A great weekend on the Gower

Tony Lloyd reports...

Having returned from my first CampO weekend with BOK/SBOC I would like to thank all involved in planning and setting it up. Being new to orienteering the different terrains were first times for me on both days and the BBQ social was a good opportunity to meet more of you (not always easy on a Sunday event). Cheers for a great experience, am looking forward to next time. Word got round that I took part in the early morning extra curricular activity on the beach at Llangennith. Many of you asked, with interest, how it was. I should have not been surprised given that orienteers are not slow at undressing in open spaces, a trait shared by surfers and other outdoor sports. ..... "The Skinny Dip was brilliant, great atmosphere, cold defeated by a massive adrenalin rush, you must have seen it in all the papers. We raised £14000+ for Marie Curie Cancer care -- see my perspective on http:www.justgiving.com/tony-lloyd0 " ............ I have not reached my target sponsorship yet so feel free!

New BOK British Champions

Congratulations to our two new British Champions - Alice Bedwell W50 and Anne Donnell W80. Alice won her class by a remarkable 7 minutes. BOK also achieved a number of 2nd places, including last year's M21E British Champion Matt Crane and two of our very promising young juniors, Zac and Joe Hudd in M12A and M10A. In the relays, the BOK Hornets team of Mark Bown, Matt Franklin and Matt Crane took 3rd place in the Men's Premier, as did the BOK Fireflies W50 team of Alice Bedwell, Jo Foster and Alison Simmons.

Found at BOC Relays

A blue ConCurve goretex top was left in the BOK tent after the BOC relays. If it's yours, please contact Chris or Helen Kelsey to arrange its return.

British Sprint & Middle Distance Results

Congratulations to our BOK runners who made it into the top 3 at the British Sprint and Middle Distance Chamionships: Sprint - Rachel Potter 1st W10; Chloe Potter 1st w14; Adam Potter 1st M16; Mark Saunders 2nd M50; Alice Bedwell 3rd W5o Middle Distance - Rachel Potter 1st W10; Clive Hallett 1st M45; Eddie Narbett 2nd M12; Grace Crane 2nd W21; Mark Saunders 2nd M50; Chloe Potter 3rd W14; Alice Bedwell 3rd W50

BOK Through To Compass Sport Cup Final

BOK is once again through to the Compass Sport Cup Final after winning its qualifying round at Longleat. Congratulations and thanks to all those who turned out to achieve this result. The Final will be held on Sunday 16th October.

BOK 2nd in Compass Sport Cup Final

BOK finished 2nd in this year's Compass Sport Cup Final, beaten only by last year's winners and host club SYO. This is a great result for BOK, improving on last year's 3rd place and this time just ahead of OD. Congratulations and thank you to all those who travelled to Sheffield and contributed to this success. A full report will be in the next BOK News.

Peter Palmer Relays

Congratulations to our two Junior teams on their performances in the Peter Palmer Relays. This night/day relay event for teams of 6 was held near Nottingham on the weekend of 4th/5th September. The ShadowBOKsters team finished 9th (Adam Potter, Jamie Hayward, Jessie Benjamin, Michael Hallett, Ella Milne & Isla Simmons), with the BOK Moonlighters not far behind in 19th (Daniel Mann, Stuart Hanstock, Jess Milne, Shona Simmons, Chloe Potter & Abi Kerr).

Lakes 5 Days

BOK was well represented at the Lakes 5 Days, enjoying some fine orienteering and mostly fine weather; shame about the cancelled Day 3. Congratulations to the following who achieved top 5 places:
W10A Rachel Potter - 4th
W12A Chloe Potter - 3rd
W55L Alison Simmons - 3rd
W60L Katy Dyer - 4th
W75 Anne Donnell - 1st
W80 Pat Grenfell - 1st
M45L Clive Hallett - 1st
M50L Mark Saunders - 4th

WOC Norway

Congratulations to BOK's Matt & Grace Crane for their performances at the World Orienteering Championships in Trondheim. In the Middle Distance races, Matt finished 26th and Grace (representing Australia) was 37th. Grace also finished 30th in the Sprint race and helped Australia to 13th place in the Relay.

WMOC 2010 Results

Congratulations to the following BOK members for their results at the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Switzerland:
Sprint:
Alice Bedwell 2nd W50-A
Anne Donnell 3rd W75-A
Pat Grenfell 2nd W80-A
Clive Hallett 7th M45-A
Long Distance:
Anne Donnell 7th W75-A
Pat Grenfell 5th W80-A
A good photograph of our 3 Sprint medallists (Alice, Anne and Pat) is on the SYO website.

Congratulations to Matt, Isla and Ben

Congratulations to Matt Crane on his selection for the Middle Distance race at the 2010 World Orienteering Championships to be held in Trondheim, Norway in August. Matt will join ex-BOK member Oli Johnson, who has been selected for the Long race.

Congratulations also to Isla Simmons and Ben Maliphant for their selection for the Talent Coaching Camp in the Cairngorms in July.

BOK Qualify For Compass Sport Cup Final

BOK won the Compass Sport Cup qualifying round at Hampton Ridge on Sunday, finishing 155 points ahead of SOC with a score of 2395 points. Congratulations and thanks to the 70 BOK members who turned out for this event and ensured success for the Klub. The final will be on 17th October at Burbage Moor near Sheffield, so please put the date in your diaries now; we'll need a strong team if we're to improve on last year's 3rd place. SOC also qualify for the Cup as BOK were in last year's top three and Wimborne go through to the Trophy final after beating SARUM by just 1 point. Full results are on the Emit website.

Tom Gibbs wins Adventure Racing World Champs

Ifor Powell has just reported that Tom Gibbs has won the Adventure Racing World Champs in Portugal. He was racing for the British team Helly Hansen Prunesco with team mates Nic MacLeod, Nick Gracie and Warren Bates. They have been racing non-stop from Monday morning till 9.30 Saturday morning, finishing with 52 Checkpoints to beat former World Champs Nike by two checkpoints. A truly amazing result.

BOK Success At OMM 2009

This year's OMM was held in the Elan valley in Mid Wales, offering south west competitors unusually easy access. The weather was mixed but fairly benign, particularly after last year's severe gales and serious flooding in Borrowdale; it was breezy with showers, but we were spared the forecast heavy rain on Saturday and enjoyed some pleasant conditions on Sunday. BOK members were out in force and achieved some excellent results; it was good to see so many parent/child teams running this year, hopefully introducing a new generation to the delights of the OMM for the future. Sadly, the number of years of compatible overlap between aging parents and their athletic offspring is very limited, but we'll enjoy it while we can! Successes for BOK teams include the following (apologies if I've missed anyone):
Short Score (187 teams): Mark & John Grenfell-Shaw 13th; Ashley Cooper & Steve Darling 15th; Jonathan & Rosemary Hurford 17th; Christine Farr & Duncan Innes 23rd; Helen & Jack Kelsey 42nd; Pete Foster & Sandy Burgon 55th.
Medium Score (284 teams): Chris & Ben Kelsey 15th; Charles Daniel & Rhys Manning 30th; Pat & Louise Benjamin 178th.
C (291 teams): Sue & Gerry Ashton 39th; Roger Mann & Martin Bird 77th; Jim & Jamie Hayward 108th.
B (233 teams): Tim Britton & John Hartley 10th; Pete & Julia James 43rd; Alice Bedwell & Laura Pearson 127th.
A (67 teams): Mark Saunders & William Darby 18th (1st Vet).
Both Mark & John Grenfell-Shaw and Chris & Ben Kelsey narrowly missed winning the parent/child categories of their classes, short by just 3 points (1 place) and 5 points (3 places) respectively. Maybe next year if our youngsters are still willing and we can still keep up!

BOK 3rd in Compass Sport Cup Final

BOK finished 3rd in the Compass Sport Cup Final held at Fineshade last Sunday, beaten this year only by SYO and OD. This is an excellent result for the club and is 2 places higher than we achieved last year. We scored fairly evenly across the classes, with some well earned points from our juniors as well as our seniors. Congratulations and thank you to all BOK members who participated in this competition to give us such a good result. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the club spirit that accompanies such events, particularly as we were once again able to share coach transport. Full results are on the LEI website. Perhaps next year we can do even better!

Kingswood School Summer Informal - Organiser report

Jackie Hallet writes:
A total of 40 people turned out for the first event on the updated map incorporating Kingswood School and Primrose Hill. Of this 18 were juniors, 15 of whom enjoyed the white course of 1 km with Lucy Tonge having the fastest time of 11 minutes. Michael Hallett was fastest on the 3 km orange course with 38.42 minutes. Mark Bown produced an amazing time of 33.31 minutes on the 5 km blue course with 170 metres of climb. I am sorry we overlooked the extra path off to the right from the public footpath did not spoil anyone’s run too much. I hope some people managed to enjoy the fantastic views across Bath in the glorious evening sunshine. The event had an international flavour with 1 girl from Finland and 5 French competitors. I must apologise for my lack of French, especially at registration as when Christophe was mentioned I thought they meant our summer evening coordinator who just happened to arrive at that very moment, but it turned out that he didn’t actually know him but that the man registering was called Christophe also. C’est la vie!!
Thanks to all the helpers: John, Sandy, Clive and Michael.

Lost properties: a thumb compass, a whistle (Contact the series coordinator, Christophe Mutricy)

Overscourt Wood - Organiser report

Dudley Budden writes:
The inaugural event on Overscourt Wood on a hot and balmy evening attracted 24 competitors. 19 of whom were, or are, BOK members. 16 tackled the Short Blue with Paul Gebbett completing it in a fastest time of 45 minutes, for 5.6k, 110m climb. The other eight participants were, white (2), Yellow (3), and Orange(3); which was a little disappointing as the area is ideal for beginners and novices. Most BOK members were in agreement the area should be used for an ASO event. The long grass though at this time of year did not reflect the area at its best.
Some people were glad of the extra water which was on offer with temperatures well up into the mid twenties.
Thanks to Anne, Katy, and Laurence for their help during and after the event.

Oldbury Court - Organiser report

Caroline Potter writes:
Oldbury Court attracted 33 (groups of) participants, with a 50/50 split between regulars and newcomers. One brave lady ran her course in bare feet! The majority of people chose the longer Light Green and Blue courses (16 and 14 respectively) with only 3 groups tackling the Yellow.
The heavy downpour halfway through the evening caused a few delayed starts and not all were able to complete their runs. One control went missing early in the evening but was successfully retrieved the following day by Dave on his bike!
Many thanks to Christophe Mutricy and Anne Donnell for their help. Adam and I thoroughly enjoyed planning our first event and look forward to more planning in the future!

Victoria Park - Organiser report

Phil Murray writes:
Thanks to all who turned up and braved the wind & rain at last night's Summer Informal in Victoria Park.
We had about 25 competitors in the end, which was reasonable, but sadly a group of Brownies decided against it at the last minute due to the weather. We suffered some control vandalism early on, but managed to get through the event without major loss - two kites went missing and one was partially eaten by a dog.
The courses were well received, with no-one getting lost, and the fastest performance was by Adam Potter on the Light Green, taking just 23 minutes to find 23 controls in 3.6km!
A big thank you to all my helpers, especially Dudley, Karen Hall, and Richard & Anne from UBOC, all of whom turned up at 3pm and got thoroughly soaked for their efforts!

BOK Army Championships 2009

Tony Noot writes:
The BOK Army, otherwise known as the Coffin Dodgers Society, held what has become its annual end of term jamboree in the Forest of Dean on the 20th May. Centred on the Rising Sun Inn at Mosely Green, a one hour score event was organised to discover who would rise to the top of the cake. A handicap format was used which appeared to benefit the senior members, resulting in Robin Walker, with a fine run, being crowned BOK Army Champion - 2009.

An excellent Rising Sun lunch followed and Mark Blackstone oversaw the presentation of prizes awarded to selected members as well as the Champion. An outstanding speech was given by John Parker. Translations are available on request.

Photos on PicasaWeb: album; slideshow