![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.stodgell.co.uk\/pics\/2009\/smLickeyhills.jpg\" "\\"Lickey")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My original intention had been to race a Dark and White Trailquest this Sunday (canceled due to snow), but thought that rather than 3 hours out in the cold on the road bike some technical training might be a good idea, hence the short trip down the M5 to Bromsgrove with the family.<\/p>\n
Unlike most West Midland Orienteers I don’t know the Lickey Hills at all but was pleasantly surprised by this little wood, with lots of variation of terrain and lots of climb. The planner was from BUOC (Birmingham University)<\/a> and I felt given the restrictions of the area\u00a0she did a good job, however the map particularly the vegetation really needs some updating and is inconsistent.<\/p>\n I had a clean run with many fastest splits but my major mistake came at #12 when\u00a0<\/em>I came upon\u00a0the top of a steep bank which I could just not find on the map anywhere, and wondered if I had really lost the plot. After following my mantra of ‘get out get back in again’ after a mistake,\u00a0I came\u00a0in again\u00a0upon the same place, then noticing the bank marked under an out of bounds area, surrounded by a fence (which was missing on the ground) I quickly found the control –\u00a0 3 mins lost….<\/p>\n I was fairly happy with the result of 7th\u00a0particularly against some good competition but frustrated with my error, although the splits show that it is really my running speed on the hills that is losing me time. My original intention had been to race a Dark and White Trailquest this Sunday (canceled due to snow), but thought that rather than 3 hours out in the cold on the road bike some technical training might be a good idea, hence the short trip down the M5 to Bromsgrove with the family. Unlike most … <\/p>\n
\nResults here<\/a><\/p>\nMark Stodgell (stodge)<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"