North West Kent League: Event 3. Franks Park.

Phew what a scorcher! I wondered if anyone would turn up given the heat, but in the end 20 intrepid people turned up for Chris’s cleverly planned courses. The “80’s” intended for experienced orienteers were tough given the vegetation in July – but at least the score format meant that we could carry on if finding a control was taking too long. Well done to Andreius for getting them all.

There’s a lot more informal/low key orienteering happening in July and August in the Bexley/Greenwich area – in fact Phil Basford is organising one every Wednesday evening for 5 weeks. The next North West Kent event is in September in Jubilee Park. Another new area but this time completely flat.

These local events are great fun and friendly – and good experience for new orienteers, but if you’re wondering what it’s like to compete in a big orienteering event with hundreds of people, then you might want to look at the London City Race which had 500 entries last year. That’s right – orienteering in central London, not just the parks. It’s in September but there is an entry limit so you might want to pre-enter earlier. Last year there was a “mini-race” for juniors, though the details on the SLOW website are a bit brief. Definitely one not to miss if you can make that day.

Sean.

Organiser’s comments

It was interesting to see that, when I started the race, 6 runners headed east, another 6 went south east, whilst the remaining five went south west-ish. That was exactly why I chose that place to start, as I thought it gave excellent route choice. There were also enough controls to ensure that hardly anyone would get the lot, which means that everyone has to make two decisions: 1. Which way do I go and 2. Which controls do I leave out?

Chris Baker