The BL Saturday series event at High Pike on Saturday was excellent. Planner Jeff’s courses made the most of the terrain; on the technically difficult courses, well chosen control sites meant that you had to keep navigating all the way to the feature, while the easier courses had a good balance between interest and relatively simple navigation.
It was good to see that the Red course, designed for fell (and other) runners with little or no orienteering experience, had a fair number of takers – hopefully they all enjoyed it and will come again. On the other hand, the Yellow course, very disappointingly, had no one. This is something the club needs to be worried about and maybe it’s time to have a paid development/publicity officer, as many other clubs do. There is going to be an open discussion on the subject at the AGM in October so do come along and make your views known.
Thanks to Natalie for organising the event so well and allowing us to use her garden for registration and download. She also supplied hot drinks and somewhere to sit and chat after running – it made for a very sociable event.
Club coach Julie held a training session before the event as she often does at Saturday events. It’s a great way for newcomers and less experienced orienteering to get some tips and advice before doing their courses. Look out for further sessions at future events.
Links to Results and Routegadget
Here is Dan’s press report about the event:
The latest event in Border Liners Orienteering Club’s Saturday Series took place on the north east slopes of High Pike on 27th September. Underfoot conditions were mostly rough grassland, but not too tussocky, making for good running despite the hilly nature of the terrain. It was a cool day with a strong breeze and fortunately the forecast rain held off until later in the day – ideal racing conditions.
Several courses were on offer, targeted at different ages and abilities, with Border Liners’ members winning four of them. The longest, Blue course (6.7km, 270m ascent) was won by Jack Eyre (BL, M35) in an impressive time of 43:34. Despite losing time on key uphill leg 8-9, Jack managed to pull it back over the closing checkpoints to win by just over a minute from Philip Rutter (SROC, M21) and 4 minutes ahead of fellow Border Liner James Chapman (M40). Border Liners’ ladies took the first 3 places on Blue with Karen Parker (BL, W60) being clear winner in a time of 65:07.
On the Green course (4.8km, 135m) relative newcomer, Border Liner Anne Deeney sparkled to win in a time of 51:49, well head of experienced veterans John Britton (MDOC), visiting from Manchester, and John Taylor (SROC) from north Lancashire.
The Short Green course (3.9km, 110m) was won by Louise Dunn (SROC, W65), 2 minutes clear of Jackie Chapman (LOC, W65) and Graham Capper (SROC, M65). Top Border Liner was Nick Langfield (M65) in 5th place, just 6 minutes adrift.
Two less technical courses were on offer with the Red course (5.3km, 230m) being the longer. This was won by Border Liner Jo Rodham (W45) who was hotly pursued by Rose Singleton (W40) in the early stages before pulling away to win by 6 minutes in a time of 53:09. The shorter, Orange course (2.6km, 105m) was won by Border Liner Kieran Grehan (M20) over 2 minutes ahead of the rest of the field in a time of 43:49.
Border Liners Orienteering Club 