Staffs Summer Series 1 – Hoar Cross

A very tired Stodge rocked up at the first Staffordshire Summer Bike O series after a little commute from Sweden to Manchester on Tuesday morning.

Planner Neil had deliberately planned a course that could not be cleared in the time available making me think hard before blasting off into the lanes North of Hoar Cross.

The area is deceptively hilly and it seemed to take a while to cover the ground.

The two controls 43 and 36 made me laugh. Coming out of 43 across a field and through a ‘horse’ gated garden in a building site, I came to a lane, turned right and took the next bridleway sign back into the same field about 40 metres from where I had just been. All nice and legal though!

After that it was out onto the escarpment and a series of controls with a fairly obvious route. It was here that I made a huge mistake, probably my worst in all forms of orienteering for years and years, Ill put it down to tiredness.

Coming out of 31 going to 47 I did a classic parallel error but very magnified, descending a road to early and only when I got to what I thought should be the control site did I realize I was nearly 2km away from the actual site. Id thought a few times on the way in that things didn’t feel quite right – doh!

This then meant that the only sensible route to the real control site was a cross field trudge which cost me even more time. I think all in all it cost me about 10-12 mins.

After that I just got stuck in and did as much of my original plan as possible but had to miss out number 44 as there wasn’t time.

Time for a rest ready for the British Championships on Sunday I think. It was a great first event, a little low on numbers but a beautiful area and one I’m sure we will come back to.