Club News by Karin Kirk news@octavian-droobers.org
LONDON CITY AND REGENTS PARK
On Saturday club members enjoyed some great racing around the City of London. The courses were designed to make the most of the multi level Barbican area at the start and over 1000 runners had to make fast route choices to reach the controls via tunnels, staircases and skirting prominent landmarks such as the Gherkin tower and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Matt Halliday M20 was 7th out of 191 runners on the 8.9k Mens Long course clocking up 59.04mins and on the Womens Long 7.1k course Sophie Kirk W20 was 9th in 1.03.50 and Jo Halliday W21 13th 1.06.07. Lesley Ross W40 was 8th on the 5.8k course in 58.18mins and Jane Halliday W50 12th in 47.17mins on her course. Alfie Bullus M12 had a great run coming in 11th in 18.24mins on the children’s course.
On the following day London Orienteering Club organised an Ultra Sprint race around part of Regents Park including two specially constructed mazes adding further challenges. The event comprised three preliminary sprint races followed by a final. Having earned places in the final OD’s Matt Halliday came 2nd in the Mens Open 5 secs behind the winner, Sophie Kirk was 3rd and Jo Halliday 4th in the Womens final and in the Womens Vets Jane Halliday came 2nd and Liz Phillips 4th.
The Peter Palmer junior national relay championships were also held this weekend and the club fielded 2 teams. The races started before dawn and the juniors wore headlamps on the early legs to aid navigation around the army base at MOD Stafford. The A team of Matt Elkington, Harrison McCartney, Calum Barnetson, Julie Emmerson, Rachel Emmerson, Aimee Morse and Will Gardner were the fastest team but unfortunately the team were disqualified by a mis punch on the final leg. The less experienced B team came in an excellent 11 place out of the 25 teams, team members were Stephen Elkington, Guy Ross, Heather Rogers, Ellie Beach, Hamish Rogers, Sam Hart, Jeremy Knott and Michael Hanson Morris.
13th September 2011
ORIENTEERING IN AUGUST
Many club members spent some of their holidays travelling to various events in the UK and overseas.
Taking part in the South East Middle Distance Championships Riina Kuuselo W21 came 1st on the 4.8k Brown course at Nut Wood and Gatton Park.
In the French Alps running concurrently with the world championships and on the same highly technical terrain 5000 competitors from 57 countries enjoyed beautiful scenery and brilliant blue skies. The best OD scorers after 6 events, 5 to count, were Jessica Halliday W21 Elite who came 9th overall and Richard Gardner M55 19th.
Over the August Bank Holiday many club members enjoyed the challenging White Rose Weekend in Yorkshire and after the 2 days Stephen Elkington’s combined score earned him 3rd place overall in the M14 category. Harrison McCartney was 5th running up into the M16 class and Guy Ross 2nd on the M18 Short course. Alan Segar was placed 3rd in the M35L class, Chris McCartney 4th on M40 Long, Tony Feltblower 5th M50L and John Middler 5th M55 Short, Robert Brandon 3rd on the M60L, Mike Hampton 2nd and Peter Carey 5th on the M65L. Aimee Morse was placed 1st on the W14 course and Julie Emmerson also came 1st and Rachel Emmerson 3rd on the W16 course. On the W35L course Anne Straube was placed 2nd, Lesley Ross W40L 3rd and Sheila Carey won the W65L course.
An Urban orienteering event took place in Sheffield and Julie Emmerson came in 4th on the 4k course. Also competing was Will Critchley, who has now returned to Canada, coming in 7th on the long course who then went on to win the Lincoln City race the next day in 52.56mins on the long 8.7k course where Mike Hampton came 2nd in 43.01mins on the 5.1k C course.
12th September 2011