West Midlands Orienteering Association
POTOC Local Event
Saturday 25th March 2006
name club class time
1 Hannah Garside,
Jenny and Michael Choeung WCH W12 24.00
2 Jessica Palphreyman WCH W10 27.15
3 Peter Riley POTOC M12 40.20
name club class time
1 Mike Harrison and Jill Ind M21 30.15
2= Jordan Millward Ind M20 30.35
2= Catriona Richards SAX W18 30.35
4 Steve Green Ind M40 31.40
5 Anthea Evans and Family Ind 42.00
6 Mavis Bailey POTOC W60 47.00
7 Beryl Pay WRE W70 54.00
8 Farrell Family POTOC 61.00
9 Rosie Thomas WCH W50 68.47
10 Viv and Family Ind 97.00
James Witte POTOC M12 DNF
name club class time
1 Pat Pay WRE M65 30.20
2 Clare Garside WCH W14 42.30
3 Pete March POTOC M45 44.25
4 Mhairi Richards SAX W21 50.55
5 Holly Stodghill and Dad WCH W4 51.15
Jonathon Howell WCH M50 DNF
name club class time 1 Seth Thomas POTOC M50 53.20 2 George Lamplough POTOC M35 55.00 3 Jon Millward POTOC M35 55.45 4 Austin Farr POTOC M60 58.25 5= Barry McGowan HOC M55 60.40 5= Cath Williams WCH W21 60.40 7 Declan Stack Ind M21 63.45 8= Don Richards SAX M45 64.00 8= Frazer Stephens SPLOT M35 64.00 10 Sophie Thomas WCH W16 65.50 11 Barry Chambers DEE M55 66.50 12 Geoff Hollins POTOC M50 67.45 13 Gerry Riley POTOC M45 69.45 14 James and Elizabeth Purcell WCH M40 71.15 15 Gordon Witte POTOC M50 72.15 16 John Pigott POTOC M60 79.50 17 Andrew Curry Ind M45 82.40 18 Marion Denham POTOC W60 105.40 19 Dave Sparks POTOC M60 106.10 20 Alex Sparks Ind W60 133.04
Welcome to the people who were new to orienteering. I hope you enjoyed the event.
There were people "on hand" to give help. When in doubt, either go back to the last known banner, or to the start and ask for help. It is a good idea for children to run in pairs, or with an adult, at these "come and try it" events. Details of coming events can be found in Stone library and others, or you can join The Potteries Orienteering Club (POTOC), or you can pay £1 for a Downs Banks permanent course map, to use the area again. (POTOC run these "come and try it" events monthly in different areas.)
Welcome also to the regular orienteers, to a training event, where you could hone your skills, as this was not a competition. It was possible to improve compass work, route choice, use of handrails, attack points, terrain recognition, speed etc. Maybe, you could choose any 2 people, or a helper, to run together, as 2 heads are better than one, and learn from each other. For these reasons, I used mini banners, some of which were chained, for safety, on the difficult course. As you could not see the banners from miles away, you had to be accurate! The undergrowth was so low, that normal banners were like beacons, making accuracy unnecessary. It was possible to do a short course, 1-8+23, if you found it hard.
It was difficult to make really interesting courses for 2 reasons. The major one was the fences put in by the National Trust for cattle grazing. The other reason is that it is a very public open area (with risk of theft or vandalism). By 8 oCHrsquopclock, the car park was filling up rapidly with dog walkers. Also, the National Trust are having problems with bikes and new paths appear every week. We tried to update the map.
We were very lucky with the weather -- it poured down when we were 50m from the car with the last banners! We were also lucky with the road, which should have been closed.
I hope you enjoyed your orienteering and will encourage your family. Schoolchildren are very welcome. I hope to see you all at other events.
Very many thanks to my helpers, who make such events possible.