It’s been a few years since I organised a Kent Orienteering
League event (called Saturday series back then). I remember a lot of
planning and a boot groaning with equipment, but today I arrived with
one bag of SI equipment and a small rucksac, the heaviest bit being a
chicken ceasar wrap. The job seems so much easier now thanks in part to
the technology but mainly to the team of people helping. Particular
thanks to Phil Basford (land permission and map printing), Andrew Evans
(checking courses), Simon Maytum (SI), Dave Cave (organising all the
equipment) and Jerry Purkis (final league calculations). It seems I
don’t even need to fill in a BOF levy form as our fixtures
secretary Louise Sylva does this now. Thanks also to the other on the
day helpers: Pete Townsend, Phil Craven, Roger Hazeldene, Chris Baker,
Andy Elliot, Neil Speers, Andy Pitcher and John Lewis.
Well done to all the prize winners. There were quite a few different
names winning prizes this year and it will be interesting to see what
happens next year. I wonder if the fast improving juniors and new
orienteers of SAXONS can finally remove the men’s open trophy
from Neil Speers’ sideboard? There are also other juniors and new
orienteers who could make quite an impact on the different courses.
Apologies to those who’s paper map began to shred. We ran out of
waterproof paper to print your maps and I should have reminded everyone
to use a map bag. If you want a new map for your post race analysis
please email me at seancronin1001@hotmail.com.
The long leg between 4 and 5 provoked plenty of discussion. The wardens
have removed rhododendrons from that area making the long leg possible.
One or two of you got stuck in undergrowth going straight. There were
some routes through but I guess a straight route is always a gamble in
summer. It’s all part of the fun. Long and safe, or short and
risky? What was the best route? I’ve no idea but it would be a
good training exercise one day to try each one. I could also have
cleaned up more changes with the map, but I spent some extra time on
publicity. Also my son was with me when looking for control sites and
he insisted on going to the playground instead of checking even more
spurs :-)
There’s lots of local orienteering coming up this summer,
starting with next Sunday at Shooters Hill. In fact almost one event a
week until next season’s Kent Orienteering League and Kent Night
Cup starts again. The number of events and the numbers of
beginners/juniors shows how far Orienteering in Kent has progressed in
the past few years.