A Super Club Day at the Seaside

The CompassSport Cup is an annual inter-club competition, with heats in early spring and a Final in the autumn. DVO qualified for the Final at our heat in Clumber Park back in February.

Cleveland Orienteering Klub hosted the Final on a sand-dune area in Redcar, called South Gare. They also staged an urban event on the Saturday at Stockton on Tees, to make it worth the travel for runners from all over the UK.

The dunes were very complex, and mapped with 2.5 metre contours. Navigation had to be accurate, and many of us were caught out on our first control! Most courses finished with a chain of controls overlooking – or actually on – the beach, and some opted to emerge onto the beach for sections. But at least the dunes were grassed, stabilising the sand, so progress on the beach was nowhere near as fast as expected!

Very many thanks to the 38 runners who travelled to Redcar to support the Club at the CompassSport Cup. It was a lovely setting, a great club atmosphere with challenging terrain both physically and technically. A final sting in the tail was a long run-in slightly uphill in the sand. We were competing against top quality teams and our result of 9th was a creditable performance.

There was great team spirit at the Club tent, and everyone was cheered home. Splits analysis, cake and apples were on offer at the tent!

Christine says “It’s been a real pleasure to be DVO’s Club Captain over the last 5 years and yesterday’s event was a great way to finish.”

The 25 scorers are shown above, but all finishers helped, because they reduced the number of points available to rival clubs!