Sal Chaffey reports on the EMOA League prize-giving
Yesterday at Lincoln City Football Stadium, the prize-giving for the 2024 East Midlands league took place, where Ann-Marie Duckworth (our new EMOA Chair) and Ursula Williamson (League Coordinator for many years) presented the top 3 male and female finishers on the 9 colour-coded courses with certificates and trophies. Many DVO members were winners, and if you weren’t there to collect your certificate, we have it for you!
Congratulations to our Junior winners and runners up:
- White: Darwin Buxton (1st), Oscar Buxton (2nd)
- Yellow: Noah Lurati (3rd)
- Orange: Peter Birchall (3rd), Imogen Satherley (1st)
- Light Green: Jessica Williams (1st)
… as well as Seniors:
- Very Short Green: Jen Gale (1st)
- Short Green: Rex Bleakman (3rd), Judith Holt (1st), Ann Armistead (3rd)
- Green: Mike Gardner (1st), John Hopper (3rd), Judith Evans (2nd), Kim Buxton (3rd)
- Blue: Dai Bedwell (2nd), Andy Sykes (3rd)
- Brown: Nerijus Roskovas (1st), Richard Parkin (3rd), Sal Chaffey (1st)
You need to do two runs on the same colour-coded course to qualify, and I was lucky to win Brown Ladies as I was the only woman to have completed – my rivals on Blue are faster these days!
Next Sunday, the East Midlands Championships takes place at LEI’s Martinshaw and Ratby event. Unlike the EM League, the Championships are run in age categories, although older people who think they are Peter Pan may enter a younger age class and win the trophy. It’s always a gamble!
The Midlands Championships will be hosted by DVO on 7 September at Chinley Churn. There, West Midlands and East Anglian clubs will race DVO, LOG, LEI and NOC members for trophies.
The British Championships this year will be held at Grizedale Forest on May 10th, with Relay Championships at Bigland near Newby Bridge the day after. You can enter the individual race on Fabian before 27 April and need to approach your Club Captain if you’d like to run in the Relays. To enter this and be eligible for a prize, you need to be a member of British Orienteering and DVO.
Returning to the East Midlands League, the remaining 10 events are listed here, and you can check out your score from the same page. But remember you need two events in the same colour category before your score displays. These grass-roots events are great to keep your fitness up and sharpen your skills – as well as meeting friends from DVO and other clubs. At Lincoln south Common, one LEI member lost both shoes in knee-deep mud but bravely salvaged them before carrying on on her Green course. DVO’s Lester Evans got so muddy that he had to wash his map in a pond!
