate
our wedding and forthcoming retirement
Steve and Margaret
invite all our DVO friends
to join our family and colleagues
at a Celeidh
Woodlands School Hall, Blenheim Drive,
Allestree, Derby
Saturday April 9th 2005
7pm to 11pm
