Border Liners’ annual festive charity event was held at Whittas Park this year, organised as always by Raymond and Jenny. This year’s charity was one with particular significance to orienteers – WCOC member Ian Teasdale’s “farewell” round of the Wainwrights in support of Maggie’s Centres, which support people with cancer and their families. (See here for more information). Rather than paying an entry fee, competitors were asked to make a donation and around £800 was raised. Nearly 100 people took part in the event and it was great to see Ian himself competing.
Raymond manages to devise a different variation of a score course every year, to make the best use of a relatively small area and cater for all ages and speeds. This time the focus was on getting a particular three of the 16 controls in the correct sequence to earn extra points (and of course these three were as far apart as possible). Most people on the Long course managed to visit all the controls in the allotted 45 minutes , while about a quarter of those on Short did the same.
Whittas Park is a lovely area; mostly covered by short grass it would be very fast were it not for the steep slope that cuts across the area. Navigation can be deceptively tricky in places – competitors were caught out by running too fast without checking the direction and when descending the steep slope to a hard to spot crag or boulder. The weather was sunny but very cold, and the views from the top, if you had the time and energy to appreciate them, were wonderful.
After running, everyone was invited to Raymond and Jenny’s house a few miles away in Bothel for soup, cakes and chat – the perfect way to finish an event.
Here are links to Results and Routegadget
Many thanks to Raymond and Jenny for putting on such an enjoyable event, and providing excellect refreshments afterwards.
Dan’s report for the local newspapers is here
Border Liners Orienteering Club 