Val and Sal have a moan about their paltry ranking points!
Springtime in Shropshire (SinS) is a 3-day event on the late May Bank Holiday weekend, on alternate (odd) years. It’s a fun weekend away, and back in the day, all the orienteers used to camp together in a specially requisitioned field, but now we make our own arrangements. The event has been going since 1983, only cancelled in 2001 due to foot & mouth disease restrictions. I particularly like their memorabilia!
The format is Urban, Middle, then Classic on the Monday, and as a family we entered all three – plus the Quiz at Ludlow Rugby Club! The Urban was on the Saturday evening, with the Start right outside Ludlow Castle and the Finish inside. My nemesis leg was a path around the castle ramparts that I failed to spot, but I did okay on the micro-nav at the end, inside the castle walls.
On Sunday, the Middle Distance day at Stapeley & Rorrington was a lot of fun. We prepared Sarah and Alexander for fiendish butterfly loops, but it wasn’t too bad for beginners, especially if they understood contours. All 4 of us ran Brown, as a Youth v Experience Challenge. Experience won (Dave), and one of the Youths’ hired dibber didn’t register at No 9. Were it not for that, Alexander would have finished a minute ahead of me!
I had a good run, only losing 90 seconds. I got 1082 ranking points, my 2nd highest scoring run in the last 12 months. Some of you may not know that your place on the British Orienteering Ranking List is driven by your 6 top scores in a rolling 12 month period. Every Thursday at about 3am we get an email with our points from the previous weekend’s races, so you can imaging the group chat on a Friday morning. It’s nearly as exciting as when the Premium Bonds come in!
The Classic Distance race (at which I ran Green) was at Tittlerstone Clee. You may have heard of Clee Hill Quarry products; we parked in their car park. Jane was Controller for this day, and had made several visits to the area to meet the Planner from Harlequins Orienteering Club, check control sites and general course suitability. Not to mention checking 80 control sites on the Sunday. It was a fun area, contoury but fast, with boulders, crags and extensive gorse patches on the lower slopes.
Val had cracking runs on all 3 days, and won W65L, ahead of big -guns such as Borderliners’ Stella Lewsley. She scored 1039 ranking points, calculated in a baffling (to me) formula. For anyone mathematically-minded, Dave found this detailed explanation on Berkshire Orienteers website. The calculation has been tweaked since, but the statistical principles remain similar (I think).
In a new development, from 5 December 2024:
In recognition of the different challenges the forest and urban disciplines present, the ranking list has been amended to show an overall ranking, alongside separate ranking lists for forest and urban disciplines.
It was a great weekend, and we’re looking forward to 2027 already. Other chilled orienteering camping weekends are the White Rose on the August Bank Holiday, where DVO always come back with a fine collection of mugs!
The photos from the SinS weekend are here.
John Hopper who features on this photo from Day 3 said:
… I was determined to successfully complete the course even though at times it seemed I was the only one left out there! Much respect to the Planner, Controller and all helpers.
