We have registered a level C event for 29th March on the interesting Highland Water area of The New Forest and urgently require sufficiently qualified officials to allow this event to go ahead.

We also need a level C Planner to assist at Sunset and Beyond on 28th March as Colin cannot be present on the day, having already done the bulk of the task.

If you have the necessary Organising or Planning experience please consider volunteering.

Please respond to terry[dot]sankey[at]ntlworld[dot]com

Terry Sankey

Fixtures Sec.

The event attracted just over 30 competitors to this new area for the WNL.

Allan Farrington's paired controls course suited the younger fitter competitors the top 2 whizzing around the compact map area in just over 44mins! 

Comments on the latest league tables from Gavin Clegg and from Mary Nixon (Organiser) and Julie Astin (WSX) on the event.

Gavin Clegg: In the Open league Dan with his win has moved above Alan and is only 30 points off the lead. Nick has moved up 4 places to 5th and has a low score to discard so will be right up in the mix shortly. John Oakes has moved up 7 to 6th following his 7th score but as he’s had very consistent runs doesn’t have much scope for moving further up. Further down Bertie Kingsley and Lawrence Shaw are on the move with still one race to add.

In the Handicap league Mike had overtaken Chris but Chris has more scope to improve further. John Oakes is up 8 to 6th. 

Mary Nixon: Way out to the east of our usual area the Gregg School plus adjacent housing estate made a good little area for a pairs event with a twist. Planned by Allan Farrington the challenge was to collect controls in pairs, but they had to have consecutive numbers, i.e. 70 & 71. They could be collected either way round. A few were close together but most involved going from the school out onto the estate or onto the recreation ground and adjacent patch of semi-open woodland. Allan had planned a route of over 8.5kms, but despite this the 2 leaders, Dan and Nick, got round in under 45 minutes! There was a bonus control which only counted if you had collected all the others to make a total of 500 points. Eight runners got the lot although a couple were over time. It was good to have 3 juniors, accompanied by a parent, compete including a pair of beginners. There were 36 runs in total. The school cricket pavilion provided a good base complete with heat, seats and Wi-Fi. Due to it being away from the main buildings this was the first event to suggest headlights to find the pavilion or to get to the loo which was on another part of the school site. It was unfortunate that there were major problems on the motorway making many people late arriving. However due to the flexibility of the school we were able to get everyone’s runs completed and the controls collected in by 8pm. Our thanks to the Gregg School for the use of the site and for being so accommodating.

Julie Astin: "A very different 'twist' to the usual score event last night at the SOC event at Gregg School and Chartwell Green. Alan Farringdon had come up with a cunning idea to make the most of a very small area (1:3500 scale) comprising the school grounds parkland and urban streets. All the controls were paired - so that if you went to say, control 70 you had to go to control 71 in order for the points to count. So each pair was worth 40 points (20 points each). There were 12 such pairings, plus a 'bonus' control (200) which would only count if you'd got all the others, but you could punch it at any time. So planning a strategy at the start was the order of the day - so I was on a loser straight away as having a strategy is not my strong point! But I DID take a minute to look at where some of the pairings were and decided to go for a relatively close one (180) then heading for 181 which took me near to the urban area where I could see there were several pairs. The first two went OK, but then I totally misjudged the scale and faffed around for a couple of minutes trying to find the only exit into the urban area. Once I'd sussed it out, I thought that things would become easier amongst the streets and alleyways. To a certain extent it was, but at times I found it difficult to see the alleyways as the normal 'olive' OOB was shaded a pale pink/mauve (that's my excuse, anyway). I managed 3 pairs of controls in the urban area and then decided to head into the park to pick up 190. 191 was in the school grounds but there was an uncrossable fence on the direct line. So I had to divert round the end and head for the only entrance back into the school. I'd hope that I could get a couple more pairs of controls as I had quite a few minutes left. But when I scanned the control codes it would have meant going out into the park or urban area again, and I didn't have the legs for that. So I had to be satisfied with just one more pair (100 and 101) which looked quite straightforward but I managed to get myself confused even doing those! The end result was I only got 6 pairs (240 points) with over 4 minutes to spare. In retrospect, I should have got one more out in the urban area before heading back in. Hindsight's a wonderful thing. But it was a really enjoyable event and tested everyone's skill - even the top guys."

MapRun returns for its first outing of 2020 on Thursday 16 January in Eastleigh. For those who haven't been before, this activity for club members will take the usual format of a 45 minute score around the surrounding streets. Full details are on the event page but note that you must register in advance to get a map. Walk or run, go solo or pair up with someone else, focus on a particular aspect of navigation or run round like a headless chicken - do with the activity what you will! Also note that a smartphone is entirely optional - without one you just get the additional training benefit of having to rely on your map reading to know you're in the right place! Feel free to join us in the pub afterwards whether you take part or not.