Anyway, back onto the orienteering! Today was the first of the NW Night League events, hosted by Deeside Orienteers at Eastham Country Park.

In true Night League tradition, me and mum kicked off our campaign with a Pairs Orange course.

After travelling up earlier in the day (with the best music soundtrack in the world ) we got to the Park in plenty of time and registered… que the mad scramble to find the whistles and dibber!

We set off, and we ran and ran! As the controls were mainly path-based, we were fairly fast with minimal stopping (thanks to Control Flow, Hamish!!).

We arrived back after 30minutes and 4 seconds, a very reputable time I think!

EDIT: Sorry about not updating earlier- the results have been up for a while now but I forgot to add them onto the post!!

We came 3rd out of 6 – 3 minutes behind the people in front – which I feel was fantastic for only our 4th (2nd NW Night League) night event!! Results are available here.

RouteGadget is available for this event here

Garmin Connect data is going to be uploaded shortly for this event

For the latest updates on the move, follow @pendleorienteer on Twitter!

I’ve been asked to do a writeup/press release  for PFO (from a competitors view) about the British Schools Score Championships and I thought I’d treat the blog to some more content …

On the 9th October 2010, PFO hosted the British Schools Score Championships in Witton Park, Blackburn. On arrival, I collected my race-bib from Mr Gray and assembled at the start area, nervously anticipating the 45 minutes ahead.

After being guided through the start lane along with other competitors, I was off on a journey that would take me through ravines, mud, water and fields, all as quickly as I possibly could whilst being battered by strong winds!

Despite a navigational error which resulted in a 5 minute time penalty I came 10th out of 37 in the Year 8 class and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

At the end of the course, I received ”a little bit of Lancashire” in the form of traditional Lancastrian biscuits from the race officials – and made use of Witton Park with the rest of the club!

All-in-all, it was a great day and I had a great time!

The above report is a PFO press release by youngorienteer.

I haven’t been on the blog for a while as I’ve been getting back into the old routine of school & homework – sorry!

Here’s a quick summary of what I’ve been doing since the Lakes5:

• I attended the White Rose Weekend and was really pleased with my Light Green Results on the Saturday and the Sunday, considering that they were my 2nd and 3rd Light Green events. There was also a Night Score event that I took part in – the hardest part was finding the venue!
• Next, I went to the CompassSport Trophy Qualifiers in Formby (on the sand dunes). I decided that I don’t like sand dunes! Enough said…
• On the 25th September, it was the PFO Club Championships at Thompson Park. This was a half-hour score event that acts as the decider for the PFO Junior and Senior Men & Women’s Champion. I came back 2 minutes late, but got 29 out of the 30 controls (a little bit galling as the missed control I had ran past twice!) My brother, Benjamin, was the first boy unaccompanied on Yellow and I became the PFO Junior (M16-) Mens Champion! Yay!
• On the 9th October, it was the British Schools Score Orienteering Championships, hosted by PFO, at Witton Park, Blackburn. I came back 5 minutes late (a record for me!) but came 10th in my age class – apparently it’s enough to get a mention in my school assembly!

Last weekend, PFO took a team to the CompassSport Trophy National Final at Burbage Moor near Sheffield. Me and my mum arrived in plenty of time, and after a quick chat with the rest of the PFO troop we headed off to the start.

Appropriate to my competitive age class on the day, I was to do an Orange, and when arriving at the start I could see that the area was mainly open moorland – my favourite place to orienteer! At 11.50AM, after a slight confusion with the clear box (apparently I punched it twice instead of once!) I was off!

The Legs 1-2-3 were very straightforward to find – it was more about route choice than navigational skills. However, on Control4 (as you can see on my RouteGadget), I made a mess of the route choice and tried to hit the vegetation boundary between open land and woodland – I didn’t notice the minor path running parallel to my route! Although that did cost me some time, it was a good lesson to have learned.

Again, Leg 4-5 was a simple leg, just running along a path/river until you hit a water pit on the left hand side. Leg 5-6 was also fairly straightforward, however the boulder/path layout was not what I had visualized and I did end up a bit confused! In Legs 6-7-8, it was just a straight run to the finish, which was quite handy in making up for lost time at Control 4!

I contributed the maximum 100 points (I won the CompassSport Trophy Orange Mens class!) towards the PFO team score, however we narrowly missed out on a podium place by less than 70 points. It was still our best ever result though!

We all had a fantastic time – roll on CST2011!

RouteGadget is available for this event here

Garmin Connect data is not available for this event

For the latest updates on the move, follow @pendleorienteer on Twitter!

I’ve just returned from the Lakes5 (well, for me Lakes2) event!

Arrival

We (me and dad) arrived at our campsite in Penrith (after watching the Mighty Shakers that are Bury FC) to find our tent set up and ready to go, thanks to Mum, Benjamin and Gabriela (well – Mum really!). We settled in for a late first night, wondering what would happen to us tomorrow afternoon…

Day 1 – Pre-Run

We had a great time on the way to Day 1 of the Lakes5 week – just look at the view from the car!

When we arrived, Mum and I started the 2.6km  walk to the Start… and then I was sent back to get the compasses! After this slight mishap, all was going well… until we saw the final climb ahead. Noo! It was a great view when we got to the top though.

After eventually starting my run (m14b/orange class), I had fairly major navigational errors on two controls – number 1 and number 10 – which cost me 26 minutes (oops!), but apart from those controls I feel that I had a good run.

Of course, a regional event wouldn’t be complete without Wilfs… so I had a Veggie Chillie with cheese and Chocolate Brownie. Mmn!

Splits: here

Garmin Connect (Run): here

Day 2

So, we were up and ready for Day 2 of the Lakes5, in Coniston. We got to the car park in plenty of time, despite being stuck behind a tractor… and then found out that the Assembly/Start was a 2.6km walk from the Car Park. Aagh!

We eventually reached the assembly and the start, I set off on my m14a class run.

Again, I did quite well apart from one control… Control 8, which took 17 minutes. At least I didn’t finish last like the previous day!

I retired to the PFO tent (thank goodness… it was very, very, very, very wet – causing Day 3 to be cancelled) and settled down with a pasta bolognese , tea and chocolate brownie… there is nothing else better than that after a long orienteering run!

We then returned to the car park… spot the ninja turtle!

Splits: here

Garmin Connect (Run): here

Garmin Connect (Walk): here

End

So, after Two days of Orienteering in the picturesque Lake District, it was time to go… roll on next weekend!

On the way home, however, it did rain a bit… okay a lot… fine, no positive spin… LOADS!

Bye!

for the latest information on the move, follow @pendleorienteer on twitter!

The Winning Team was…
Jim Mitchell m65
Richard Catlowe m60
John ashton m21 (!)
Gillian rowan-wilde w21 (!)

The winning team said…
we were lucky! We were good guessers – right up to cyprus at the winning end!

Well done to the Yorkies , who beat the seloc team on a tie-breaker after both teams finished on 52/60 points.

My team, “anything but the rap!” scored 49 points – not bad!

Thanks to Carole and Gillian who organised the event, Maureen who sold the raffle tickets and Anne in charge of the questions.

Essential watching for all young|orienteers!

I haven’t been blogging recently, as i’ve had exams, and basically not enough time!

So, what has happened over the recent period?

Sunnyhurst Woods – 8th May

At Sunnyhurst Woods I competed in a 60-minute score event (where you find as many controls as possible in a time limit), which was contested by 17 people.

I got 370 points in 59:59 (two more seconds & I would have been docked points!) , which was 19 Controls on my run. This included a couple of 30-pointers – the hard ones!

I was very pleased with the outcome of this event – I really enjoy scores!

Whitaker Park Interschools – 13th May

The Whitaker Park Interschools event was attended by 2 schools & 10 people, and the event was another score.

At the event I got all the controls (20), picking up 282 points. I finished a respectable 4th behind fellow BRGS pupils Jacob, Andrew & Jake.

Lakes Training, Day 1 – 15th May

At the Lakes Training Day I learnt how to take an accurate compass bearing, saw the wonder of the Lake District (how they created the roads we went on I do not know!) & basically had a great time! Our day was compass-orientated (pardon the pun!) and I’d like to say thank you to everyone involved in the event! A photo diary will come on young|orienteer soon – you can see how twisty the roads really were!

Pike of Blisco – Day 2 – 16th May

Day 2 of the Weekend was an Regional Orienteering event – and more scary roads! We shared a road junction with Hardknott Pass - the steepest, scariest & possibly most picturesque road in England (1/3 gradient). On arrival, I did the Orange course set up in and around the Langdale Campsite, and I came 6th out of 38 competitors. Yay!

Hameldon Woods – 22nd May

My first Light Green! After the Pike O’Blisco event, I was confident enough to undertake a Light Green course at Hameldon Woods. I came 21st out of 25 (the other 4 mis-punched or retired), and although it took me a while to get round, I managed to find all of the controls and this was a good start to my Light Green adventures.

Marsden Park Interschools – 27th May

The Marsden Park event was a score course, which I won! I found all the controls and I was pleased with the event.

Staghills Woods – 11th June

This was not a post I wanted to write!

OK then, here goes…my mum beat me!

I came 8th of 12th, beating the Colour Standard, which wasn’t that bad on its own, but Mum beat me by 1 minute 36 seconds – not happy!

After that I went onto a Light Green pt. 1 (n/c) and found the first 3 controls ok! The 4th I was looking in the wrong place (it was just over the hill) and all the thicket that had sprung up in the past couple of weeks didn’t help either!

Ah well – there is always next time!

BRGS Orienteering Training – Monday Nights

At our BRGS orienteering training (the first week), we did a score course that had been set out earlier in the day, and I came 3rd out of 10, narrowly missing out on top spot (about 1 minute!). We learnt the principle of planning your next route before you reach the control, and finished by working on our ankles so we didn’t suffer on rough ground.

Any BRGS Pupils reading this - we need new people to join the training – at the moment we have 5! It is on Monday nights, 3.45-5.00 pm, and we would be grateful if you could come – you’ll enjoy yourself!

That’s all for now – but watch out for an article on PFO Club Night, coming your way soon!

(Taken off the official PFO website – http://www.pfo.org.uk)

Although technically beaten by someone, the result did not count as the person in question had already done a course (or two!).

Course Notes

I was pleased with the run, and I didn’t feel as tired as I did at Townley.

Only 1 Control bothered me – Number 11. I actually dibbed in at the wrong control, but as I always double-check my control number, I was able to rectify the situation. Thank goodness!

I registered for the Orange, as that seems to be my course type at the moment. After I looked in on a quick compass lesson that Mum was receiving (she was also doing the Orange) I was off!

Control 1 – 3minutes 45seconds split

Control 2-  0minutes 48secondssplit

Control 3 – 4minutes 44seconds split

Control 4 – 6minutes 25seconds split

Control 5 – 4minutes 28seconds split

Control 6 – 8minutes 00seconds split

Control 7 – 1minute 20seconds split

Control 8 – 8minutes 56seconds split

Finish – 1minute 4seconds split,

TOTAL TIME 39minutes 30seconds

My Course Notes -

Did anyone else choose to cross the river at Control 1? I had a mental debate about it (with myself of course, I’m not telepathic… …sadly…) In the end, I went with my gut instinct and only got a little bit wet!

Did anyone suffer at Control 6? Looking at the times, a few did. I really enjoyed looking for that control because instead of relying on my eyes, I actually had to navigate without one of my senses, which was quite cool! I only saw the control when I got really close to it.

For me, fatigue hit at Control 8. I knew exactly where it was, but my speed hit rock-bottom – I was running on empty. This is reflected in the control split of 8minutes 56seconds.

I came in 6th/10th (not counting the n/c’s), with mum coming in 12minutes behind.

Another orange under the belt!