JK Relays - Entries Are Due Now!

We need your entries for the JK relays by Tuesday 12th February at the latest for the first entry deadline. Entries received after this date (up to the end of February) will be subject to a higher entry fee of £14 for seniors and £9 for juniors. Please e-mail your club captains (Chris and Helen Kelsey) now if you haven't yet entered but want to.

BOK Organiser's Manual

Updated in February 2008, this now links to a new Bristol Orienteering Klub (BOK) Competitor Registration Form (CRF) which appears on the BOK website under 'The Klub'. This replaces all previous CRFs. It should allow most people to complete and download it prior to a BOK event and bring it with them, thus saving time at registration.

BOK Junior Training Sat 9th Feb & Sat 23rd Feb

BOK Junior Training days will take place on Saturday 9th February at Stock Hill (joint with the SW Junior Squad) and Saturday 23rd February in the Forest of Dean (joint with the Welsh Junior Squad). Contact Jackie Hallett for further details.

Lift Share to Devon Galoppen

If you are interested in sharing transport to the Devon Galoppen on Sunday (3rd Feb), please email me - I currently have two places free. The BOK Lift Share Group maintains an email list through which members can arange to share transport to orienteering events. Contact the Group Coordinator (Christophe Mutricy) if you would like to join the list.

JK2008 First Entry Deadline

The first closing date for entries to JK2008 is on Thursday 31st January.

Mountain Bike Orienteering - Sunday 2nd March

Chris Porter has contacted us about a mountain bike orienteering (Trailquest) event he is organising on Sunday 2nd March: "We will be using Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 maps, with punches, and it will be a 3 hour score event. It is based at Hawkesbury Upton parish hall. All profits will be donated to the County Air Ambulance." [more...]

BOK News collection available at Devon Galloppen

BOK News and SINS can be collected at the Devon Galloppen event this Sunday.
Boxes with the enveloped magazines will be available near registration for collection by Klub Members.

Please take your own copies and any of your near neighbours that may not be there. Not only do you get to read them quicker than others, but you also save the Klub significant sums in postage.
If the weather is foul, then please try to keep the remaining copies as dry as possible.

Mark Blackstone HON Editor BOK News.

Overpayments for Compass Sport Cup Qualifier

Due to a further misunderstanding of the fees for the Compass Sport Cup qualifying round at Sallowvallets, BOK senior members have unfortunately overpaid by £2 (in addition to some of you also paying £1 too much due to the initial price change). This second misunderstanding has arisen because of the £2 discount normally given to BOF members. We had earlier been advised that the discount would not apply to this event as all competitors would have to be BOF members to be eligible. However NGOC has since advised us that the advertised £7 fee was intended for non-BOF, non-competitive runners only – so the fee for competitive runners should have been £5. Thank you British Orienteering for making our lives so simple!
To avoid the complications of paying everyone back individually, the BOK Committee has proposed that the surplus funds now held by BOK should be used to subsidise our entries (or possibly a coach) to the Compass Sport Cup Final to be held on October 19th at Sutton Park. If anyone objects to this proposal, please let your club captains know and we will arrange a refund. If anyone has views on whether a coach would be a good idea (assuming it doesn’t break down next time), please also let us know.
We apologise for what’s happened – but perhaps you can now think of it as a little extra incentive to support the club in the final!

JK and British Relays

This year’s Jan Kjellstrom Festival of Orienteering will be held over the Easter weekend (21st-24th March) in the South East region. The format will be as last year, with a Sprint race at the University of Guildford on the Friday, two Individual competition days on Saturday (Leith Hill) and Sunday (Ashdown Forest) followed by a team relay event on the Monday at Eridge Old Park near Tunbridge Wells.

The British Orienteering Championships will be held on 19th-20th April at Culbin Forest on the Moray coast. This excellent area is similar to that used for Day 4 of the Scottish 6 Days, offering technical forested sand dunes. The Individual day on the Saturday is followed by the relay event on the Sunday. Although this is a long way to travel, a number of BOK members have already indicated their intention to go.

Both the JK Relays and British Relays must be entered via your Club Captains. Entry forms need to be submitted to Chris and Helen Kelsey by 8th February for the JK Relays and by 14th March for the British Relays – but the sooner the better. Both of these events are fun and sociable, and are suitable for orienteers of all standards.

One Day in History - Sunday 27th April

Following its inaugural 'Blaise Battleships' event in July 2007 at Blaise Castle (won by David Hunt of BOK), EventHead has announced that its next 'mental racing' event, 'One Day in History', will take place at the same venue on Sunday 27th April 2008. Further details on the EventHead website.

BOK Organiser's Manual

Updated in January 2008, this now links to a new Bristol Orienteering Klub (BOK) Event Flyer proforma which appears on the BOK website under 'The Klub'. If all BOK organisers now use this proforma, we will present a consistent club image.

Compass Sport Cup - Results

BOK is through to the Compass Sport Cup final, scoring 2367 points to secure a winning margin of 36 points over HOC. In the Trophy competition, SWOC beat SBOC by an even closer margin of just 10 points.

Thank you to everyone who turned out to run for the club - we needed strength in numbers and just managed to pull through as a result of your support, so well done to all. We can now look forward to strong competition in the Final, which will be held on Sunday October 19th at Sutton Park in the West Midlands. So please put the date in your diaries now.

A longer report will be in the next BOK News due to be circulated shortly. Full results here.

Another Galoppen Reminder

I've just spoken to someone who said 'See you at the NWO Galoppen at Everleigh on Sunday'. No you won't I said, there isn't going to be one, it's been cancelled. So just in case you're in the same situation, this is a final reminder - don't go to Everleigh next Sunday, the 20th, there's no event there.

CompassSport Cup Qualifying Round - Photos

Photos of this event have been added to the gallery.

Compass Sport Cup - Latest From NGOC

NGOC intend to use the original parking field as in the final details, not forest tracks as suggested yesterday. Cagoules will be compulsory for juniors and may also be for seniors. There will be a clothing transfer from the Start back to Assembly.

There have been so many late entries that most of the EOD surplus maps have already been allocated. If anyone is not intending to run, please let Paul Taunton (NGOC) or the Kelseys know.

Please check the NGOC website for any further updates.

CompassSport Cup Qualifying Round - Start List

The start list for Sunday's event is now available on the event details page. Queries to the Kelseys.

SWOA Galoppen - Scores Updated

Scores for the BOK Galoppen (Cannop Ponds, 25th November) have been published on the SWOA website - follow the 'current season' link in the 'related pages' panel on this page.

Bath Street Score Event - Provisional Results

Provisional results are now available. Also: organiser's comments; map; clue sheet.

Holiday Events 2008 - O-Ringen Update

Jonathan Hurford writes: BOK now have a group of 20 entered for the 2008 Swedish O-Ringen at Dalarna. If anyone else is interested, there is still a little time left to reserve accommodation and arrange entries. Please let me have details by the end of January. [email Jonathan]

Galoppen Reminders

You've probably heard already, but just in case, the NWO Galoppen at Everleigh on January 20th has been cancelled - see their website for details.
But the good news is that NGOC are offering 50p discount on each entry fee for their Galoppen at Knockall's Enclosure on 24th February, if you pre-enter online and then pay on the day. Click here if you want to do it now.

New Running Shop Grand Opening, 12th January

Sarah Herbert, manager of Bristol's 'Up and Running', emailed us as follows:-
'I just wanted to get in touch and introduce myself and the new running store which I manage in Bristol - Up & Running. We are located just off the Downs and are having a Grand Opening on the 12th January, when we're giving away £40 worth of goods with every pair of shoes bought. All your members will also qualify for a standard 10% discount with their membership card. You may have heard of former Olympian Nick Rose - he owns the store with Rick Wallis, another keen local runner and coach. In store we have RAM gait analysis for shoe fitting, as well as offering a wide range of running and orienteering shoes, thermal wear and other clothing and accessories. We are looking to appeal to people of all fitness levels, and encourage them to reach their fitness goals. Please come in and meet our staff at any point, we'd love to get aquainted.'
The 10% discount mentioned will apply for BOK members at all times, not just on the 12th.

Website News - Discounts Available to BOK Members

A new Discounts page, accessible from the Klub page, lists shops and organisations that offer a discount to BOK members. If you are aware of any errors or omissions, please inform the Webmaster.

Holiday Events 2008

Have you made plans for holiday orienteering in 2008? The latest issue of CompassSport magazine contains a three page "Holiday O Guide", which may give you some ideas. Tricia Walker has recently updated her article about the World Master Orienteering Championship (WMOC) on our own Holiday Events 2008 page. If you would like to share your own ideas/plans, please contact the Webmaster [email].

Penpole - Report and Photos

Katy Dyer's report is now available. Photos.

November Committee Meeting Minutes

A summary of the minutes of the committee meeting held on 15th November 2007 is now available.

Press at Penpole

Martin Helfer writes: The Evening Post will be sending a photographer to the Christmas Novelty event at Penpole on 16th December hoping to get some good pictures of primary school children enjoying orienteering. There will (hopefully) be an editorial feature on Orienteering published in the Primary Times to be distributed next February. This publication has a circulation of 72,000 so this is an opportunity for stardom for some of our junior runners.

DVO National Event - Longshaw, 9th Dec

A handful of BOK members competed in this event in what were presumably less than ideal weather conditions. Clive Hallett won his M40L class by an impressive 8 minutes, while Jackie and Michael finished 3rd in W50L and 11th in M12A. David Maliphant was 8th in M16A, only 4 minutes down on the leader; and Pete Maliphant was 14th in M50L, closely followed by Charles Daniel in 18th. Nicola Johnson finished 9th inW18L. Full results here.

Website News - BOK Kit (Tops & Trousers)

Information about how to order BOK kit (tops and trousers) has been added to the website. A link can found on the Klub page.

Cannop Ponds - Final Results

Colour standard times have been added and the results declared final. Details of the SWOA Colour Coded Award Scheme may be found in the November 2007 issue of SINS.

New Chairman for ASO

Jo Foster writes: At the ASO AGM on Thursday 29th November Pete Foster stepped down as Chairman to be replaced by Martin Helfer. Martin has two children at Cotham and a third at Westbury Park, all of who are keen orienteers. He can often be seen helping at Registration at BOK events.

Compass Sport Cup Qualifying Round - 13th Jan 2008

The qualifying round for the 2008 Compass Sport Cup is on Sunday 13th January. It is now confirmed that BOK will compete against DEVON, NGOC and HOC at the NGOC event at Sallowvallets in the Forest of Dean. This event is pre-entry only via your club captains - an entry form is available in the November BOK News and via the Hot Links on this website. Latest information on entry fees is £7 for seniors and £2 for juniors, so please use these fees instead of those on the entry form in BOK News if possible - but don't worry if you haven't, we'll sort it out.
We need as many BOK members as possible to enter the qualifying round to ensure we get through to the final, which will be held on 19th October at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield. So please put 13th January in your diaries now and get your entries in as soon as possible but no later than 28th December.

BOK Galoppen - Cannop Ponds 25th Nov

This combined SWOA Galoppen and ASO event saw an encouragingly large turnout on a fine November day, with over 100 runners on the Blue course and over 90 on Green (not so many on Brown though - are we all getting too old?). The planning and organising team of Duncan Innes and Christine Farr provided everyone with an excellent day out in fine runnable terrain, with courses offering good route choice. There were some excellent junior results, in particular from Tom Helfer who was 5th on Blue and Isla Simmons who won Green, ahead of Ralph Eliot in 5th, Alex Russell-Bates in 6th and Ben Maliphant in 8th. George Hurford and Luke Grenfell-Shaw finished 5th and 6th on Light Green; Cameron Davies, Jack Stuckes and Michael Hallett were 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively on Orange; James Helfer was 3rd on White and Kit Benjamin 4th on Yellow. On Blue and Brown it was the usual candidates in the top BOK places - Pete Maliphant was 2nd on Blue; and Clive Hallett saw off Pete James to win Brown. Full results on this website. Apologies to those juniors missed out of the original report - and we'd welcome any other schools juniors who may wish to join BOK.

Veterans Home International - 17th-18th Nov, Scotland

A belated report on this as information seems to be lacking (or hard to find) on the British Orienteering website - thank you Jackie for providing feedback. BOK had 5 representatives at this 4-nation event, comprising a relay at Faskally near Pitlochry on Saturday and the individual day at Errochty, Calvine on the Sunday. After the first legs of the relays, England were well down - careful navigation was needed not to overshoot controls on the 1:7500 map. But England finished well and most of the BOK members had good runs - Mark Saunders was in the winning Welsh team and Jackie and Clive Hallett were in the 3rd and 4th placed English teams respectively. On the individual day in a very technical and physical area, Clive won M40 and Jackie was 4th in W50 (after a 10 minute error) for England; while Alice Bedwell, Mark Saunders and Trevor Griffiths were 2nd in W40, 3rd in M45 and 8th in M55 respectively for Wales. Although Scotland won the individual day, England capitalised on their lead from the relay day to win overall. The chocolate cafe in Pitlochry was a welcome retreat after a wet and cold event. Full results here.

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.

Cannop Ponds - Comments

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

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

British Orienteering Club Conference and EGM - 27 Oct 2007

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

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.

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.

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.

AGM - Minutes

Minutes of the AGM held on 21st September 2007 are now available. Username and password required (as printed in BOK News).

Junior Training - Photos

Photos from the junior training day (Saturday 27th October) are now in the gallery.

September Committee Meeting Minutes

A summary of the minutes of the committee meeting held on 27th September 2007 is now available.

Compass Sport Cup Final - Report

BOK finished 8th in the Compass Sport Cup Final at the weekend, a slightly disappointing result after last year's 3rd place, but we were down on numbers this year, fielding only 40 runners in total and only 7 Juniors. The day saw variable performances and some unexpected results, with many finding the bramble undergrowth hard going. There were some excellent runs amongst the team, in particular Clive Hallett finished 8th out of 125 on the Brown course, less than a minute off 3rd place and only 2 minutes down on Oli Johnson in 2nd. Mark Saunders and Alice Bedwell put in strong performances on the Blue Men and Blue Women courses and Jackie Hallett, Dudley Budden and Sally Thomas scored highly on Green Women, Green Men and Short Green Vets. Those Juniors we had did well, with Jamie Hayward and Isla Simmons scoring on Light Green and Michael Hallett, Jack Kelsey and Shona Simmons all scoring on Orange. Your club captains' slight misjudgment of potential scorers (resulting in a late change for Alice Bedwell to run Blue instead of Green) probably lost us 20 points, but fortunately this didn't affect our overall finishing position - we'll know for next time.

Regardless of the result, the BOK team enjoyed a fine social weekend, with 20 people travelling by coach (driven by Trevor Griffiths) and 25 staying overnight at Eyam Youth Hostel. The food was excellent and everyone (except Christophe) thoroughly enjoyed the rugby. The travel arrangements on Sunday left a little to be desired as the coach broke down and had to be replaced for the return journey, but hopefully the push-start out of the garage on the way to the event and the slightly delayed departure after the event won't put people off doing this again! Many thanks are due to Trevor for not only volunteering to drive, but also for sorting out the problems efficiently with the minimal loss of time (while also managing to turn in a fine score on his course).

All in all it was a good weekend and it was pleasing to see a new M21 (Tom Cochrane) running for the club. Hopefully we can recruit a few more and look forward to making the final again next year. Many thanks to all who took part. Full results are here.

SWOA Galoppen - Scores Updated

Scores for the WIM event (30th September) have been published here on the SWOA website.

Compass Sport Cup - Photos

Photos from Tricia Walker now in the gallery. Send your photos to the Webmaster!

Lyncombe Vale - Comments, String Results

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

Compass Sport Cup Details & Start Times

Start times for the Compass Sport Cup Final at Blidworth on 14th October are available here. Final details and control descriptions are available on the NOC website. Please contact Chris or Helen Kelsey for additional information.

Lyncombe Vale - RouteGadget

The map and courses of the Lyncombe event have been uploaded to RouteGadget. You can trace your route and compare it with the other competitors. There is some help and a test event if you'd like to practice before drawing today's route.

Lyncombe Vale - Provisional Results, Photos

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

Ashton Court - Photos

Photos of this event have been added to the gallery.

Cannop Ponds - Flyer

A flyer for the event at Cannop Ponds on Sunday 25th November is now available.

Coaching for Teachers - Monday 19th November

Celia Watkinson, British Orienteering's Regional Development Officer for the South West writes:
This is an active practical course for teachers and others who want to teach orienteering within the confines of private 'safe' enclosed areas, such as school grounds. It covers progression of teaching exercises starting on the desktop and moving on to the classroom, school hall and school grounds. It will also include delivery of the English National Competition framework for Key stage 2 & 3. At the end of the course the candidate will understand and be able to teach the basic skills of orienteering and be able to identify ways in which orienteering may be used to assist delivery of the curriculum. NB Priority will be given to qualified teachers if the course is oversubscribed. For more information, contact Celia.

Caddihoe Chase 22-23 Sep

This year's Caddihoe Chase at Cookworthy Forest near Okehampton attracted a large number of BOK members and provided some exciting finishes on Day 2. David Maliphant finished just 2 seconds behind SBOC's Ben Doherty on JM5M, while Alan Honey pipped Mark Selley to the post by 5 seconds on M45L, with Duncan Innes taking 3rd place. Jackie Hallett enjoyed a more comfortable 18 minute lead on W50L and Clive won M21L 9 minutes ahead of Ben Chesters. Other notable performances included Matt Lyle (2nd on JM5L), David Palmer (4th on M60L), Jessie Benjamin (1st on JW3), Christine Farr (2nd on W21L) and Anne Donnell (1st on W75L). Cookworthy offered some excellent courses and terrain on Day 2, making up for some less pleasant legs on Day 1. The rain held off until Sunday, allowing those camping to enjoy a late summer evening of sunshine - hopefully not the last. Full results here.

Reminder - Compass Sport Cup Final 14th October

Entries for the Compass Sport Cup Final (with optional coach transport and YHA accommodation) need to be returned to Chris & Helen Kelsey by Friday 28th September. Please see event details for further information and entry form.

Ashton Court - Comments

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

Ashton Court - RouteGadget

The map and courses have now been uploaded to RouteGadget, courtesy of Christophe Mutricy. You can trace your route on the map, compare your route with others or replay the race as a mass start. Why not give it a try? For instructions, click on the 'Help' link in the top right corner of the RouteGadget window.

Ashton Court - Provisional Results

Provisional results are now available.

One Day in History - Sunday 21st October

Following its inaugural 'Blaise Battleships' event in July at Blaise Castle (won by David Hunt of BOK), EventHead has announced that its next 'mental racing' event, 'One Day in History', will take place at the same venue on Sunday 21st October. Further details on the EventHead website.

Ashton Court (Saturday 15th September) - Final Details

The final details for this event are now available.

Compass Sport Cup Final & Club Weekend 13th-14th October

This year’s final will be held at Blidworth near Mansfield on Sunday 14th October. We’ll need as many BOK members as possible to try to defend or improve upon last year’s 3rd place, so please put this date in your diaries now.

As well as trying to win the cup, we’re planning to make this a club weekend by taking a coach and booking places in the Youth Hostel at Eyam in Derbyshire on the Saturday night. A form for entering the event and for reserving places on the coach and in the Youth Hostel is available here and under the Hot Links section of the website. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis – there are 48 places available at the Youth Hostel in a variety of multi-bedded rooms (2, 4, 6 or 10). The Youth Hostel offers a full catering service, so places can be booked with or without dinner and breakfast. We don’t yet know whether any orienteering-related activities will be available on the Saturday, but Eyam is in the heart of the Peak District with plenty of opportunities in the immediate area – whether it be walking or just a bit of sight-seeing. We hope to be able to leave on Saturday morning to allow some free time there in the afternoon.

But even if you don’t want to join us on the coach and at the Youth Hostel, we need as many of you as possible to represent the club at this event.

Ashton Court - Saturday 15th September

A flyer for this event is now available. There is also a poster for the Try-O course - this is a large PDF file (339KB); an MS Word version (632KB) of the poster is available on the fixtures page of the ASO website.

Condes 8 Course Planning Software

Dudley Budden writes:
BOK has now purchased the Condes software for use when planning all events. Condes is a tool that is used in conjunction with a map file, be that OCAD or a jpeg/bmp file. The courses are planned with the map on screen giving more flexibility than can currently be found in OCAD alone. Future planners will be asked to use Condes for all BOK events and will be contacted by me in the next few weeks with more information. Details of Condes can be viewed on the following site, http://www.condes.net/ , where a limited version can be downloaded for trial purposes. The full version requires an activation key that will be forwarded to planners as required. The software is supported by a comprehensive user guide which can also be downloaded from the web site in PDF format.

July Committee Meeting Minutes

A summary of the minutes of the committee meeting held on 27th July 2007 is now available.

Bohemia 5 Day Event - 15th - 19th August

Christine Farr writes:
Three hardy BOK members braved the sandstone pillars and humid conditions last week at this biannual event held at Melnik, a picturesque town 20 miles north of Prague. Duncan Innes, Chris Farr and Gwen Tanner spent a couple of days chilling in Prague before making the journey to Melnik. Our first event was the Sprint through the old town centre. It is safe to say that Duncan's pre-race beer may have slowed down his brain somewhat! It was a fun evening rounded off with a meal of local meat and potatoes and a few of the delicious local beverages!
The first day proper was quite a shock to the system – the maps were at a 1:7500 scale to enable competitors to try and make sense of the complex system of rocks and crags. Needless to say we were out for quite some time! The 30 degree temperatures didn't help either!
After a couple of days we got into our stride and started putting in some more impressive times. Unlike a number of other competitors we didn't go any incorrect controls!
Chris ended up 25th out of 31 finishers on D21A, Duncan came 20th out of 29 on H45A and Gwen (in her first competition outside the UK) came 15th on D45A.
A fantastic time had by all. Nothing like it in Britain. We must have improved during the 5 days – so watch out for some great performances from us this Autumn!! Full report and photos to appear in BOK News at some point (once we get back from our next holiday!)

Scottish 6 Days - Speyside August 2007

A large number of BOK members, including a good proportion of juniors, enjoyed an excellent Scottish 6 Days in Speyside. Although Day 1 was fairly uninspiring and Day 5 was punishingly physical, the other 4 days provided lots of interest and challenging navigation, particularly on Days 2 and 3 at Balavil and Inshriach. The dunes at Culbin on Day 4 caught a few people out (myself included) while the final day at Anagach provided a fitting end to the holiday in very pleasant and runnable terrain after the more arduous nature of some of the earlier days.
The weather started wet but improved to include some fine sunny days in the later part of the week, unfortunately finishing damp again on the final day. Various post-orienteering social events took place, including afternoon tea parties at the Hurfords and Hanstocks, cricket on the beach at Findhorn, swimming in Inverness and tours of the Glenlivet distillery (for those fortunate enough to be staying in the magnificent Glenlivet House). The rest day also saw a range of activities including hill walking, mountain biking, the Cairngorm mountain railway and sprint-O for those who couldn’t face a day without orienteering.
The general standard of competition was high, with Scandinavian and other European clubs featuring prominently in many of the classes, but BOK members nevertheless managed to achieve some good results. Notable amongst these were:
Anne Donnell and Pat Grenfell - 1st and 2nd in W75L (Anne won 5 of the 6 days); Denis Hamment – 2nd in M80; Laura Daniel – 8th in W21E; Alice Bedwell – 3rd in W45L; Jackie Hallett, Alison Simmons and Jo Foster – 4th, 16th and 17th in W50L; Clive Hallett – 5th in M40L; Mark Saunders – 7th in M45L (despite bruised ribs from a fall on Day 1); Michael Hallett – 7th in M10A; Matt Lyle – 9th in M20L; David Palmer – 22nd in M60L; Ann Monro – 4th in W65S; Jack Kelsey – 5th in M14B; Jamie Hayward – 7th in M16B. Full results, reports and photos can be found here.
Looking forward to Tayside in 2009.

QO Galoppen (16th September) Cancelled

Richard Sainsbury of Quantock Orienteers writes:
"I am sorry to tell you that we have had to cancel our Galoppen due to permissions being unexpectedly refused by a landowner. We have considered alternative venues but we are unable to find somewhere suitable at short notice. We will reschedule our Galoppen for sometime next year. Another event will have to be found to be the Yvette Baker Qualifier."

First Aid Course for Orienteers - Saturday 20th October

A first aid course for orienteers, organised by BOK and the Red Cross, will take place on Saturday 20th October 2007 in Warmley, near Bristol. More details here. Please note the change of date from the one previously advertised in BOK News.

Club Championships - Splits

Now on Splitsbrowser, courtesy of Christophe Mutricy.

West Mendip Way Super Challenge - Sunday 19th August

Nick Ajderian writes:
"The Mendip Hills Hash House Harriers are dis-organising a 16 mile run on the Mendip Way for 19th August. Just the thing for a warm-down after Scotland, perhaps. Details here."

New Photos

Photos of the SBOC 2x2 Relay, the Cotswold Way Relay and the Dorset Coast Path Relay have been added to the gallery in the last few days.

Dorset Coast Path Relay - Sat 7th July

BOK fielded a team of 14 for this year's event from Lyme Regis to the Sandbanks ferry, with a number of regulars (Halletts, Kelseys, Fosters, Ifor Powell, Phil Warry, Mark Selley, David Hunt) and a few newcomers (Duncan Innes, Christine Farr, Alison Simmons). Although we got off to a good start, we soon lost touch with the leading teams (Kerno, Wessex and the SW Junior Squad) through not breaking up the early legs sufficiently - a lesson for next year. But we were fortunate to enjoy an isolated day of sunshine in between the days of rain and the event lived up to its usual expectations with spectacular scenery and enjoyable running. BOK finished 5th overall in a time of 9 hours 10 minutes, 17 minutes faster than last year, but the increased number of runners added more to our handicap time than we were able to gain, so we were only able to finish 4th in that category. The Junior Squad were head to head with Kerno and Wessex for most of the day, but a navigational error in Swanage resulted in 3rd place overall for them but in an excellent time of 8 hours 11 minutes. We arrived at the finish just in time to accept an invitation to join their beach barbecue, which rounded the day off very well. Full results and photos are here, plus a few photos from the BOK team outing. The event is a fund-raiser for the SW Junior Squad and we were able to donate £60.

Club Championships - Results

Results are now available.

Website News - Share your BOK Photos on Flickr!

There is now a new way to share your photos of BOK events with other members. If you have an account with the Flickr! photo-sharing website and mark your BOK photos with a BOK-specific 'tag', the BOK website can detect when you have uploaded new BOK photos to Flickr! and display an alert message in the Hot Links section. Basic membership of Flickr! is free. Please let the BOK Webmaster know the address of your Flickr! account and the tag you use for BOK photos.

ASO & Adams Avery Relays, Ashton Court - Final Results

The results have now been declared 'final' by the organising team.

ASO & Adams Avery Relays, Ashton Court - Photos

A set of photos, courtesy of Christophe Mutricy, has been added to the gallery.

Report on Summer Informal At Ashton Court - 4th July

Organisers' comments (The Ronsons & The Robinsons)

As the weather had been atrocious our hopes for a fine evening were not high – but in the event the skies were clear as we arrived at Ashton Court and we only had to contend with the wind. Eventually we managed to erect the tent to provide shelter for the registration table and prevent the maps and control descriptions blowing away.

There was a good turn out of runners (and walkers) tackling each of the three courses – including some children who had enjoyed the event at Blaise the previous week and were keen to try another yellow course. The light green course was the most popular, especially with the newcomers, some of whom had seen the notice in Venue and Anne Donnell's excellent tuition and advice was much appreciated. The Blue course appeared to provide sufficient distance for the experienced orienteers who had turned out for their midweek evening run.

The pre printed maps were welcomed by all runners and some were recycled for the late comers. No-one got lost or reported any missing controls – maybe the rain kept the vandals away. The last few participants finished their courses in the rain but the helpers managed to cook sausages on the BBQ before the downpour. The arrival of 6 limousines and two fire engines ferrying people to a Ball in the Mansion House provided some additional entertainment.

Although some runners had competed in the Adams Avery Relays at the same venue just 3 days before there appeared to be enough variety to keep everyone happy. Overall another successful event but many of the newcomers were disappointed this was the last informal of the season and they would have to wait until September for the next local orienteering event.

A huge thank you to Katy Dyer for organising the whole summer of informals – one event was quite enough for us!

ASO & Adams Avery Relays, Ashton Court - Comments

Comments from the organiser, controller and planner are now available. The results have been uploaded to WinSplits; note however that the server is running very slowly at the present time. It has not been possible to upload to Splitsbrowser as the relay format is not supported by that site.

SWOA News - Committee Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the SWOA committee meeting held on 16th May 2007 are now available on the SWOA website.

ASO & Adams Avery Relays, Ashton Court - Provisional Results

Provisional results are now available. Splitsbrowser, WinSplits and officials' comments to follow.

Report on Summer Informal at Blaise Castle - 27th June

Organiser's comments (Jenny Grenfell-Shaw)

Fortunately the weather stayed fine and the turnout was excellent, with some forty runners. This was our first attempt at planning. We provided three courses, Yellow, Green and Blue. Our aim was to make the longer courses as technical as we could given the constraints of Blaise. Judging by the feedback we received, this was achieved.

In retrospect we would have done better to have an Orange/Light Green rather than Green, as we had a good number of newcomers to the sport. Although the course lengths had seemed appropriate by BOF planning guidelines, we had not sufficiently accounted for the technical and physical challenges of the area and the amount of undergrowth in late June. Hence the finish times were rather long, particularly for a summer informal event. Apologies for those who were adversely affected this and by the poor siting of one of the controls (a gully).

Thank you to all those who helped at the event, particularly Pat and John Grenfell for their help setting up the courses, Christine Farr, Anne Donnell and Katy Dyer for their help at Registration, and to Alan Kempton and Chistophe Mutricy for their help collecting in controls afterwards.

Stock Hill - Final Results

Colour standard times have been added and the results declared final.

Club Championships - Entry Deadline: Sunday 1st July

Entries for the Club Championships at Leigh Woods (Sunday 15th July) must be received by Sunday 1st July. Flyer; entry form (PDF, Word).

Report on Summer Informal at Chew Valley School 6 June

Organiser`s Comments (Katy Dyer)

After 2 years of planning sprint courses at Chew Valley School, I decided to have a score event this year. A short visit to the school in Half Term was enough to refresh my memory of the grounds, which are extensive and varied. Set in the middle of the Somerset countryside this school is so lucky to have 3 playing fields, trees and footpaths. The weather was fine as the school children arrived at 4pm. The Yellow course was a starter for several but the Score course soon gained popularity. By 5.30 the Guides started coming and they kept coming till the school grounds were full of runners. They were still running at event closure!! We also had a selection of other people from very little beginners to experienced older orienteers. It was good to see them all.
I think the score format has lots to commend it and I would probably use it with variations again at this venue. I had great support from the school and I could not have managed without the help from Nick Adjerian and Anne Donnell.

Report on Summer Informal at Oldbury Court 20 June

Organiser`s comments (Colin Welch)

A moderate 22 people ran a course on a gorgeous albeit very windy evening. Perhaps the cloudburst of the day before put people off, but it was still double the attendance of my last go at planning (11 at Ashton Plantation in 1999 when the heavens opened). There were Blue, Light Green and Yellow courses on offer plus putting them all together for a score course. I just had the one taker for the latter – a Joe Taunton of NGOC who managed to get round all 29 controls in an impressive 48 minutes. He reported that No 8 on the LG was vandalised but the flag was found later (but not the pole and stapler). He or a later runner kindly positioned the flag on the crag foot so it didn’t cause much disruption . Oldbury of course is known for vandalism, but that control I thought was fairly safe. Anticipating trouble with vandalism on the yellow course, I had asked a friend, Jules Smailes from Nailsea RC to patrol the most vulnerable sites. In spite of that precaution we still lost No 6 for a while. Unfortunately that badly affected the only taker of the Yellow course – complete newcomers. It could have been worse however, and Jo Foster managed to find the complete control later. The Blue was fairly challenging but Duncan Innes got round it in about 40minutes. At 4.7km and 100m of climb it is about as long as one can make Oldbury without having a 2nd master map The Light Green proved a little tough perhaps with most people taking an hour or longer – perhaps some of it was of Green standard.
Thanks to Katy, Jo (even after re-injuring her cut hand from Stock Hill), Gwen and Jules for control collection, and Anne for helping. Those of you who didn’t like my No.6 on the Blue, E side of crag, up a steep bank may be pleased to know I slipped back down the mud after collecting that one in and needed a quick wash in the river as result!

Report on Summer Informal at Purdown 1 June

Organiser’s comments (Phil Warry)

I was just staring to think about planning the courses for this event, when it was suggested that I could use the maps that were used for the JK Training day at Purdown on Good Friday. I discovered that Dudley Budden had a lot of maps left over, so it seemed a good idea not to have to reinvent the wheel. The maps had 20 controls on them, so I did wonder whether that would be sufficient. However, there were 3 suggested courses which were roughly equivalent to a Yellow, Light Green and Blue so I thought why not. This did mean that there were quite a lot of controls which were common to all courses but as this was an informal event it didn’t matter particularly. Having planned a couple of previous events at Purdown before it was interesting to see that there were quite a few new control sites.

It became apparent when doing the recce the previous Saturday just how much undergrowth and brambles there is on Purdown in the Summer, with some of the paths being almost impenetrable. So I hope those wearing shorts didn’t suffer too much! I did have a bit of a problem when putting out the controls with some of the punches getting tangled up (its so much easier with electronic punching!) and also a tree which must have blown over in the heavy rain the previous Sunday and was completely blocking one of the laths, so had to do a bit of gardening. As a result, I hadn’t quite got all the controls out by the 11.00 am start time, so apologies to Tony Noott who was, as far as I am aware, the only competitor who was affected by this. We had about 40 competitors and glorious weather and no complaints that I heard of. Finally thanks to Katy and Mark Dyer for their help both at Registration and also in collecting in some of the controls, and also to Dave and Denise Mullins of SARUM (I think) who also offered to collect some of the controls. As a result I didn’t have too much to do afterwards.

Club Championships - Sunday 15th July

Flyer and entry form (PDF, Word) now available. Entries must be received by Sunday 1st July.

June Committee Meeting Minutes

A summary of the minutes of the committe meeting held on 1st June 2007 is now available. Username and password required (as printed in BOK News).

Adams Avery Relay - Entry Deadline: Tuesday 19th June

Entries for the BOK Adams Avery Relay at Ashton Court (Sunday 1st July) must be received by Tuesday 19th June. You may enter as a team (of three runners - no need to declare names until the day of the event) or as an individual (the organiser will assign you to a team). Event Details; Entry Form.

This event forms parts of the SWOA Chairman's Relay Series, which comprises the following events:

• Sunday 24th June, Coate Water Country Park (NWO)
• Sunday 1st July, Ashton Court (BOK)
• Sunday 15th July, Cull-Peppers Dish (WSX)
• Sunday 22nd July, Whitchurch Common (DEVON)
• Sunday 29th July, Somerley Park (WIM)

Pre-entry is mandatory for the BOK and WIM events and preferred for the WSX event.

The rules and scoring system of the series (unchanged from 2006) are available here.

Stock Hill - Thanks

Jo Foster writes:
"Many thanks to Mark Dyer who was manning the First Aid on Sunday at Stockhill - he patched me up after I lost my footing climbing over the wall between Control 13 and 14 on the Blue course. Unfortunately the barbed wire above the wall gashed the palm of my hand as I fell and I have to admit I nearly blew my whistle until I realised that there wasn't much anyone could do. I had to climb back over the wall as I had dropped the map and then took the shortest route back to the car park, dripping blood all the way. I drove back to Bristol (Pete was at the Twin Peaks) and took myself to the MIU at Southmead and luckily was seen straightaway. I needed 5 stitches, but it's healing well and we're off to the Gower this weekend where I am going to avoid barbed wire at any cost! A few people said that they hoped I finished the course, but I agree with the planner (and many others) - even without the excuse of being injured the controls in the field were not appealing in the heat."