25-27 May 2013
Chris Branford writes:
The weather in Shropshire was brilliant for the Saturday and Sunday and even Monday was tolerable – so a good holiday weekend. Outstanding results were
Day 1 (Croft Castle): Andy McNally 1st M35L, Keith Henderson 2nd M70L, Lynn Branford 3rd W60S, Sue Hands 3rd W65L, Judith Bland 3rd W70S
Day 2 (Hopton): Keith Henderson 1st M70L, Andy McNally 2nd M35L, Sue Hands 2nd W65L, Martin Cross 3rd M65S
Day 3 (Brown Clee): Andy McNally 2nd M35L
Urban (Ludlow): Sue Hands 3rd Ultra-vet Women
The overall results for Shropshire were finally published. Top WIM places were
Andy McNally M35L 1st
Chris Branford M65L 3rd
Keith Henderson M70L 2nd
Sue Hands W65L 3rd
Well done to all of them!
Above and below left: Hopton assembly and Bucknell Hill
Above right and below: the Urban event at Ludlow
Why do we Orienteer? Competition, Personal challenge, keeping fit, meeting and making friends with like minded people, getting to places with wonderful scenery. We all have our motives and a multi-day event lets you enjoy this to the full with plenty of time to savour the atmosphere, meet people,discuss your exploits and disasters, with always the chance to do better tomorrow.
Springtime in Shropshire 2013 centred on the ancient market town of Ludlow met all these criteria, and if you haven't yet been to a multi-day event then you have missed a great experience. The late Spring Bank Holiday weekend enjoyed spectacularly fine sunny weather so you could forget the chill wind, waterproofs,woolly hats, gloves and car park nightmares. The sun shone, Shropshire looked at its stunning best and the three race venues were spectacularly memorable.
Croft Castle assembly and car park looked out on rolling hills and wooded farmland to the distant Black Mountains and it was great to see people relaxing both before and after their runs. This is when the folding garden chairs come into their own! In contrast day 2 at Hopton was in a sheltered deep valley surrounded by steep rounded wooded hills,which we had to climb. Sitting in the sun by Tom's Burger van eating jacket potatoes and chatting to fellow orienteers was a rare and treasured experience. Day 3 at Brown Clee Hill almost upstaged the other venues with an immense sunlit vista across woodland,farms and ridge after ridge of hills towards the distant Cannock Chase...
The three days of competition challenged everyone, particularly us southerners who don't often come cross really steep hills.
Croft Castle was essentially a huge tilted south facing slab of forest and heathland cut by several re-entrants. The late arrival of a 'protected bird' caused the planners nightmares with the imposition of a 400m exclusion zone, but we enjoyed a good physical and technical challenge to break us back into 'big hill' orienteering.
Hopton tested navigational skills and stamina to the full. The walk to the start was billed as 'a good 30mins up a track' In reality it was a climb of over 500' including a steep final path ascent to be greeted at the start by groups of 'flaked out' competitors interspersed with panic stricken late arrivals. We allowed 1 hour from assembly and it paid off! Once out on the course steep contoured and brashed coniferous woodland challenged navigation on compass bearings and long legs across steeply sloping ground made your O shoes feel as if they would twist off!. Major forest work added to the challenge with sections almost impossible to get through due to huge piles of brashings and massive furrows. Try looking for a platform in smashed woodland when you cannot go in the direction that you want to.(8mins for 200m!) The finish was close to the start so it was back down the 500' which eventually made your legs ache as much as the climb to the start.
Brown Clee, the venue for day 3 ominously advised that it was a downhill walk to the start. We rapidly made up for this once we started! Part open mixed woodland, part rough semi-open in an area of old mine working, and part a wonderful vast short grassy hill side with huge views west into Wales, the area put compass, pacing and map reading skills to the test as well as the physical bit. It was memorable to access a control in a re-entrant crawling on hands and knees up a precipitous slope, as was a long uphill leg across the mined area with bumps,humps,marshes and vague vegetation making following a bearing for a specific distance almost impossible. The only answer was set a bearing on an object in the middle distance and stagger towards it. Repeat as necessary and hope that you will get the marvellous 'buzz' of coming onto the well hidden control from below absolutely on line. Its a rare pleasure to be savoured if you have time! The short grass open hillside looked easy but the milling groups of 'headless chickens' warned that finding a well concealed small gully was not going to be easy. Thank goodness I found it and it had the right control code on it!.
In complete contrast Sunday evening offered the opportunity to run in an urban event in Ludlow and even included the castle. A mixture of route choice,keeping your legs in 'sync' with your brain and very intricate map reading was the order of the day. All courses concluded with a 'sprint O ' within Ludlow Castle including dungeons,towers but no dragons!
With superb weather and everyone staying for 3 days the contrast between the pressure of competition and the relaxed social atmosphere could hardly be greater. You kept meeting people that you knew, groups enjoyed meals both in pubs and fish and chips in the evening sun, whilst savouring the wonderful environment of this part of the world really made the weekend. Atmosphere like this puts a whole new dimension into the Orienteering experience. Try it sometime and you may become an addict! See you at the Scottish 6 days.
John Warren