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."

Stock Hill - Comments

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

Stock Hill - More Results

String course results and WinSplits are now available.

Stock Hill - RouteGadget

The map and courses have now been uploaded to RouteGadget. 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.

Stock Hill - Provisional Results

Provisional results (including SplitsBrowser) are now available. WinSplits, RouteGadget, string course results and officials' comments to follow.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Final Results

The results have now been declared 'final' by the organising team. The only changes since the last update (provisional, revision 1) are:

• Missing BOF membership numbers have been uploaded to the BOF ranking list system.
• Colour standard times have been added.

Competitor age classes and BOF levies

Please will all helpers involved with electronically entering competitor details at BOK events, ensure that they include each competitor's age class, to ensure the correct calculation of BOF levies by the BOK treasurer. Many thanks.

ASO and Adams Avery Relays, Ashton Court - Sunday 1st July

The flyer for the ASO and Adams Avery Relays is now available. Enter as a team (of three runners) or as an individual (you will be allocated to a team of the organiser's choosing). Entries must be received by Tuesday 19th June. The entry form for the Adams Avery Relay is here; the entry form for the ASO Relays is available on the ASO website.

Summer Informal at Warmley Forest Park

This is Dudley`s report on the Summer Informal at Warmley Forest Park on Wednesday 30 May 07.

WARMLEY FOREST PARK WEDNESDAY 30 MAY 07

Approximately 32 people (lots of pairs, parents and grandparents) attended on what turned out to be a reasonable evening for the weather. Early starters managed to get round even the Blue course without getting rained upon. I was surprised at how far some people had travelled (Wells and Warminster of particular note (maybe the affiliation with ‘W’). It was also great to see at least seven people had cycled to the event. Competitors were fairly evenly split between the three courses; yellow, light green and blue. I innovated with the blue and included a run to another small area (Rodway Hill) to get the length and avoid having to circumnavigate WFP and Siston twice. P.S. SW433245 is in fact the ‘Merry maidens’ stone circle near Boskenna (you had to be there to know!!)
Thanks to Katy (control setting and collection), Anne and Gill for helping on the night.

Dudley

Report on Summer Informal in Leigh Woods

This is Pete Maliphant`s report on the Summer Informal event in Leigh Woods on Wed 23 May 07.

LEIGH WOODS INFORMAL EVENT. WEDNESDAY 23 MAY 2007

More than fifty people enjoyed a warm summer evening in Leigh Woods. Whether this high turnout was due to the weather or the promise of no steep hills, I’m not sure. The forest was generally runnable still, though the undergrowth grew rapidly in the previous fortnight.

Our aim was to provide some enjoyable courses with plenty of route choice and some fun elements. A ‘draw your route on’ exercise at the finish revealed a pleasing diversity of routes on Blue 4-5 and 8-9. Quite a few people found the flat forest with a dense path network more difficult than expected. The number of unmarked and often changing mountain bike paths do cause problems, but if you use pacing and some rough compass, everything on the map is in the right place!

David and I had added the unorthodox option of a Spectating control, with a two minute pause to sketch the view of the Suspension Bridge (pen and paper provided). This worked brilliantly with 15 BOK artists leaving a sketch for us to collect afterwards. (See picture). We didn’t realise that Rolf Harris was a club member and Rachel can claim her prize next time she sees us.

Many runners commented that they had never seen this view, so it was good to find a less-known corner of the woods. Several deer were also spotted.

The junior turnout was low, suggesting Neil Cameron’s words at the Annual Dinner were right and the club does have to do something more, or perhaps different, to get more juniors to join in.

It was great to see a good turnout from the recently reformed University (UBOC) club. Clubs like SYO have benefited significantly for many years from having a strong university club and as an ex-UBOC, ex-SHUOC and ex-SYO member, I hope that BOK can benefit from, as well as help, a resurgent student orienteering scene.

Thanks to everyone for turning up, to Katy and Anne Donnell for their help on the day, and to younger son Ben for helping plan and tape control sites beforehand.

Pete and David Maliphant

Report on Summer Informal on the Downs

Richard Nuell`s report on his Informal event on the Downs 16 May 07.

THE DOWNS WEDNESDAY 16 MAY 2007
As usual, it was a pleasure to organise and plan one of the BOK evening informals. I now find it more fun to plan events like this where some flexibility is allowed, provided the courses are of an acceptable standard. It is no secret that I always aim to put on something a bit different (remember the BOK LONG-O in 1997 which included Purple and Black courses?). This year, I opted for Yellow, Red and two "Street Score" courses; sorry, no Blue or Green but I feel there are not enough safe, technical bits on the Downs for such courses. Red courses tend to be treated as a joke because they are much less technical, and are always disregarded when results are analysed, but I think most people who did my course (5.0k) had a good challenging run and enjoyed themselves - that's the important thing for me. I was particularly pleased to see so many University students taking part, it being so near to their halls of residence. The Red course enabled them to get a feel of simple orienteering prior to trying the more usual technical courses in weeks to come. My only regret was that, as I was collecting in controls, I wasn't around when people doing the Street Score finished as I was keen to know how they got on; it certainly took me some hours when I checked it all but I am not a fast runner!
Thanks to everyone for coming and to Anne Donnell for her help on the day.
Richard Nuell

BOK AGM/Social - 21 Sep 2007

The BOK Committee is pleased to announce that the Annual General Meeting will once again be held at the Youth Hostel, 14 Narrow Quay, Bristol on Friday, 21 September 2007 at 19.30 hrs. This will be followed by a buffet supper prepared to the same high standard of previous years. More details will appear in the July edition of BOK News.

Club Weekend, Gower 15th-17th June (Update)

Chris Kelsey has updated his original news item about the Club Weekend - please click on Captains' Message in the Hot Links section to see the update.

Mountain Bike Orienteering - Saturday 23rd June, Ringwood

Wimbourne Orienteers (WIM) are staging a mountain bike orienteering event on Saturday 23rd June 2007 at Moors Valley Country Park, near Ringwood. Entry is free, but there is a charge for car parking. Full details on the WIM website.

Leigh Woods Summer Informal - Wednesday 23rd May

Pete Maliphant writes:
"Wednesday's informal at Leigh Woods has, as well as a Yellow course, slightly short, fast Green and Blue courses. A large OOB area in the north has given the rare chance to provide courses on Leigh Woods without the usual grotty undergrowth and near vertical climb somewhere. The vegetation is growing fast but courses should be runnable with route choice decisions. We're also laying on some short sprint exercises which can be done solo, or more entertaining, in pairs with each person going in opposite directions. Brunel fans should also watch out for the Spectating (rather than Spectator) control!"

Cotswold Way Relay - Saturday 30th June

Ashley Cooper writes:
"The Cotswold Way relay is on Saturday 30th June. As usual I will enter some (hopefully at least one!) BOK team. For those of you who haven't done the event before it is an excellent day out and a chance to explore the Cotswold Way. Briefly, the event covers the whole of the Cotswold Way in a series of 10 races, each stage starting with a mass start (a team is thus 10 people running one leg each). The race starts at Chipping Camden in the early moring and arrives at Bath abbey 12 hours or so later. Each stage is a different length and amount of climb - details can be found at: http://www.cotswoldwayrelay.co.uk/"

"Could you let me know as soon as possible if you would like to run, and if you have a preference for a stage. Note there is usually an unseemly rush for the shorter stages! If you definitely don't want to run can you also let me know to prevent arm twisting/pestering."

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - More Photos

A new album, Gare Hill (ASO Championships), is now available in the gallery. Thanks to John Lewis for the photos and for arranging parental permission to publish.

SWOA News - Committee Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the SWOA committee meeting held on 18th April 2007 are now available on the SWOA website.

Summer Informal Events - Coaching

Jackie Hallett writes:
"There will be a coaching clinic at the following events: May 23rd, 20th June, 4th July. Advice will be offered to anyone who wants it to improve their technique."

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Provisonal BOF Ranking List Scores

Provisional BOF ranking list scores, courtesy of Christophe Mutricy, are now available on the BOF ranking list website. Please note that a small number of competitors have not been considered in the calculation of badge times or ranking list scores because they are not recognised as being BOF national members - see the results page for details. Queries about the badge times or ranking list scores should be sent to the e-mail address shown on the event webpage.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Provisional Badge Times

Provisional badge times, courtesy of Peter Foster, can be accessed from the results page.

Blaise Battleships - Sunday 15th July 2007

Fancy trying something different? This "Mental Racing" event is a 7+ mile run around the Blaise Castle estate, during which competitors have to solve puzzles in order to gain time bonuses. Organised by EventHead.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Comments

Officials' comments are now available.

Dorset Coast Path Relay - Sat 7th July

It's time to get another BOK team together for this year's outing. For those unfamiliar with the event, it's a relay race from Lyme Regis to Studland Head. Teams may have as many or as few runners as desired and changeover points can be anywhere on the course. It is suitable for runners of all ages and standards as there are numerous opportunities for both long and short legs and the race is normally won by means of tactical 'sprint' teams helping out on the hills. Last year the race included an age-related handicap class and BOK finished joint 1st in this with the South West Junior Squad. In previous years BOK has also been overall winner. The event is held to raise funds for the South West Junior Squad and normally attracts between 5 and 8 teams from local orienteering clubs. It's always a fun and sociable day out, with magnificent Dorset coastal scenery. If interested, please contact Chris or Helen Kelsey. Further details can be found here or via the Wimborne orienteering website.

Weekend Roundup - 28th-29th April

Yet another sunny weekend - how long can this last? Good, varied and physical orienteering was enjoyed at BOK's Regional event at Gare Hill. Matt Jeffery won JM2, John Grenfell-Shaw, George Hurford and Luke Grenfell-Shaw took the top 3 places in JM3, Ben Maliphant won JM4 and David Maliphant finished 2nd in JM5M. For the girls, Jess Benjamin and Jessica Milne won JW3 and JW4 respectively, with Rosemary Hurford 3rd in JW5S. In the senior classes, Pete Maliphant was 5th on a fairly competitive M50L, Trevor Griffiths finished 2nd in M55L and Jenny Grenfell-Shaw was 3rd in W40L. The event ran very smoothly thanks to the organising team and the usual efficient squads of helpers. Full results are available elsewhere on this website.

On the Saturday, Mark Saunders and Chris Kelsey enjoyed fine conditions for the Sugar Loaf fell race, where Mark finished 1st vet 40. This is an excellent race, with a meandering route up the hill from Abergavenny followed by a delightful direct descent, mostly on grassy paths.

Looking forward to next weekend, good luck to everyone who has entered the British Championships at Pwll Du. BOK relay teams are now on the website and Clive Hallett has kindly volunteered to coordinate registrations and late team changes on the day as the Kelseys won't be there.

Website News - Holiday Events 2008

We now have a Holiday Events 2008 page, where you can share your plans for orienteering holidays next year. Please contact the Webmaster if you would like to have an event added. First up is Jonathan Hurford who is offering to coordinate accommodation for O-Ringen 2008. The Holiday Event pages for 2007 and 2008 are accessible from the Hot Links section near the top of the homepage.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - RouteGadget

The map and courses have now been uploaded to RouteGadget. 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.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Provisional Results

Provisional results (including String Course, SplitsBrowser and WinSplits) are now available. Any queries about the results should be sent to the e-mail address shown on the event webpage. RouteGadget, BOF Rankings and Comments to follow. Photos.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Lost Property

Lost at the BOK Trot:

• Black fleece jumper, medium, make of Haggar
• Sweatband, white with blue stripes

Information to Ashley Cooper or the Webmaster.

Website News - Routegadget

There is a new feature on the website to analyse your course and see how others used different route choices.
On the RouteGadget page, you can trace you route on the map, compare you course with others or replay the race as a mass start.
At the moment, there is a test event where you can practice the route tracing and the district event of February at Worlebury Woods.
You'll be able to trace your route at the BOKTrot soon after the event.

Lost at JK Relays - Black OMM Fleece Top

If anyone picked up a lightweight black 'OMM' fleece top (last seen in or near the BOK tent after the JK relays), please contact Duncan Milne (not Duncan Innes as previously reported).

JK Roundup 6th-9th April

Apologies for a rather belated review of BOK achievements at the JK. It will surely be remembered as a magnificent weekend, blessed by superb weather on all four days. BOK members played key roles in the staging of the event, with Mike Forrest as overall coordinator, Alan Honey as planner of the Sprint courses and Mark Saunders, Alice Bedwell and Charles Daniel as planners for the individual days. Many others put in a lot of hours on the organisational side, particularly Dave Urch and Margarette Parker as joint Organisers on Days 2 and 3 as well as the large contingent of car parking helpers and volunteers for other assorted tasks.

The Sprint day at UWE was probably a novelty for some and proved very popular with those taking part. The elite runners showed the rest of us how it should be done and the finish 'arena' provided an exciting finale for spectators, with ex-BOK Oli Johnson finishing 2nd in the Open class. Ifor Powell was the highest placed current BOK member in the Open. Other notable performances included David Hunt (16th in the Mens Vet), Keith Jones (9th in the Mens Super Vet), Rowena Johnson (15th in the Junior Women) and the trio of Jamie Hayward, Lee Turner and Ben Kelsey (29th, 31st and 34th respectively in the Junior Men).

The individual days in the Forest of Dean were also very enjoyable, with the planners giving us excellent and varied courses in good, runnable terrain. Congratulations to our podium finishers - Luke Grenfell-Shaw 1st on M14B (winning by nearly 20 minutes); Jessie Benjamin 2nd on W14B; Clive Hallett 1st on M40 (despite nursing an achilles injury that prevented him from running in the relays!); Andy Creber 2nd on M45S; Denis Hamment 2nd on M80; and both Pat Grenfell (1st) and Anne Donnell (3rd) on W75. Jackie Hallett just missed out despite a good run on Day 3, finishing 4th overall on W50L.

The Relay day at Caerwent army camp provided a different but equally enjoyable challenge, although the courses used less of the fast and potentially confusing central camp area area than expected. But there was plenty of opportunity for mistakes as some of us found to our cost, even at the final controls in view of the spectators! A last minute re-shuffle of the teams to replace Clive reduced our winning potential, but the BOK Bullets (Ifor Powell, Charles Daniel and Mark Saunders) still managed 3rd place in the M120+ class. Other strong performances from our 19 teams included BOK Bongos (Jenny Grenfell-Shaw, Pat Grenfell and Alison Simmons) and BOK Beetles (Helen Kelsey, Anne Donnell and Rachel Dennis) - 9th and 10th respectively in W165+.

A great weekend of orienteering. Full results for all four days are here.

SW Galoppen Series - Final Scores and Prize Winners

The final scores and prize winners for the 2006/2007 South-West Galoppen Series have been published on the SWOA website.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Final Details Updated

The junior late entry fee for regional event courses has been corrected to £4 (was £5).

Wanted - Runners for British Relays 6th May

We are short of one M/W 60+ and also need one person to complete a Womens Short team. Volunteers please to Chris or Helen Kelsey.

KERNO Galoppen, Penhale - 15th April

Pete Maliphant writes...

Whilst the rest of the country basked in sunshine and unseasonally high temperatures, Cornwall was cool and foggy initially for the final Galoppen of the season. Heavy rain on Friday and more rain overnight Saturday meant there were some puddles in the dunes and water in the "lakes" in the centre of the map - the first time I've seen this.

After the JK the previous weekend few orienteers made the long trip west, but those that did enjoyed the usual high quality orienteering and challenging navigation that Penhale and KERNO provide, centred on the holiday camp. Everyone made mistakes (even Clive), the trick was keeping them small...........! BOK featured strongly in the results, with top performances from:
Brown: Clive Hallett, finishing second to Ben Chesters and so just missing out on the Brown Galoppen title
Blue: Pete Maliphant (1st) getting the better, this time, of Andy Creber (2nd) Jackie Hallett (3rd) and David Maliphant (7th)
Green: Ben Maliphant (2nd) on his first ever Green course, with Rachel Dennis 4th and Robin Walker 9th
Yellow: Michael Hallett (3rd)

The shorter courses only had a handful of competitors on them, which was a shame, especially as they were planned almost entirely within the holiday camp area rather than on the empty dunes, and well-suited to younger runners and the less-experienced. The appearance early on Sunday morning of numerous controls all over the camp site, certainly puzzled some of the many holidaymakers staying at Penhale.

Finally special mention should be made of Kate Maliphant, who has allegedly spent longer finding (and not finding) Penhale's controls over the years than most of us. Having been disqualified for missing a control on Light Green, she went back out to successfully complete the Green course as well just for fun!

Full results here.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Final Details

Final details and control descriptions for the regional event at Gare Hill on Sunday 29th April 2007 are now available on the event webpage.

Annual Dinner (11th May) - Booking Deadline

Members are reminded that bookings for the annual dinner should be sent to Sally Thomas by Monday 23rd April. The booking form was included with the last issue of BOK News.

Mike Nelson - Message from Mary

I would like to thank all of you who sent me, Jenny, Robert and Julie so many cards and letters, the messages on them were such a comfort. We will miss Mike so much but we have lots of wonderful memories and we are so proud of him.
Kind regards, Mary Nelson.

BOK Achieves Clubmark Accreditation

Celia Watkinson writes:
"Bristol Orienteering Klub is pleased to announce that it has been awarded Clubmark accreditation in recognition of its excellent work with young people. Clubmark is awarded to clubs who ensure that they provide a quality, safe and enjoyable activity for young people. The club has met minimum operating standards in four key areas:

• Duty of Care & Child Protection
• Coaching & Competition
• Sports Equity & Ethics
• Club Management

The award allows Bristol Orienteering Klub to use the Clubmark logo on its publicity material and will help in marketing the sport to young people, schools and parents. Many thanks to all the club members who have contributed towards the achievement of the award by ensuring good policies and procedures are in place and that young people continue to experience enjoyable orienteering through activities such as Junior Coaching days, Avon Schools events and regional/national competitions."

Website News - Mailing List

We now have an 'opt-in' mailing list, the BOK Bulletin. Subscribers to the mailing list will receive an e-mail reminder a few days before each BOK orienteering event. The service is mainly intended for non-members (who only visit the website occasionally), but members are welcome to subscribe if they feel it will be of use. Sign-up to the list here.

BOK to Feature on Radio Bristol

Tune into Radio Bristol at 08:37 on Friday 6th April to hear an interview with BOK members Stephen Horton, Alan Honey and Ian Cawley. The interview takes place at UWE, venue of the JK Urban Sprint later in the day.

Questars Adventure Race Success

Ashley Cooper and Pete Foster were part of a team that finished 2nd in the Masters Vets class, and 13th overall, in the first Questars adventure race of 2007 held on 31st March in the New Forest. This was a 6 hour a score event involving trail running, mountain biking and kayaking. Full results and details of forthcoming Questars events are here.

Weekend Roundup 1st April

Many BOK members enoyed fine sunny weather, and long but fast courses, at the Wessex Galoppen held at Rushmore near Shaftesbury. Jessie Benjamin finished 3rd on Orange and Ben Maliphant continued his success on Light Green, winning by 5 minutes. David Maliphant arrived too late for a Green map (which might have been a problem had he not already had a good lead in the Galoppen table) and ran Blue instead, finishing a very respectable 7th. Other successes on Blue were Pete Maliphant (1st), with Nick Dennis, Trevor Griffiths and David Palmer not far behind in 4th, 5th and 6th places respectively. Alison Simmons finished 22nd and first woman. Clive Hallett could only manage 3rd on Brown, more than 3 minutes down on Ben Chesters - so the pressure's on for the last Gallopen at Penhale! Full results here.

Weekend Roundup 24th-25th March

There was a reasonable turnout from BOK at the SARUM Saunter Regional event at Grovely Woods near Wilton on Sunday 25th. Matthew Jeffery won JM3, with little sister Abigail also winning JW1, closely followed by Niamh O'Sullivan. Matt Lyle won JM5L, Clive Hallett finished 2nd on M21L, as did Jackie Hallet on W21L. Other notable performances were Trevor Griffiths (1st on M55L), Gavin Clegg (3rd on M50L), Helen Kelsey (3rd on W50L) and David Hunt (4th on M45L). Full results here. On the Saturday, Chris Kelsey enjoyed fine sunny conditions for the Llanbedr to Blaenavon fell race, finishing 2nd vet 50.

British Relays - Final Reminder

If you wish to enter for the British Relays at Pwll Du on Sunday 6th May, please send your entry form to Chris & Helen Kelsey now - entries received after Easter are likely to be too late. An entry form can be found in BOK News and in the Hot Links section of this website.

Club Weekend, Gower 15th-17th June (Update)

For this year's Club Weekend, we intend to take advantage of the Mid Summer on Gower events to get together with Swansea Bay Orienteering Club on the weekend of 15th-17th June. There are 3 events planned for the weekend, a Friday evening event at Llanmadoc Hill, a Welsh league event on Saturday at Broughton Burrows (which will also be used by SBOC for their club championships) and the popular 2x2 relay event on Sunday at Whiteford Burrows. Further details on the SBOC website. We aim to share camping with SBOC, with the traditional socialising activities including a barbecue and hopefully rounders on Saturday evening. The event campsite will be at Kennexstone Camping Site, just east of Llangenith a few miles from each of the events. This site should be quieter and more sheltered than Hillend. Bookings can be made online, although those wishing to stay for only 1 night may have to telephone or book on arrival. So that we can have some idea of numbers and ensure adequate camping space together, please contact Chris or Helen Kelsey as soon as possible to indicate an interest. Please note that pre-entry is required for the 2x2 relay.

Harvester Relays 2nd-3rd June

This year’s Harvester relays will be held in the excellent terrain of Penhale Sands, Cornwall. The Harvester is a night/day relay event for teams of 7 (Class A) or 5 (Class B). The event will start after dusk (around 2200) and continue into the daylight hours of Sunday morning. Teams nominate themselves for one of the various trophy competitions, which include age-related handicap categories. Further details are available in BOK News and will also be on the Cornwall Orienteering website. If anyone is interested, please contact Chris & Helen Kelsey who are happy to co-ordinate entries and bookings for camping within Perran Sands Holiday Park. The closing date is 14th May, so please let them know by the end of April.