WAOC Captains Page

JK Report

A super turnout from club members at the JK, and we were treated to sunny weather and exciting orienteering.

The weekend began with a sprint race around the UWE campus. Of the eleven club members who had a go at this event Helen Gardner's 33rd place in Women's Open was the club's top placing.  The rest of us need some practice at this discipline.

The Individual races were based in the Forest of Dean and courses were physically challenging with difficult route choice decisions.  The first individual day was mostly in the Sallowvallets area - characterised by steep and deep valleys.  Congratulations to Thomas Hemingway - 1st place on M12B.  Well done also to the following:

The second individual day was on the more open and undulating terrain of Beechenhurst Woods.  This caught some of us out.  Chris Morley (8th on Saturday - 51st on Sunday).  Well done to the following:

I was very pleased that the club was able to put together a team for the JK Trophy relay race.  Well done particularly to Simon Gardner who took on the responsibility of the first leg and to Rolf Crook, Steve Hinshelwood and Peter Gardner who all produced consistent performances giving the WAOC Wolves a final position of 21st.  Well done also the the WAOC Wallabies - Penny and Helen Bickle and Sophie Louth who came in 21st on the Women's Short, and the WAOC Wildcats - Graham Louth, Ben Holland and Mike Bickle - 26th on the Men's Short.  The best result of the day was delivered by the WAOC Whippets - Thomas Louth, Jonathon Cronk and Ed Louth, 4th place on the Intermediate Men's Course.  Jonathon was 2nd fastest on his course.

We had quite a lot of disqualifications in the relays - I am happy to believe that this is a result of the intense commitment runners were showing to their teams, determined to shave a few microseconds from their times.  For most of us the emit technology felt a bit awkward but it is generally robust  so I suggest we plan to practice with the card before the  next emit event.

Thank you to all competitors for turning out for the club, and thank you to the committee for contributing to the entry fees.

Other recent events:

SUFFOC District Event at Daisy Woods - well done to Todd Cooper (3rd on Yellow); Diane Williamson (5th on Green); David Cronk (5th on Blue) and Steve Hinshelwood (2nd on Brown).

HAVOC District Event at Thorndon Woods - well done to Mihir Chandraker (2nd on Yellow).

SMOC EA Schools Event at Brogborough - well done to Jonathon Cronk (1st on Yellow); Mike Bickle (1st on Blue); Katrin Sengerova (2nd on Orange) and Rolf Crook (2nd on Brown).

Please let me know if you know of any other recent success for WAOC runners.

British Championships

Good luck to all WAOC runners at the British Championships.  I will try to get the club tent up on the individual day so do give me a hand if you see me struggling.  The terrain is open hillside with some small contour and rock features.  It will be easy to see where you're going but hard to relocate if you lose contact with the map so review a couple of old maps on similar terrain as a bit of armchair training.

There are relay places for everyone who has asked for one.  Competition will be intense for the three coveted places on the Men's premier team and will be decided on min/km for the individual race with a small arbitrary fudge factor to compensate runners on the very longest courses. 

Harvester

I have not been able to rouse enough enthusiasm for the journey down to Cornwall to put together a competitive Adult Team - while logistics present more of a problem for a very enthusiastic junior team.  For those disappointed not to get the opportunity to get hopelessly lost in the dark at Penhale I suggest that we think about getting hopelessly lost in the dark at Mynedd Mawr - for which you will have to lobby Peter Allen.

Steve Hinshelwood