Last Thursday (27th March) the dog-walkers at Hackthorpe Wood got a bit more company than they expected – 150 primary school children sprinting, jogging and walking round the paths, while adults stood at key junction trying to stop them going too far off course.
It was the Eden Valley Sports Partnership annual orienteering event. The children started with two activities in the grounds of the Village Hall to get them accustomed to the ideas of using a map, dibbing controls and checking codes: firstly a maze event on the tennis court created with road-closure barriers (kindly supplier by Kier), and secondly a mini-course around the play area.
Then they were let loose in the woods on three parallel White/Yellow standard courses. Virtually all the children them got round successfully by one means or another and the levels of enthusiasm and noise at the finish were amazing.
All this was achieved thanks to the efforts of Border Liners volunteers. The team was led by Christine who put a huge amount of work in advance setting it all up. On the day Julie, Gary, Nancy and Trish did the coaching, Keith sorted out download and results and Karen put out controls. Once the schools had gone everyone took the chance to recover with a peaceful wander round the courses collecting controls.
Thanks to Julie from Eden Valley Sports Partnership for the photos
Border Liners Orienteering Club 