Website News - Partners

You may have noticed that we now have a 'Partners' button in the website navigation panel. This takes you to a page where we feature organisations with which we have website partnership arrangements. Essentially this means that we carry permanent links to our partners’ websites and we occasionally feature our partners’ events on the front page of our website. In return, we expect our partners to give BOK a similar amount of coverage on their own websites. These cross-site links should also help our search engine rankings.

JK2007 Entry Deadline - Wednesday 28th February

The second deadline for entries to the JK2007 International Festival of Orienteering falls on Wednesday 28th February. This year the event takes place in Bristol, the Forest of Dean and near Chepstow. Enter via the JK2007 website.

Gare Hill (BOKTrot) - Preliminary Details

Preliminary details for the BOKTrot regional event at Gare Hill, Frome on Sunday 29th April 2007 are now available on the event webpage.

Quantocks Fell Race - Sun 25th Feb

For those of you not going to the National event at Dorking, an alternative might be the Quantocks fell race - a pleasant 7 mile course starting and finishing at Holford and taking in some of the best parts of the Quantock hills with 1900ft of ascent. Start is at 1200, entry on the day, car parking and registration at Holford Green near Nether Stowey (ST154411). Limited parking so please share transport.

Missing Control Stake Foot Levers

Dudley Budden writes:
"Speaking to Ashley Cooper it seems that of the original SIX 'control stake foot levers' that were produced to help push the aluminium stakes into the ground, only ONE now remains with the equipment. Would anyone who has inadvertently retained one please return it or contact Ashley a.s.a.p."

Committee News - Event Entry Fee Policy

BOK has decided to charge standard rates at most of its events in 2006/07. These will only be varied when there are exceptional costs such as high land access charges.

Weekend Roundup 10th-11th Feb

BOK members were widely dispersed this weekend, participating in the Walton Chasers Regional event at Sherbrook, the Welsh League event at Draethen, the QO Forest League event at Ham Hill and the British Night Championships at Sheringham near Norfolk (it took a while to track everyone down!). Isla Simmons won Light Green at Ham Hill and Dudley Budden won Blue at Draethen, with Clive, Jackie and Michael Hallett finishing 1st, 6th and 2nd on Brown, Blue and Orange respectively - a particularly good result for Michael on what must have been one of his first Orange courses. Our M/W75 classes were well represented in Light Green, with Denis Hamment, John Grenfell and Anne Donnell finishing 5th, 6th and 8th. At the British Night Champs, Mark Saunders and Alice Bedwell won M45L and W45L, with Ifor Powell 4th in M21L.

Looking ahead to next weekend, there's the Wimborne Winter Warmer Regional event at Ibsley Common on Sunday 18th. There's also BOK junior training at Cannop Ponds on Saturday 17th - please contact Jackie Hallett if you want to go but haven't already told her.

Walcombe (CS Cup) - Preliminary Details

Preliminary Details for the CompassSport Cup 1st Round event at Walcombe, Wells on Sunday 18th March 2007 are now available on the event webpage.

Reminder - Entries for Compass Sport Cup and JK Relays

Entries for the Compass Sport Cup (18th March) and JK relays (9th April) need to be sent to Chris & Helen Kelsey by 16th February. An entry form is available here and also in the BOK News. If you use the one in BOK News, please note that the Helping column for the JK should instead be an indication of whether you prefer to run a short or long relay leg.

Weekend Roundup 3rd-4th Feb

The local ASO event at Worlebury attracted a large number of BOK members who turned out on a beautiful sunny day to enjoy courses planned by Christophe Mutricy. Ralph Eliot just managed to take 1st place on Green ahead of David Maliphant, but Ben Maliphant won Light Green, with Jamie Hayward 2nd and Isla Simmons 5th. Jessica Benjamin and Shona Simmons finished 4th and 5th on Orange and Cameron Davies won Yellow, 2 places ahead of Michael Hallett. Full results elsewhere on the BOK website.

A few others travelled to the Chiltern Challenge regional event. The Milne family had some excellent results, with Ella and Jessica 2nd on JW2 and JW4 and Duncan 6th on M40S. Tim Britton (still running for Wimborne!) finished 7th on M21L and Peter Stagg was 2nd on M35S. Full results here.

Meanwhile I enjoyed beautiful scenery and sunshine at the Long Mynd Valleys fell race - an excellent 11 mile course starting and finishing at Church Stretton and taking in all the hills as well as the valleys.

Worlebury Woods - Comments

Comments from the Organiser, Controller and Planner are now available.

Worlebury Woods (Sunday 4th February 2007) - Results

Provisional results (including string course results and SplitsBrowser) are now available. WinSplits and comments to follow. The planner, Christophe Mutricy, states that "some people on the Green course might need to be reinstated, as a control went missing".

New Procedure for Registration at BOK Events

The committee has approved a new procedure for registration at BOK events, as recommended by a meeting of interested parties held on January 19th. The key points are:

1. Download to be combined with Registration at all events.
2. BOF cards to be shown, or a photocopy provided, in order to qualify for discount.
3. No receipts to be issued but non-BOF members should be encouraged to join by the provision of an appropriate form.

Weekend Roundups 21st & 28th Jan

BOK members had some good results at Cranham Wood on Sunday 21st January, the third of three consecutive Galoppen fixtures. Clive Hallett and Alan Honey won Brown and Blue respectively. The Maliphants continued their good form with David winning Green and Pete and Ben finishing 3rd on Blue and Light Green. The Helfer and Grenfell Shaw juniors also performed well - Tom Helfer was 5th on Green with Rachel and James 3rd on Orange and White; John and Luke Grenfell Shaw were 4th and 2nd on Light Green and Orange. Full results here.

On Sunday 28th January, several BOK members travelled to the Concorde Chase Regional event at Hawley near Camberley. Clive Hallett had an outstanding result to win M21L, beating Nick Barrable by 21 seconds. Jackie and Michael finished 2nd on W35L and JM2. The Maliphant juniors again performed well, David and Ben finishing 3rd on JM5M and JM4 respectively. Other notable performances included Anne Donnell and Pat Grenfell (1st and 2nd on W75L) and Dudley Budden (4th on M60L). Full results here.

Orienteering Features in the Western Daily Press

Read Radio Bristol presenter John Turner's amusing account of his recent encounter with orienteers in the Forest of Dean, as published in the Western Daily Press on Thursday 25th January 2007.

Website News - How to get Update Notifications by E-mail

See here for detailed instructions on how to get the Yahoo! Alert service to send you an e-mail whenever the BOK website is updated.

Weekend Roundup 13th-14th Jan

Sunshine and good courses made for a very pleasant Galoppen and ASO event at Mallard's Pike on Sunday, with a good turnout. James Robinson took 1st place on White while Cameron Davies, Edward Wheatcroft, Michael Hallett and Emily Ronson finished 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th on Yellow. On Orange, Luke Grenfell-Shaw and Rachel Helfer were 2nd and 3rd; Ralph Eliot, Isla Simmons and Ben Maliphant 2nd, 3rd and 4th on Light Green. David Maliphant repeated last week's success by winning Green and Alan Honey and Peter Stagg were 5th and 6th on Blue. Clive Hallett this week turned the tables on Ben Chesters to win Brown, with Mark Saunders a very close 3rd. Full results here.

On Saturday, 16 juniors aged from 8 to 15 braved the not so fine weather at Ashton Court to take part in a junior coaching session organised by Jackie Hallett, Helen Kelsey and Jim Hayward. Many different exercises were involved, from setting the map to bearings and pacing. The day finished with a clock relay involving all ages. Everyone went home quite tired, but looking forward to the Sunday ASO event. The next coaching session is on Saturday 17th February, in the Forest of Dean – excellent preparation for the JK. Adults are welcome to come to this session, as well as juniors. Please contact Jackie Hallett as soon as possible if you would like to come.

Weekend Preview 13th-14th Jan

There's another SW Galoppen this Sunday, this time at Mallards Pike in the Forest of Dean. If that's not enough, you can also get out on Saturday evening at the Devon & Cornwall night league event at Burrator. For juniors, don't forget the BOK junior training at Ashton Court on Saturday, 1000-1230 for under 11s, 1000-1530 for others. If you want to go but haven't already arranged it with Jackie Hallett, please contact her by Friday to check whether she can take more.

Weekend Roundup 6th-7th Jan

BOK members had some good results at the DEVON Galoppen at Buller's Hill on Sunday, in particular the Hallett, Maliphant and Hurford families. Michael Hallett won Yellow, David and Ben Maliphant won Green and Light Green respectively while Clive and Jackie Hallett finished 2nd and 3rd on Brown and Blue. Jackie was just 90 seconds down on Blue winner Jonathan Hurford. Other notable results were Charles Daniel and Duncan Innes (7th and 8th on Brown), Pete Maliphant and Dudley Budden (4th and 6th on Blue) and Rosemary Hurford (10th on Light Green). The courses were enjoyable in fairly physical terrain and most of us will have managed to escape before the wind and heavier rain arrived in the afternoon. Full results here. At the night event at Leigh Woods on Saturday, Andy Creber gained most points, with Pete James, Charles Daniel and Mark Blackstone finishing 3rd, 7th and 8th respectively.

BOK Member Entry Form for Compass Sport Cup & JK Relays

A BOK member entry form for the Compass Sport Cup Qualifier (Walcombe, Wells - Sun 18th March) and the JK relays (Caerwent, Chepstow - Mon 9th April) is now available. For those who haven't participated before, the Compass Sport Cup is an inter-club competition with a qualifying round and a final. In 2006 BOK finished 3rd overall and we need a good turnout in the 2007 qualifier to secure a place in this year's final, which will be held in October. The JK relay offers an excellent finish to the Easter weekend and an opportunity to participate in a different style of competition, with teams competing in various categories over 3 or 4 legs. Both of these events are fun and sociable, and are suitable for orienteers of all standards. These events are pre-entry only and forms need to be returned to your club captains by 16th February at the latest. Please tell others that the form is available on the website - we will also have copies available at forthcoming events.