It’s been a busy New Year, after the initial cold snap when we had to cancel our Whitworth Park Local event. Since then, many of us have enjoyed East Midlands League events or terrain or urbans further afield.
This weekend, some club members are helping members of Sheffield University Orienteering Club run the British Universities Orienteering Championships. The Individual race is on Saturday at Birchen Edge, with the Relays on Sunday at Carsington Pastures. Nineteen UK universities are taking part! A huge thank you to all the DVO members who have been working with the event officials from ShUOC!
Local events in the near future are:
- Alfreton Park March 8th, updated map and Registration at the Cricket Club (MapRun timing with kites on the ground, or punching with control cards).
- Derby Dracula April 12th, prizes for winners on each course, and edible prizes for anyone in Dracula themed fancy dress. Register at the Museum of Making (SI punching).
- Eyes Meadow, Duffield, May 17th (permission pending, so not on the website just yet. A simple area by the River Derwent. Again, MapRun timing with kites in situ.
As well as the next Night MapRuns, there are two daylight events in April; on the 24th from Ockbrook and the 28th from the Derby Runner.
We’ve been asked back to Littleover Green Week, and will put on a large Maze from 3:30, then a Score MapRun at 7pm. This will be June 12th and will be the DVO Summer Picnic (details to follow)!
Thank you everyone for your contributions. Posts can be published at any time, but the next bumper round-up aka “Newstrack” will appear in late May, with a copy date of May 18th.
East Midlands Champions results
- Darwin Buxton M12
- Imogen Satherley W12
- Jessica Williams W18
- Doug Dickinson M80
- Judith Evans W70
- John Duckworth M55
- Emily Williams W45
- Andrew Powell M40
- Helen Chiswell W40
- Nerijus Roskovas M35
- Kirsty Buxton W35
East Midlands Champions!
Female winners are above, with gents minus Doug below (I’ve never before seen a kiss at an orienteering trophy ceremony and was as pleased as a proper paparazzi to capture it)!
News from North Wales
Many of our long-term readers will be delighted that ex-Club member and DVO statistician Dave Nevell has produced a concluding episode to his 10-year running fanzine, When Sunday Comes. For the uninitiated, the last episode appeared in May 2022 with the headline “Chutney Magnate Sir Branston Smalls released from jail” (on pages 10–11). That was No 43, here you have No 100 …
Dave and Twiggy are this year walking the equivalent of the Pacific Crest Trail, and we met up with them at the very end of 2024, bagging three of the Lleyn Peninsula Marilyns to help complete the virtual Appalachian Way!
Bonus Fun Fact: Lucy Worsley was in the Oxford University orienteering team that ran against CUOC in the 1995 Varsity match (same time as Nick Barrable).
Bonus Fun Fact 2: Your Editor was walking up an obscure Welsh Marilyn on December 27th, when she penetrated the cloud into warm sunshine and shed her duvet jacket. We left it by a fence, so I was wearing a vest top when greeted by a lone bagger who was descending from the summit. Thirty minutes later – Marilyn in the bag and Chaffeys on the way down – no coat! The fence was checked in both directions to no avail. Then Dave checked the Hill Bagging database and found a registered ascent that day by one Herbert Anchovy. He emailed this character, who did indeed have my coat, and a handover was effected that very night outside Porthmadog Travelodge. We later recounted this to Dave N, who sent a link to Monty Python’s Herbert Anchovy sketch. The coat thief of had experienced a similar Damascene career change to the wannabe lion tamer, and now works for Natural England. You couldn’t make it up, and I didn’t!
Sad news about Ray Dallas
John Hurley sent in this item in January:
Ray Dallas who has recently died aged 95 was a family member of DVO for a time in the early 1980s. Ray was a scout leader but not an active member of DVO and I think that the membership was more for the benefit of his children particularly son Tim, who was a promising junior. However I do recall that sometimes after Wednesday evening runs we would call in the Abbey and see Ray and his wife there.
Puzzle Page: “O” with everything
Well done to Jane Burgess, Chris Millard, and Alan Le Moigne, who managed to untangle the words in the last puzzle. The words were:
controller, planner, organiser, contour, and spur.
This time, a simple spelling bee. Simply find as many words as you can – of four letters or more – using the seven letters below. All the words must contain an “O”. As is common in the US version of this game, you can use all of the letters multiple times. There is at least one word (with vaguely an
orienteering theme) which uses all of the letters.
Scoring: one point per letter in each word; 7-point bonus for a pangram; double points for an orienteering-themed word! I will use a Scrabble dictionary to check validity.
