Welcome to the BOK Blog

This blog is used to populate the news section on the BOK Website.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Go Local This Weekend! (1st/2nd Dec)

There are no major (level 3+) events in the UK this coming weekend, but plenty of local fixtures to keep you busy should you need an excuse to avoid the Christmas shopping crowds. Saturday sees day-time events at Wenallt (South Wales Orienteering Club, SWOC) and Painswick Beacon (North Gloucestershire Orienteering Club, NGOC), followed by a night event at Webbs Wood (North Wiltshire Orienteering Club, NWO). On Sunday there are day-time events at Webbs Wood (again) and King's Cliff (Quantock Orienteering Club, QO).

NGOC's Saturday event at Painswick Beacon is the third round in their Mini League competition and BOK's Duncann Innes, Kelvin Davies and Christine Farr will be hoping to consolidate their positions near the top of the Blue division. This year's NGOC Mini League events boast SI punching and pre-printed maps. The senior entry fee is a bargain £3 for members of SWOA clubs (£4 for non-members). Last month's event at Mallard's Pike attracted an entry of nearly 120 and results and split times were available next day on the NGOC website. Highly recommended.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Cannop Ponds - Comments

Comments from the organiser, controller and planner are now available.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Cannop Ponds - RouteGadget

The map and courses of the Cannop Ponds Galoppen have been uploaded to RouteGadget. You can trace your route and compare it with the other competitors. If you're not familiar with RouteGadget, you can find some help and a test event to practice before drawing today's route.

Cannop Ponds - Provisional Results, Photos

Provisional results (including Splitsbrowser and WinSplits) are now available. Photos.

Friday, November 23, 2007

British Schools Orienteering Championships - Prize Draw

John Lewis writes: Discover Adventure have made the draw for the mountain bike. The winner is George Ronson of Bristol Grammar School (and BOK).

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Bristol Orienteering Klub has a new Chairman

Robin Walker writes: It is a pleasure to report that Philip Fawkner-Corbett has agreed to be co-opted onto the committee and to act as BOK Chairman with immediate effect. So now the committee once more has its full complement of Officers - Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Captain(s) - and the Klub has a new hand on the helm.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Website News - Publicity Page

The website now has a Publicity page, accessed from a link on the Klub page. This page is the responsibility of our new Publicity Officer, Jonathan Hurford [email]. On the page you will find links to a number of publicity documents that Jonathan has recently produced. Members are encouraged to print and distribute the documents to suitable venues and organisations.

Southern Championships (Sun 11th Nov) - Report

Dudley Budden writes:
The Southern Championships 2007 were held at West Woods, near Marlborough last weekend the 11th November 2007. The event was hosted by North Wilts Orienteers which has a link to the full results. The terrain was a mixture of mainly fast runnable terrain, with courses giving opportunity for both direct and some complex route choice.

85 members of BOK attended with 73 competing on championship courses, of these 17 were junior members. Notable winners were, Abigail Jeffery W10 (closely followed by her sister Jessica), David Maliphant M16 (27 seconds ahead of the field), Jackie Hallett W50L, Katy Dyer W55L, Sally Thomas W60L, Anne Donnell W75L, Clive Hallett M40L, Christine King W55S, and Clare Fletcher W65S. One other performance of note was David Palmer 2nd on M60L.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

British Night Championships 2008 - Flyer and Entry Form

The flyer and entry form for the British Night Championships at New Beechenhurst on Saturday 23rd February 2008 are now available on the event details page.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

November Classic - Sun 7th Nov

The November Classic is one of my favourite events of the year, with the New Forest displaying its best autumn colours and often enjoying good weather. This year's 40th anniversary event at Lucas Castle and Highland Water was no exception, attracting a large entry in perfect weather. The courses were fast and enjoyable, mostly on open heathland, and BOK members took home prizes in several classes. Angharad Jones was 1st on JW2; Clive Hallett 1st on M40L; David Palmer 2nd on M60L; Jackie Hallett 1st on W50L; Katy Dyer 2nd on W55L; and Anne Donnell and Pat Grenfell 1st and 2nd on W75L. Full results here.

Friday, November 09, 2007

British Orienteering Club Conference and EGM - 27 Oct 2007

Robin Walker writes: A report of this day is now available by clicking here

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

BOK News closing date for articles

Closing date for BOK News in November is Friday. If you have material, let me have it by email asap.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

YHA Group Membership

The club currently has Group Membership of the YHA, which offers groups of 5 or more the advantages of member rates for Youth Hostel accommodation. If anyone wishes to make use of this, please contact Chris or Helen Kelsey for further details.

Compass Sport Cup - Survey

Clubs have been asked to comment on the current format of the Compass Sport Cup competition, so if anyone has any views (or is happy with the way it is), please tell Chris or Helen Kelsey (or any member of the committee) by Wednesday 14th November if possible.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Tyntesfield - Flyer

A flyer for the district event at Tyntesfield on Sunday 10th February 2008 is now available.

Christmas Novelty Event, Penpole - Flyer

A flyer for the Christmas novelty event at Penpole on Sunday 16th December is now available.

OMM Report - Lowther Hills 27-28 Oct

I think it's fair to say we got off lightly with the weather. The forecast was for gales and rain on Saturday, but fortunately the worst of it didn't arrive until mid afternoon, so only those out later suffered unduly - for most of the day it was only the higher hills that stayed in the mist and offered little shelter from the wind. The night was wild, with continuous wind and rain; lying there listening to it, I suspect everyone was dreading having to get started on Sunday in those conditions. But again fortune was with us as by 6am the rain had stopped and by 8 am it had turned into a fine sunny day.

The Lowther Hills provided a pleasant change from some of the more physical areas typically used for the OMM, offering excellent runnability on mostly short grass, though with some steep slopes. The midcamp, used for all courses, was unusually close to the start/finish, which enabled plenty of route choice for the Score classes as well as an easy way back for those struggling after the first day. Indeed the Score classes were excellently planned, with a variety of competing options available from the start, plenty of on-the-fly route refinement needed and the all-important temptations for those extra few points. Reports seem to suggest that the B and C classes were quite tough this year, particularly as they took in some fairly high ground in the poor weather on Saturday. In fact there were 45% drop-out rates on A and B, with 30% on C.

A number of BOK members competed across most classes, although unfortunately Ifor Powell wasn't able to defend his Elite title this year. Mark Saunders and John Darby finished an excellent 6th in the A class, having been in 3rd place overnight. Alice and Tom Bedwell were 34th out of 224 starters on B and Chris Johnson and Dave Palmer were 109th out of 289 on C. In the Medium Score class, David Hunt and Chris Kelsey had an excellent second day to finish 5th overall after lying 41st overnight; Charles Daniel and Dave Kingham also had a good second day but could only rise to 32nd after incurring big penalties on Saturday; Pat and Louise Benjamin came in 85th out of 265 starters; and Martin Longhurst and Jonathan Hurford (not fully recovered from a pre-weekend cold) were 90th. On the Short Score, Alan Honey and Vince Grealy finished 14th out of 187 teams; Ashley Cooper and Steve Darling were 38th; and Helen and Ben Kelsey (following in his parents' footsteps in his first OMM) finished a very respectable 86th, despite Helen's shoe falling apart early on Day 1.

After a perfect day's weather on the hills on Sunday, the weather broke again just as most people were leaving the event - the rain was torrential by the time we'd reached the M74 and continued as far south as Kendal. All in all an excellent weekend in a fine area. Many thanks are due to Jen Longbottom and her teams for the usual efficient organisation and to the planners (including our own Andy Creber) for some excellent courses. Full results here.