Event Report – Worcestershire Beacon – Malverns

Straight away I’ll point out this is a bit of a strange posting as I retired, so for a change the map below is my 6 yr old daughters yellow course…..
The mist cleared as we headed down the M5 to Malvern for the National Interclubs – Compass Sport Cup qualifier, held on Worcestershire Beacon. I had a very early start and after a quick bus ride to the start area, a very steep climb brought an exposed start area and cold hands. I started ok but after 4 controls of contouring my old right foot injury started to hurt, so much so it was also distracting me and I made a couple of daft mistakes. Knowing there was good representation from other club members on the Brown course and I still had most of the course ahead of me I decided to retire and jogged back to the finish.  I then shadowed Holly round her Yellow course which enabled me to enjoy the awesome views to the East and West from this ridge.
Retiring is always something difficult to do, particularly when representing the club but I could not risk another long term foot injury. With some good results under my belt in foot orienteering recently I was being tempted to do more and more but I have decided to reign in the running and get back to the bike which has to remain my core focus this year.
Unfortunatley Chasers did not qualify in the end but hopefully the new crop of very young juniors will start to come through over the coming years and we will regain our strength in depth.