ORIENTEERING: Have a go in the dark!

Thames Valley orienteers and Harlequins put on two events at the weekend, and despite the bitterly cold winds, low temperatures, rain, sleet and snow, and attracted competitors from around the midlands and southern counties. There were some good top ten results from club members.

On Saturday near Wendover, organised by TVOC, the RAF Halton complex provided some good technical courses mixing urban, with open cross country and wooded terrain.

On the W65 class 3.7km course Karin Kirk W70 was 2nd in 41.48mins and Hilary May W60 7th in 66.50, Kin Kwan Kwok M21 was 3rd on the Mens Open 7.5km course taking 48.56 to find the 32 controls. Richard Gardner M60 was 9th on the Class M55 5.6km course in 41.28, Peter Carey M70 was 10th on the M65 class 4.2km course in 38.19. Sheila Carey W70 was 7th on the W55 class 4.2km class in 41.36mins.

At Kinver Edge, near Stourbridge, club members competed in the first of the West Midlands league events, recording some good scores to start the season. On the Brown 8.1km longest course, Kirsten Strain W21 was top women taking 90.07mins.

On the same course in 6th place was Alistair Powell M40 83.34, 7th Oliver Flippance M16 85.15 and 9th David Leadley M50 94.31. On the Blue 5.6km course, Anne Straube W40 was top woman in 54.32 and Lesley Ross was 2nd in 55.15. Tom Jeffries M45 was 3rd on the same course in 48.59 and Barry Elkington M60 8th in 52.39. Sheila Carey W70 was 7th in 49.12, Peter Carey M70 8th in 51.39 and Nathan Chapple M16 10th in 53.29 on the Green 3.6km course. Rupert Powell M10 was 1st and Max Straube-Roth M10 2nd on the Yellow 2.2km course, Eleanor Chapple W50 1st on the Light Green 3km course and Joanne Leigh W50 3rd on the Orange 2.3km course.

Next events: On Wednesday (January 31) there will be an ‘after dark’ evening event from 5pm until 7pm at The Memorial Park, Coventry. Intrepid orienteers will be able to experience navigating in the dark, using head torches, to find as many controls as possible within a 45 or 60 minute time limit.

There is no need to book just turn up. See www.octavian-droobers.org for full details or telephone (01926) 632189.