Category: Orienteering

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Cough Cough Cough Cough!

I’m very aware I am not posting very much on my blog at present, having been ill and don’t want to be too negative but thought I’d better do a little update.
It started with a small calf strain following the snowy street orienteering event at the end of November. After a couple of days rest I stupidly took the Singlespeed out on a recreational ride round Hanchurch Woods. At the end of this my calf was worse than ever so I was forced to rest it. I then caught a stomach bug from Holly, followed by full on Flu. It wasn’t that man flu thing where you sniff a bit, I was flat out on the sofa for two days, finding it hard to do anything. The cold from this flu then went to my chest and I’ve been trying to cough my lungs up pretty much since.
I had been looking forward to the Military Challenge, and by all accounts it was a classic, won by Ben Plowman in a little under 3 hours just 47 secs in front of Ifor. Full results and maps available here

http://www.emituk.com/results/2010/101229_baoc/index.htm

The turn out for the event is a little disappointing, there usually being far more competitors when it is on the weekend before Xmas.
So what next for me, well I tried a 30 min recovery ride on the turbo last night which didn’t go particularly well, forcing more coughing a wheezing, so it was definitely the right decision not to go down to Longmoor.
Today (30th dec) I feel a little better so I might do another turbo recovery ride tonight and perhaps a slightly longer MTB ride on New Years Eve. I am meant to be running in the New Years Day score foot O event, and the club champs is on Sunday. Hmmm a bit too much too soon I think……..
 

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Preview – Military Challenge 2011

With Christmas fast approaching, its that time of year that brings a long trip down south for the event made to burn off those extra calories gained in the party season: The Military Challenge.

The Challenge for me over the last few years has been not just the event but the travel there and back, particularly last year when the event was nearly cancelled due to the snowy conditions.  

This year the timing of the event moves to the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year and the event returns to Longmoor Camp, with a promise of more intricate navigation with a series of butterfly loops. See you there!

http://www.baoc.org.uk/events/101229_flier.pdf

 

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Stodge-blog has the egg-factor!

Stodge-blog won ! Thanks to everyone who voted, my egg cup and certificate arrived this morning. Together with a case of cereal. Forget X factor, Strictly or any other annual reality TV voting extravaganza, the Stodge-blog vs Molly and the Princess battle topped them all.
So how come I won when Molly jumped ahead on the last night. I dont know much but apparently there was some voting irregularities by parties unknown that Dorset Cereals had to investigate before eventually declaring the mountain bike the winner.
Trouble is I'm now winning the December awards, time to take the vote for me widget down I think.
Thanks again and thanks to Dorset Cereals, other cereals are available but yours are the best, Stodge.

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Urban Night-O (In The Snow)

With urban orienteering becoming very popular in the UK, Walton Chasers has, for a while, been trying to prioritise ideas for areas to map. An obvious area to start with are the dense blocks of housing estates ranging from those built in the 60s through to very recent ones centred on the heartland of Chasers – Walton High School in Stafford.

Tuesdays normal gym training was cancelled due to exams, so Cath decided to organise a trial Urban-O using a cobbled together map to evaluate the area . As the snow fell it looked like I might be the only competitor, but in the end 15 souls braved the sub zero temperatures to slip and slide their way around a course designed with controls in the gardens of member’s houses.
There was much chat pre-start about which shoes would be best in the snow; trainers, fell running or dobspiked orienteering shoes. I opted for dobbed and my Spiked VJ Supras gave perfect traction, the tungsten spikes gripping on even the most slippery surfaces.

I started well, not going too fast, and ran cleanly making no navigational mistakes until I lost time on a duff route choice from 6 to 7, and then managed to disqualify myself. I didn’t realise there were control descriptions on the map with the house numbers where the controls were located. At number 8 I ran along until I saw a WCH sticker in the rear window of a car I knew and then started searching their garden in vain. After a minute I eventually gave up thinking the control had been taken in, the owner assuming everyone had gone through. When I finished everyone else pointed out I should have been in the next door neighbour’s garden as they are also members – doh!

Towards the end of the race my legs started to feel the constant impact of running in offroad shoes on hard surfaces. A closed locked gate back into the school that many jumped over forced me to run all around the school trying to find a way in, eventually climbing the hill to the top of the school losing a couple of minutes, but also pulling a calf muscle in the process.

It was a great way to spend an evening and I’m sure it will be repeated whenever the Gym is closed in the future.

Route-gadget and map are available here.