Yoxter & Dartmoor
Two regional events
Not only did JOG start again but there were four regional events nearby this weekend! There were two events on the Mendips. On Sunday, there was a choice between Dartmoor or Wiltshire woodland.
Results: Mendips (day) / Dartmoor
Yoxter Ranges (Saturday)
For those wanting to test themselves on pretty tricky terrain on Saturday, Bristol OK hosted two events in Somerset, with a day event followed by an after-dark event. They were on the Mendips at Yoxter, an army range. BOK were saying it was a 'one-off opportunity' to orienteer there.
- read an account of this event by Christine Vince of Cornwall OC in the February edition of SINS
Heather at the Adams Avery relays, 2017
Heather Green enjoyed a close but still impressive win on Light Green. Surprisingly, her nearest rival wasn't BOK's Ruby Owen, who finished nearly 10 minutes adrift of Heather. Heather's brother Chris was our highest placed runner on the Green course, finishing in the top quarter but some way behind the winner. BOK's Ben Maliphant's amazing time of 27 minutes would be a decent time on a Parkrun for many, never mind while navigating through 5km of technical terrain.
Chris: top quarter finish on Green
Two of our northernmost members John Abbott and Chris Cudmore had rare outings and both achieved respectable results on Blue and Short Green respectively.
Pete Shirvington got within 15 minutes of the runner-up on Brown, which was won by BOK's elite runner Adam Potter. The Brown started with two long legs to tire the competitors out before they attempted the intricate contoured areas! Pete took these in his stride and only appeared to slip up briefly by mis-interpreting some thickets near no.6 soon after (see the excerpt from his route, as recorded on Routegadget). This latest excellent run from Pete means he is now ranked by British Orienteering as the club's third best, behind Richard Sansbury and Brian Fletcher.
Yoxter is a few miles from Stock Hill (which quite a few members are familiar with) and shares a similar topology i.e. an almost unquantifiable number of depressions and gullies! If that, or even the 10k + Brown course wasn't enough for you, there was an after dark event using different controls on the same terrain later on.
Misty at Five Tors, Sunday
Credit: Mark Lockett
Sunday
The South West League "Galoppen" event took place at West Woods, Wiltshire. Click on the link for more details.
Equally attractive terrain awaited further south on Dartmoor, where Devon OC held the second in their Moorland League series at Five Tors. Andy Rimes and Rosie Wych ran on the Brown and Green courses respectively.
Behind the scenes
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