As always thank you to you all for your continued support to put on great orienteering events.

Spine Race Report – Hannah

After an amazing 53rd place overall (8th woman) in the Winter Spine Race, Wessex’s very own Hannah answered some questions about her experience.  The race was basically the whole Pennine Way, starting on Sunday 12^th February, and Hanna did it in 152:41:51. Not bad going for 268 miles. I’m not convinced Marvel Studios is going to be taking up her superhero “No Sleep Woman” any time soon, but what an achievement (if this does not make sense to you, read what Hanna says)!

What motivated you to participate in this event?

I had heard about the Spine a few years before and really just wanted to see if I could do it. I fancied giving myself a challenge and, as strange as it sounds, I get a thrill out of seeing how far I can get with suffering and grit and determination. I’ve helped on races before and really enjoyed the atmosphere and wanted to see it from the other side.

Can you describe your training regimen leading up to the event?

This ended up not being as structured or as comprehensive as I wanted however, I did a fair few long coast path walks and hours in the new forest, learnt to eat on the go, practiced trying different snacks to see what agreed with me. Days which would normalise long distances were helpful. The main things that helped were long walks in the dark to get used to moving by head torch and working for the NHS…..night shifts were probably the best (unplanned) training that helped the most of all. Being able to cope physically and mentally with missing night’s sleep was key.

What advice would you give a fellow orienteer who wanted to do something like this?

Go for it. We are capable of more than we think we are. Don’t overthink it, if you want to do something that you think is a bit mad or “too hard”, ask what’s the worst that could happen. It’s very easy to talk yourself out of doing events because you think it will be too hard, the hardest thing is signing up and once that’s done you just go with the flow.

What was the most challenging moment during the event, and how did you overcome it?

Slogging through bog in the north Pennines and constantly falling over with shoes being sucked off and getting stuck. This was really miserable and exhausting and the bog went on for HOURS. In the end putting some good music on and just getting into a zone of plodding helped and the hours soon disappeared. Also leaving my clean socks bag and warm layer bag at the first checkpoint. It did eventually make it to a later checkpoint but it was a sad moment at the middle checkpoints not to have clean socks to put on.

With the benefit of hindsight, what would you do differently?

I would vary my snacks more, I soon got bored of the snacks I bought and lost interest in eating them. Towards the end it was a chore to eat and that didn’t help energy levels. I would also bring a warmer sleeping bag and accept the slightly heavier weight for the benefit of sleeping better.

What strategies do you use to maintain focus and stay motivated throughout the race?

Breaking the distance down into chunks. At no point did I think about the whole distance, in fact half the time I couldn’t tell you how long the overall thing was. I had split it into 50km odd distances which became much more mentally manageable and all I had to focus on was getting to the next checkpoint.

Can you share any tips for preventing injuries during training and the event itself?

Build up distance gradually, and with the spine it was more about hours on the feet rather than speed. Probably obvious but keeping on top of foot care. I became sloppy with it as I got more tired and got a couple of blisters as a result.

If you could have any superpower to help you during a race, what would it be and why?

The ability not to need any sleep. The tiredness was really tough, pure exhaustion like I’ve never felt before ….falling asleep against a sign post perched on the smallest bit of rock and hearing my voice being shouted through the fog when there was no-one around and the hallucinations was a weird experience. At one point I was so tired I had to sit down in the middle of the path and lull my head to the side and have a power nap as I was seeing all the rocks as odd-shaped animals. One poor check point volunteer had to console me as I had a full-on sobbing melt-down for forgetting something in my bag, I was deliriously tired and had no control over my emotions but soon picked it up and just kept plodding.

How do you feel after completing such a gruelling race, both physically and emotionally?

Immediately afterwards I was so exhausted I burst into tears at the end checkpoint, through shear tiredness. Once this passed it was overwhelming excitement and buzzing from having finished and being able to read the messages that had been sent through. About a week later you feel invincible and like you could do it all over again (as your brain forgets just how tough it was) and then a few weeks later a strange feeling of “what now’ starts, with a feeling of going back to normal routine and thinking about what the next adventure might be. Physically I was surprised with how I felt. I was on night shift the day after getting home and was able to hobble around in crocs without too much problem. I now have far less toenails and I’m not sure they will ever recover but other than that physically recovered pretty

Wessex Unsung Heroes – Alan Hooper

Alan joined WSX in 1984, and after a successful career as a Chartered Electrical Engineer specialising in Electronics, he now applies his wide skillset to furthering orienteering technology on behalf of Wessex.

Before pcs and laptops were around, he developed a finish system programmed from an old programmable calculator and some custom scrap microprocessor chips. It recorded finish times and synchronised to the old control cards via cloakroom tickets. In fact, it worked so well it was copied by Mike Nelson of BOK. Additionally, he worked with Bill Brown to use a CSV file to automatically convert maps to current symbology, as orienteering was plagued with old and custom symbols.

In the past Alan has been Secretary, Chairman and a Level 3 Controller.

Coming up to the present day, everyone in Wessex knows the drill.  We plan events and, on the day, whatever the weather we run around putting out SI control boxes, stakes and kites.  We run the event, download the results and then collect it all back in again.  Have you ever stopped to consider that these control boxes do their job, month after month, without missing a beat. How does this happen? The answer is simple…. Alan keeping our control boxes in good shape.  This means monitoring their health and changing batteries when required (they last for between 5-10 years, tending to the shorter end of the range due to the additional demands of SIAC). The control boxes are sealed units, so it’s not the same as just changing the AAA batteries in the remote.  Additionally, he frustratingly repairs control boxes that have broken, mainly by being dropped or thrown onto hard surfaces. So please take care of these important and expensive items (they cost around £120 each).

Alan Hooper…… WSX salutes you.

Photos, photos, photos

Whenever we get the opportunity to publicise what we do, there is always a need for great photos.  I know it’s sometimes difficult to go beyond the traditional group of people milling round the start, but please use your imaginations.  At the last Committee we discussed the idea of someone being specifically responsible for this at all our events, as often everyone is too busy.  We need to be able to convey the fun and excitement of our sport, so if you are a keen photographer, let us know.

Wessex Region Night League (WRNL)

The final WRNL event was held in Lymington, followed by the prizegiving.  A big thank you to James for pulling the results together.  Thank you to everyone who got involved from Wessex, running, planning or helping.  These fantastic events wouldn’t happen without you all.

Congratulations to all the Wessex team winners:

• Lyra won the Women’s Open
• Esk was the to Women’s Junior
• Alan came 2^nd on Men’s Open
• Oliver was the top Men’s Junior
• Julie was 3^rd in the Age Graded Women

Considering that 107 competitors representing 12 different clubs were involved, it underlines how good the above performances were.

CSC & Wessex On Tour

On Sunday 23rd February, a crack Team WSX (under team captain James) stepped out at the Compass Sport SW Qualifier at Croydon Hill, Near Minehead.  At the 11^th hour Quantocks had to replan the whole event to adapt to an Ecological Exclusion Zone right in the middle of the area. On top of that the weather on the day presented its own challenges, particularly to Gavin’s shelter.

Everyone knows the happy ending of this story… WSX came 3^rd, which in the Trophy competition, means we are in the final.

Early on the Committee decided to support members so we could field a team in the final, which is in South Gare, Redcar on Sunday 14^th September.  The plan is to take a minibus up on Saturday 13^th September, stay in a local hostel, eat in a local pub, compete on the Sunday then return in the minibus. WSX will pay for entries as normal and additionally will subsidise the trip by around £45 per head, meaning the cost to members will be £45 each. Some members also plan to make their way there.

If you are interested in going, but haven’t let me know, just drop me an email.

Wessex Events

Purbeck Hill Challenge – On 15^th February 2025 a combined Wimborne and Wessex team put on the first Purbeck Hill Challenge, covering Studland, Agglestone and the Purbecks.  The event, planned by Chris Turner (WIM), was a big success, with 86 competitors, many running in pairs, and many new to orienteering. We originally thought that the first event would lose a fair bit of money, due to high mapping costs, but this turned out not to be the case. The second event is on Saturday 14^th February 2026. Keep your eyes peeled for an article about this in the April edition of Compass Sport.

WRNL Bournemouth & Chines – On Monday 17^th February 2025 we ran a night event on Julie’s new Bournemouth Town and Chines map.  With a turn out of around 40, covering what turned out to be a challenging and varied area.

What’s Coming Up

Summer Series (MapRun and Physical Events)

This is now underway, with Scott’s Poole Town Map Run event active in April.

Venues & Dates for MapRun League Events:

• Friday 4^th April until Sunday 4^th May – Poole Town (WSX) – Planned by Scott
• Thursday 1^st May until Saturday 31^st May – Ringwood (WIM)
• Sunday 1^st June until Monday 30^th June – Ferndown Forest (WIM)
• Tuesday 1^st July until Thursday 31^st July – Corfe Mullen (WSX) – Planned by Bruno – New map done by Jason
• Friday 1^st August until Sunday 31^st August – Dorchester (WIM)
• Monday 1^st September until Tuesday 30^th September – Bournemouth Chines (WSX) – Planned by Robbie

Venues & Dates for Physical Events:

• April Event: 1800 – 1900, Saturday 26^th April – Kings Arms, Wareham (WSX) – Planned by Agnes – Open on RSU
• May Event: 1100 – 1400, Saturday 3^rd May – Poundbury (WIM)
• June Event: 1100 – 1400, Saturday 14^th June – Blandford Stour Meadows (WIM)
• July Event: 1830 – 2015, Thursday 10^th July – Corfe Castle (WSX) – Planned by Oliver
• August Event – Puddletown Forest (WIM) – tbc
• September Event: 1830 – 2015, Thursday 11^th September – Bisterne Close (WSX) – Planned by Rob

Saturday 7^th June 2025 –Canford Heath UKUL Event

Dale Paget is the planner for this prestige UK Urban League event. The Event Centre is at Ashdown Leisure Centre. Starts are 11.30-13.00. Bruno & Julie are joint organisers (Julie on the day of the event). Karen French is controller.

We still need more helpers on this event, so please let me know if you are available.

4^th/5^th October 2025 – 3^rd Purbeck Weekend

A big weekend for WSX, with our Dorset Delight on Studland Dunes on the Saturday and Swanage and Durlston on the Sunday. Jon is planning day 1 and Roger on day 2.  Julie is organising day 1 (and coordinating whole weekend), Ian is organiser for day 2. The Swanage and Durlston maps are being linked together by Nick Nourse.

Events are the lifeblood of the club, and Wessex have a good reputation for putting on interesting and challenging courses.  This takes a lot of work by many club members to make them a success, and much of this happens behind the scenes. Thank you for your continued support.

We have had new planners recently with Martin, Oliver & Robbie.  Please talk to them if you fancy planning…. We are always looking for new members to have a go.  They would all say (I think!) that experienced club members helped them every step of the way, so there is nothing to fear.

In addition, I’ve included a couple of reports from club members that I hope you find interesting.  If you want to write about an event or some aspect of orienteering, then just let me know.  However, to be honest I will approach members too!!

STOP PRESS

Congratulations to Lyra and Esk on their selection for the England team going to Interland (Steenwijk, Netherlands) in March 2025.

Wessex Events

On 10^th November 2024 we had our SW League event at Holmsley and Bisterne Close, successfully planned by Lyra and Jolyon, and organised by Roger. Just over 160 entries to a much loved area of the New Forest.

On Saturday 14^th December 2024 was Yule Poole, which was a Regional night event.  It was designed to fill the gap left by the Brighton City Race.  Sadly the number of entries, at 58, was down on what we hoped for, even with the promise of hand-made mince pie prizes, but everyone enjoyed it, running on Gavin’s excellent updated map.  Scott did a cool video of the event start which you can look at on youtube by following this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WSB2VefaCM

On Saturday 4^th January 2025 the rearranged Night event at Studland was held.  45 hardy souls turned out in the grim conditions. Robbie & Martin were virgin planners and did a great job.  See their report later in the chat. Roger did a sterling job of the organisation on a wet, windy and cold night.

On Saturday 11^th January 2025 team Wessex delivered a double whammy at Coldharbour with a local day event followed by a night league event. Great events capably planned by Roger for the day event and Jon, the reportedly tough night event, based out of the Silent Woman pub.

On Saturday 25^th January 2025 Wessex put on a local event at Blackwater.  This was the second reintroduction of “informal” events, with limited courses, allowing new planners to have a go.  Oliver was the man with the plan (with Julie as his right hand woman), and everyone enjoyed the very wet terrain.  Someone commented that an informal event takes as much organising as a normal event though!

On 2^nd February 2025 was our Dorset Delight at a newly mapped Affpuddle and Sares Wood.  WSX and WIM shared the mapping costs for the area. Jolyon planned the courses which challenged pretty much everyone, with the many climbs, and few paths. After struggling to find suitable parking, Julie decided to use hard standing parking kindly offered by Babcock, which seemed a wise decision having seen all the pictures of recent quagmires.  The shuttle bus system worked well, but meant we had to add £2 per entry to cover costs.

Stockholm August 2024 Report – by Lyra

After a summer of Scandinavia racing, I was looking forward to some quality training with lots of friends from across the country. Having arrived in Stockholm a couple days before the camp to do some relaxing and sightseeing, I was very much excited to arrive at the club hut and start what was to be a gruelling but fun 10 or so days. The terrain was incredible, and the races allowed us to put it all to the test and compete on some proper orienteering terrain. It has to be said that I think that camp was the most tired I have ever been due to the sheer volume of public transport and panic on losing my wallet! Not only did we orienteer, but we had the opportunity to do a lot of swimming and jumping off diving boards, as well as taking part in a body pump session the night before our first race (some of us had very severe DOMS). On our rest day we ventured out to the theme park which was quite terrifying to be truthful, so I left to get some Italian food in Stockholm! The terrain varied in difficulty and runnability, with the highlight being able to pre run the 25manna courses in arguably the best terrain of the camp! Thankfully the weather was glorious and no training was rearranged.  As always on these camps, it was being able to spend time with friends you rarely see that made it even more memorable. It was the most tiring but fun camp I have ever done and I have made lots of memories to last a lifetime. This camp wouldn’t have been possible without the support from the coaches and funding so thank you!

First Time Planning at Studland Night Event – by Martin

Despite having orienteered (on and off) for the last 30+ years, I had never planned a course or indeed understood what would be involved in doing so.  So when Robbie and I were asked to plan the Studland night event, we eagerly agreed.

We started with the feedback from James and Roger’s night event in February 2024, which was mixed but mostly positive.  The quicker runners finished in less than an hour, so we probably needed a longer course. The slower runners found it tougher, so we probably needed to make some controls easier to find.   And with 20 points for each control, competitors arguably didn’t need to think about route choice as much as they might if a couple of higher value controls had been strategically placed to tempt runners to venture further afield or out of their comfort zone.  So we decided to try and avoid a loop (if geography permitted!) and introduce different value controls to make competitors think about route choice.

Roaming the dunes and heathland during the late summer looking for potential control locations and checking that the map was still up to date was time consuming, but necessary given that many changes had been made in a short period of time.  One week we were using a solitary gate in the middle of the beach as a control site, the next it had been unexpectedly removed!!

Choosing the control locations and then assigning different points to each was time consuming and profitable for the ferry company, but fiendishly enjoyable!!  Robbie was in his element playing with Condes and the OCAD software (as an Apple Mac user, I was rather helpless in this respect!) and he enjoyed creating and tinkering with the map.  As controller, Roger provided very helpful feedback and suggestions on our draft map throughout the creative process, and Tim kindly updated the map – who knew a single-looking tree could be a copse!!  Despite the fact that we had never done this before, we never felt that we were fending for ourselves, which was very reassuring – and thanks to the wonder of Strava, we were able to tag control sites and then double check that we had got them in the correct location, which was invaluable and gave us complete confidence that each control was in the correct location.

Despite the change of dates and the lousy weather, I think we achieved our objectives with the event.  Our only major disappointment was not finishing putting the controls out by 4.30pm, which was our aim.  So would we do it again?  Absolutely yes…. but maybe individually next time!!!

What’s Coming Up

Wessex Region Night League (WRNL)

We are 10 events into this, with Wessex just having the Bournemouth Chines event remaining on Monday 17 Feb.  Entries are now open on race signup on a brand new map, planned by Julie.

Purbeck Hill Challenge

The first jointly run (WSX and WIM) Purbeck Hill Challenge is on Saturday 15^th February 2025.  It is something new for us, and is a hybrid of orienteering and hill navigation.  Interest has been good, with solo and pairs entering on 6 different courses (short, medium and long with technically easy and advanced navigation.

Whether you walk or run, come and enjoy a day out in the Purbecks. Check out Scott’s video of the terrain (in case you need reminding of what a beautiful place we live and run in) https://youtu.be/sDSM0jYur8g

Summer Series

Jolyon is working on the 2025 Summer Series with Wimborne.  Format will be the same as last year with one real and one MapRun event per month from April to September.  Details will be available shortly.

See you soon!

A lot of this chat is summarising what happened at the AGM, plus some other information on future events, just to keep everyone in the picture.

I’m open minded about what communications you want as members, so if you have any views let me know, whether good or bad.

Deeside 2024 Report – by Esk Medlock

2024 Deeside was just outside Aberdeen. We had the opportunity to run on incredible areas such as the Balmedie sand dunes and in the forests of Loch Varr. It offered amazing coaching and experience, as well as fun activities and many rivers to swim in, plus good laughs with friends.

The week got off to a rocky start, thanks to many plane delays and missing trains, but this did not stop us from having the best time.

The main focuses of this week were all around plan, direction and picture, as well as compass activities to increase our confidence in compass bearings. We were also able to run a night event, which featured lots of singing around the course, and a sprint event which included a maze course.

Other activities were swimming in lidos and wild rivers, a bilberry picking competition, singing campfire songs with our friends from the German scouts, nightly games of werewolves, a coaches v athletes football match as well as staying up all night on the last night.

Thank you SWOA and WSX for supplying funds to allow me to go on camps such as Deeside and have a once in a lifetime experience.

Our Goals

Our goal as a club is to put on interesting events, allowing member to get involved in planning, and organising. Plus, we are trying to identify new areas to run in, and are investing in new maps, produced by professional mappers, that we can use for years to come. We are not a big club, but we are able to punch above our weight thanks to the enthusiasm of all our members.  We want to continue to be a friendly club, and are keen to welcome new members.  We are very fortunate that we have a thriving group of younger orienteers, who are also very successful.

Committee Changes

It has been 2 months since the September AGM where I took over the reins from Jolyon.  I’d like to thank him for his 4 years hard work and dedication. There were some other changes on committee. These were:

• Andy Eydmann has managed to prise Roger Crickmore’sfingers from the purse strings by taking over as Treasurer, after a sterling job for the club for 10 years.  Thanks Roger, and welcome to Committee Andy.
• Jolyon and Roger, both clearly anticipating time on their hands, have taken on Fixtures and Membership respectively.
• In his absence, Jon Brook also volunteered to be on Committee, which was a pleasant surprise for him.  
• Additionally, we wanted to ensure the views on our younger members were represented on Committee, and OliverHeckford has agreed to do this.  If any other of our younger members also want to do this just let any Committee member know.

Committee now looks like this:

• Bruno Smith – Chairman
• Gavin Clegg – Vice-chairman
• Jolyon Medlock – Fixtures
• Andy Eydmann – Treasurer
• Roger Crickmore – Membership
• Sheila Gold – Club Secretary
• Julie Astin – Permissions
• Tim Houlder – IT Support & Results (and map custodian)
• Jason Falconer – Coaching
• Alan Hooper – Electronic Equipment
• Oliver Heckford – Young Member Representative
• Jon Brooke
• Rob Hick

The whole Committee is dedicated to making Wessex a great orienteering club, but we need everyone’s good ideas and suggestions.

One thing the whole Committee appreciate is that when it comes to our events, all members throw themselves into helping.  We couldn’t run our events without this support, so thank you.

Awards

At the AGM we made the club awards.  Congratulations to all the winners:

• Emma Heckford – Charlie Morton award for most improved Junior
• James Crickmore – Chairman’s award for services to the club
• Jon Brooke – Ian Horsey trophy for performance in the last year

Future Events

Over the past few years, we have tried to establish a rhythm of events throughout the year, and this is what we are aiming for:

• Purbeck Weekend – Every 2 years, next in 2025
• 2 informal events per year, to give new planners opportunities
• 3 Regional Events per year (including Dorset Delight and SW League Event)
• Part of Wessex Region Night League (4 WSX events)
• Summer Series in conjunction with Wimborne
• We are also working with SOC, to be part of a new NewForest League (where we will incorporate one or all of our informal events)
• One off events (e.g. Purbeck Hill Challenge in conjunction with Wimborne)

See you in the forest somewhere!

Casting our minds back to the JK in the Midlands, Friday was an excellent sprint event at Loughborough University, followed by two days in the mud of Beaudesert for the middle and long. It’s a lovely old forest park in the Cannock Chase, but the small number of controls used and the heavy usage of those controls (same control on different days on my course) meant that the paths became quagmires, which was a shame. Having said that, anyone who can get a forest event approved by a landowner over Easter weekend deserves a medal. The courses were not very technical but all aspects of the organisation were excellent. The relay event on the Monday was up in the Peak District on a misty moor which was very exciting. It was great to see Andrew over for his last JK, just as he turns 95. It was also the Heckford family’s first JK, and is great to see Nick and Teresa orienteering and part of the club too. The highlight of the weekend for me was that we had 3 relay teams, with Lyra, Esk and Nesa (back from Switzerland) getting silver medal in the Women’s short class.

The BOC this year was near Whitby on a very tough terrain at Mulgrave woods. I must have waded the river four times on a very long course. The weather was great all weekend, and again a small contingent of WSX travelled north. Andrew broke records by demanding an M95 class, and promptly being crowned British Champion. On the Sunday a few of us formed relay teams, with Lyra and Esk again on the podium (bronze), this time with Grace in the W18 class. I ran with Gavin and Rob, both running up to M50 class, with a very respectable 5th place.

The British middles was on a very enjoyable, steeply wooded hillside, with numerous gritstone boulders, near Otley, Yorkshire. It was a fast and furious event, with a great arena location. After much illness over winter, and much disappointment at the JK and BOC, Lyra had recovered enough from illness, and had restored some fitness to gain Silver in the W18E, just behind a NZ international; the daughter of Yvette Baker, and so eligible for the British titles. The following day was a bitterly cold day on Kilnsey moor in the Dales. The mist lifted and the sun peeped out, making it a fine weekend.

Closer to home we’ve been busy taking part in the Dorset Summer Maprun, six maprun events over the summer. Upton was during April, and its Poundbury this month. For the physical events, we had Hamworthy last month, and the next one is at Hive Beach, at Burton Bradstock. The Crickmores seem to be dominating the Standard and Age-graded league. Sheila leads the women’s age graded league, but Emma and Oliver are threatening on both leagues, so watch out!

We’ve had to change a few dates of upcoming winter forest events for various reasons, so keep an eye on our fixtures and amend your diaries. Hope you all enjoy the rest of the summer. The SW sprints are at Bath University in June, which is very tricky (3 levels), followed by the British sprints and sprint relays at Birmingham and Warwick Universities. Later, in July, is the Welsh 6 days, which promises to be a cracker.

Enjoy the spring!

Apologies for not posting a blog for a while, work seems to have got in the way of my orienteering and blog writing.

As you may have heard, we received the sad news that our long standing member, Richard Arman, passed away at the age of 95. I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing Richard, even though he was a member for many decades, but I have heard many warm words from many members regarding Richard’s devotion to the sport and the club. Some of our members will be sharing some memories of Richard. There will be a celebration, so please contact Liz, if you wish to attend. Thanks to Nick Barrable for sharing this photo:

Now that winter is finally over, it’s time to reflect on the dark months of the year that have passed and look forward to the warmer days ahead, and the longer evenings. The night league was another resounding success, and was enjoyed by so many members. The highlight for me was Studland, not because I nearly won it (if it hadn’t been for that pesky Tommy Rollins), but the full moon, still wind, moonlight dunes, and general bonhomie was just perfect. The Crickmores did a wonderful job in delivering a night event at Studland, which will be hard to beat. There were many WSX awards, with Alan and James picking up 2nd and 3rd in the Men’s open league, Hannah coming 3rd in the Women’s league, Esk winning the junior women’s league, Oliver winning the junior men’s league and Sheila and Julie coming 2nd and 3rd in the Age-adjusted league. All the results can be found on the Night League page.

There was also further night orienteering at the British Night Champs in the Lake District, back in February, with Lyra and Esk (on their first real night O in a forest alone) coming 3rd and 4th in their age categories. Lyra, who has missed a lot of the winter with illness and injury, will be representing England this weekend in Belgium, running for the W20 at the Interland Cup. We wish her well.

The JK, British Long, British Relays and British Middle are coming up, all within 6 weeks. We have a few members running, including some of our newest members, the Heckfords, and one of our founding members, Andrew, taking part. It should be a great weekend. We also have a few teams in the JK and British relays. More on that in a later post.

Looking forward, we’ve been working hard to build a programme of activities, so do offer to help, plan, organise:

We have decided to run the Purbeck weekend every two years, and to avoid clashes with the Caddihoe Chase, it will be in early October 2025. Currently pencilled in are Studland and Swanage (possibly with a mixed terrain event including Durlston Country Park).

So our two regular Level C events this winter (SW League event and Dorset Delight) will be at Holmsley and Bisterne Close in October, and hopefully (new map permitting) at Affpuddle in February 2025. For Affpuddle, which actually includes a much larger area of FE and private woodland. We have permissions and car parking, so now we are looking to commission a map. The costs will be shared with WIM, so this will be a joint area, and there will be options for night orienteering from a few of the car parks. There are lots of sinkholes in some parts of the wood, and that will be fun in the dark!

This year we aim to try a few new things:

• two additional Level D local events (small entries, chance for new planners to cut their teeth) – possibly at Blackwater (New Forest) and Wareham Forest in November and January
• the Purbeck Mountain Challenge – a brainchild of Rob Mills and Chris Turner – essentially a long-O mountain marathon, over Purbeck (name gave it away I know), with running over Ballard Down, Rempstone, and orienteering on Studland and Agglestone.
• Yule Poole – yep night event at Christmas time in Poole, you guessed it. This is to attempt to replace the Brighton City Race

There will also be a full programme of night events next winter, including a return to Studland, and possibly some night O in Coldharbour and a chance to test Julie’s new Bournemouth town and chines map.

However, over the summer we have the Summer Series and Summer MapRun series. There will be six of each, forming two separate leagues and a combined league. This is joint with WIM. For the MapRuns, you will have a calendar month to run them, so plenty of time. For the Summer Series, these are evening socials (i.e. run, go to pub, chat, have BBQ etc.).

Hope this has got you all excited. Check the events page and update your diaries.

See you all at the JK

Richard at the JKs 2013.

We’ve also had our club championship at the November Classic, with our two England stars, Gavin and Lyra winning again, as well as scooping their respective Southern Champion awards, along with Julie, who won W70. There have been a number of other good events recently, including the Chiltern Challenge this weekend at Bradenham Beeches, Devon’s league event at Braunton Burrows, a bit of O-snorkelling this weekend at Dibden, and WIM’s league event at Inside Park.

If you are looking for orienteering over the festive period, then WIM’s Boxing Day Canter is a must, always good fun, but I’m afraid to say that the Grinch is entering, and she is one year older and quicker. There are also events in the Ashdown Forest and Hogmoor, for those that don’t mind travelling to Sussex.

Early in the New Year we have a lovely regional event in the pine forests of Cold Harbour. So do enter, using the helper code. This is Lyra’s first planned event, so do support her. For those that don’t know, the British Nights this year are in the woodlands that bank Derwent Water in the English Lake District. They are making a weekend of it with a sprint around Keswick and a local event at Loughrigg. It’s start of half-term, so worth the trip. Entries are (soon to be/already) open for the British Long champs in North Yorkshire, the British Middle champs (also Yorkshire) and the JK in the Midlands (Loughborough University, Beaudesert [Cannock Chase] and Stanton Moor [Peak District]. So lots to look forward to.

See you all in Moors Valley on Boxing Day, but in the meantime Merry Christmas, and here’s to another great year of O in 2024.

ps. If you would like any WSX tops please email me or Julie, as we are putting in an order

Saturday at Studland was excellent. My initial concerns about disturbing naturists were unfounded, even though the start was close to the OOB area. Andrew made excellent use of the terrain, and kept your mind on your navigating the whole way. We attracted many ex-elite orienteers from around the country, interested by Studland’s map and terrain, but also the offer of two days of orienteering, at the start of half term. I heard many positive comments about how “intense” and tricky the area is. The weather held off largely, although it rained on me. There were excellent results for young SN juniors Tommy Rollins on Black, SW premier vet Ben Chesters on Brown and young Marcus Perry from BOK on Blue. Bradley was top WSX on Black and with two excellent runs, I note he now takes the crown as top BOF ranked member. After a few deleted legs, there were only 9 seconds between myself, James and Alan B on Black, with Jon B not far behind. On Brown, Lyra and Nesa (our temporary Swiss junior) came in 3rd and 4th, with Peter (flying over from Budapest) and Martin not far behind. Andy E also did some filming on Black, watch Scott’s video.

Nesa has now returned to St. Gallens/Appenzell, having stayed with the Medlocks for a month. In that time she ran the JIRCs in South Wales, the Caddihoe in the Forest of Dean (winning W18), won the OK Nuts Women’s Trophy at Holmwood Common, ran four sprints/urbans in Scotland, against Hanna Lundberg, and capped it off with Studland. Whilst she was with us, she was crowned Swiss W16 league champion, which is rather impressive. So we may want to fly her back for the Compass Sport Cup. Her parents Thomas and Barbara (and sister Flora) joined us at Studland, and enjoyed the comparison of Dorset’s seaside dunes to the rocky Alpine terrain of home. Thomas commented “by my calculation there is only 10 metre difference between all contours”  – welcome to Dorset!

In recent weeks, Lyra has also been representing England, coming 2nd at the JHIs, back first on the first leg of the JHI relay, she has been selected for GB Talent Squad South and is currently on the Pre-JWOC (Junior World Orienteering Champs) tour in Czechia. No rest for some…

A few photos of Lyra and Nesa at the Stirling weekend in Scotland, inc running in a relay team against the elite from Sweden, Switzerland and Norway, sharing the podium with Alice Leake (World champ bronze medalist) and some photos from the JHIs at Sutton Park, where the England juniors were triumphant.

I digress, back to Blue (at Studland), and whilst Rob, Nicki and Bruno flew the WSX flag, new juniors Oliver and Robbie tested their nav skills for the first time on the dunes. Looking by the smiles on their faces, they enjoyed themselves, and hopefully they will be back for more.

On Green, Gavin was first with a 2 minute win. A poorly Esk walked around in decent time, with Rebecca M and Tina coming in with decent times, with Laura top half on short green (Sarah mp).

On Light green, new member Hannah came a decent 2nd, and great to welcome back Rebecca C who also had big smiles at the finish. Hope to see both of them at the night league events. Kath Dean came third on Orange, closely followed by Alan H.

Several people finished the day with swims at Studland or Swanage, followed by Fish and Chips on the beach. Not to forget and thanks those who had enough energy after their runs to collect controls, as well as the late evening sorting amended results and SW Middle champion winners.

The overcast weather of Saturday gave way to sunshine on Agglestone. Roger had prepared some physically challenging courses, where careful navigation was required amongst the marshes and old clay pits of Godlingston Heath. The views from Agglestone (if you stop and look long enough) are some of the finest from any orienteering area in England. The blue waters of Studland Bay and Poole Harbour, the forested islands of Brownsea and the distant views of Bournemouth and the Needles are far reaching and spectacular.

Top runners for WSX were Bradley on Brown, Gavin on Blue, Laura on Green, Julie on Short Green and Robbie on Light Green. Several members who hadn’t run the previous day were out, including Sheila, Madeleine and Tracy.

A few images from the day:

Check out the buffs we had produced for the weekend:

We now turn to the night league, so get your entries in for Monday (West Moors) and the following week at Meyrick Park. Our next regional event is at Cold Harbour in January, and when I visited yesterday, it was looking lovely.

Finally, November Classic on 5th November is our Club Champs, so enter your age group to count.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT WSX AGM 2023

I would like to welcome you all to the WSX AGM. In preparation for this year I read last year’s report, where I hoped you were all looking forward to the Purbeck weekend, and here we are again, ready for our second Purbeck weekend, on our premier heathland areas of Studland and Agglestone, with a new map of Corfe Castle an addition to our Purbeck collection. I raised the prospect with Julie of a future Purbeck 5 days or JK, but given that she is instrumental in delivering these weekends, she wasn’t overly enthusiastic.

Ian Sayer

I also started my report last year thanking Ian Sayer for all his hard work, noting that a presentation would be made in the coming weeks. That didn’t happen, however it gives us an opportunity for us to make a fuss of him.

So we’d like to award Ian a special gift [a framed copy of Ian’s Christchurch map, beautifully framed with an ash frame by our resident Wareham framer] from all of us at the club, which I hope we will all sign.

And to award Ian the Chairman’s trophy to recognise his contribution to the club.

Eric Whapples

We’d also like to acknowledge Eric’s contribution to the club, with a gift of a framed map of Brownsea Island, please again if you can sign in after the AGM.

Events

We started the season with our Purbeck weekend, which was a rounding success. I may have made the courses at Studland challenging, both physically and technically, but I received very positive comments about the area. We had about 200 competitors, so it will be interesting to see if word has got around and we will get more this year. Entries already at 45 and we are 5 weeks to go.

Julie than planned some excellent and hilly courses at Swanage, with fantastic views by the sea. This will prove an excellent location for future Purbeck weekend events, and if we can include Durlston, could rival places like Tenby for fun, seaside orienteering.

November Classic

It was our turn to organise the urban event for the November Classic, and we thank Rob for organising and Ian for planning courses at Friars Cliff, with nearly 200 competitors.

Night League

Night league events were in Broadstone in October, planned by Bruno; planned by Ian; in Swanage in December, planned by Alan B and in Kings and Queens Park, planned by Brad. Many of them were full, and clearly the night league is proving very popular, with nearly 100 competitors.

Congratulations to Alan B who won the Open league, with Julie top WSX woman. Other top 10s were Jason and myself (with Esk’s help). Julie also won the Women’s handicap league, with Ian also appearing in the top 10.

This year we will be on a new map here at Meyrick Park, mapped by Jason, with the remaining events at Corfe Castle and Common, Boscombe and Studland north dunes.

Compass Sport Cup & South West League event

In collaboration with SOC we shared the CSC qualifier and SW league event. Huge thanks to Roger for organising the qualifier at Holmsley and Jason for planning. We had >330 competitors. Our SW league fixture was at Longbeech Inclosure in February. We didn’t qualify for the final, but with our new members, I am hopeful we will be more successful this winter, and it’s local at Bere Woods, so no excuse not to attend, as we are nor organising it.

MapRun league

This year we saw the return of the MapRun league, jointly organised by WIM. Previously this has been our salvation during Covid, but this was a mix of urban and forest events right across East and North Dorset with about 20 WSX members taking part.

So far its Crickmore 1 and 2 sharing the spoils on the open league and age graded league. Sheila is top WSX woman and new junior member Oliver Heckford is our top WSX junior. In fact Oliver has been to all 11 events and Robbie Miller has been to 9 events. This is testament to the fact that the MapRun league is worthwhile. Hopefully they will both be attending events through the winter.

Future events

In addition to the Purbeck weekend and night events (all on the website), we will have a middle distance event at Cold Harbour (Wareham Forest) in January. We have a number of new maps in various stages of development, including an urban map of Bearwood, central Bournemouth and re-mapping of the Affpuddle, Briantspuddle and Clouds Hill area.

Awards

In the last year the WSX Championships were again won by Gavin and Lyra, who both seem to be dominating, but then they have both been selected for England and VHI and JHI level, with both of them winning their respective events against the home nations. Esk had a taste of international duty, coming 4^th at Interland in Belgium, with Lyra representing GB in Bulgaria, coming 9^th/100 in the sprint.

The Charlie Morton trophy is for the most improved junior, and this year we are awarding it to someone who has taken up orienteering in the last year and has consistently done well at our summer Map Run event – the winner is Oliver Heckford,

The final award of the evening goes to someone who has invested a huge amount of time into the club, usually after every event, which during a busy Scottish 6 days or Coast and Islands, means every day for a two weeks. His video reels have become legendary and recently featured on the BOF website. One day when he becomes a billionaire influencer we will all be expecting a cut of the profits.

The Ian Horsey trophy goes again to Scott Elford

SW and Dorset juniors

Sadly Agnes is no longer a junior, as she has moved up to Aberdeen for University. This weekend it is the JIRCs in South Wales with Arthur (out of retirement), Lyra and Esk taking part. Lyra and Esk have also been part of successful partnerships with WIM as Dorset juniors winning medals at the British relays and British sprint relays. To encourage more juniors we are continuing our policy of free entries.

Finally

I want to thank all the committee for their continued hard work, to mention Jason who is at schools every term promoting the sport and flying the flag for Find Your Way in Dorset, for Sheila and Roger for keeping all in order with numbers and words, for Tim, Alan H and James who efficiently deliver our results and download service at every event, for Gavin for supporting me as chair and Bruno for managing fixtures, and for Julie, who makes everything happen, from permissions, entries, mapping updates, Purbeck weekend, buff orders and everything else along the way.

Great to see you all, thanks to Meyrick Park for the venue, and enjoy the nibbles.

The Medlock summer was packed with exciting trips to Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland, but what was definitely my highlight was the week away at Lagganlia. This had been my goal for some time after my sister got selected in 2021 and came back with nothing but happy memories and many, many laughs.

In my opinion the week was not long enough! The coaches made sure the week was full with informative training days boasting gorgeous terrain with glorious views. They made sure to focus on every aspect of orienteering to improve and hone our skills. I felt I had improved just by being there!

The terrain varied throughout the week, allowing us to test our skills on lots of different areas; including classic Scottish forests, green areas where visibility was low and running tough, exposed open hillsides and urban areas. We even got the opportunity to orienteer at night!

Besides training, it was a great way to make friends from across the country, and have fun!

The first day of training was at Heathfield. It was a bit damp but a lovely area to kick off the week. This day, the objective was to focus on pacing and compass bearing. When orienteering, I generally don’t think about pacing so it was interesting to learn another skill and put it into practise. After a few exercises, we finished the day with a star relay.

Day 2 was at Darnaway, giving us a taste of what the terrain would be like at the Scottish 6 Days. The weather slightly improved but didn’t dampen our spirits when singing to Shake It Off by Taylor Swift on the bus! Today we were focusing on contour details and handrails, which since being at Lagganlia I have applied to my orienteering. The day ended with an odds and evens relay.

In the morning of Day 3, Rachel Duckworth gave a talk about geeking and we looked at North Granish, the place we would be training that day. As part of the exercise for later on in the day, we drew a sketch map of the area, picking out the remarkable features, handrails, catching features etc. Once we arrived at North Granish, we then used the sketch maps to do a course. This was to show how little features we needed to orienteer. In the afternoon, we then had a distractions race, where the coaches had placed numerous distractions out on the course, including cameramen, commentary, a run-through, a double-sided map and a control that deliberately wasn’t working.

Day 4 was a “rest” day, which was ironic because I did the most steps that day! Today were the sprints at Badaguish. The race was split into 3; the qualifiers (which everyone got through), the semis, and then the finals (of which the top 3 got through from the semis). To spice it up a bit, the scale of the map was also 1:2000. This threw me on the qualifier as I had never encountered a scale as such. After the qualifier, you were shown 3 snippets of maps, of which you had to choose 1 and that would be your course for the semi-final. I got through to the final, which I was very pleased about. After the sprints, we then had a go on the monkey bars which were suspended over water at Badaguish. Let’s just say a, a lot of people got wet!

We then went swimming in the Loch near-by and then wandered around Aviemore. At 9pm we went back out to do some night orienteering.

Day 5 was at Creag Beag, an exposed hill side. The weather wasn’t too kind today and we were all a bit bedraggled at the end. We then sought shelter in the forest afterwards to do a peg relay.

Day 6 was Tour Champs at Auchernack, with a map exchange (I completely missed that and had to go back to drop my map). We then went back to Lagganlia to do a monster relay (a relay but where at some controls were a bit of jigsaw which made a monster). Later that night, most of the athletes snuck out, and enjoyed a game of hide and seek with the coaches.

It was a lovely week and I thank WSX and SWOA for giving me grants in order to be able to take advantage of these opportunities