at Moors Valley Country Park on 9 May 2014
Clayesmore and South Wilts Schools lining up ready for action at the Dorset Schools Score Championships on Friday
View Chris Branford's photos on Flickr
Dick Keighley writes:
Very many thanks to WIM and WSX helpers for all your hard work helping at the Dorset Schools event. It was reassuring to know, when I retreated to the tent to start computing, that the event was up and running efficiently and with such an experienced team, likely to remain so. Little did I know what we were in for!
It had to happen, I suppose. After years of events passing without incident, this year's event was notable for the fact that we had to cope with not one but two emergencies. Firstly, two girls from S Wilts managed to injure themselves and had to be retrieved from the forest, one in John Warren's car, the other in the FC truck, which then necessitated having to fill in Accident report forms etc. Many thanks also to Wendy Heard for her medical expertise. Fortunately the girls were then able to return to school in their minibus.
Then, our final two competitors, a pair from Hyde, who have successfully completed courses in the past, managed to run out of the area where the course was located, and roamed the forest for some time. However, having found the cycle path they sensibly followed signs back towards the Visitor Centre. They were retrieved on the way by Becca Ellis, out collecting controls and returned to their worried parents almost an hour later than they should have been. Fortunately they weren't too distressed by their experience and seemed highly amused to have amassed a large negative points total.
Including those running in pairs, we had exactly 100 children competing yesterday, which is about 4 less than last year, when we were boosted by the coachload from Gillingham Encouragingly, we had more schools represented than for some time.
Thanks to Ian Sayer, Chris Branford, John Warren, Chris Turner and the rest of the search party. Lets hope that next year the event returns to normality.
Thank you to Dick Keighley for organising these Championships and the Dorset Schools League; also to John Warren for planning this event, Chris Branford for controlling it, and the many helpers from WIM and WSX orienteering clubs.
Team Results: Senior Schools 1st Clayesmore 2250 points, 2nd S Wilts GS 1545
Middle & Primary 1st St Michaels, Colehill 1120 points, 2nd Broadstone Middle 1115, 3rd Hyde 690, 4th Dunbury Academy 620