Summer is finally here and we have O news from Sweden and Edinburgh in this issue, with a number of you poised to go to Croeso, the 5-day event in Wales as we go to press!
Welcome to new members Jan Oldham W45, Becky Royall W45 and Katie Orman W40. In no other sport do they publish ladies ages so liberally!
The observant among you will notice that we have a crisper logo, after many years of it being put-together in Ocad (mapping software). Please contact Sal if you need a copy; there’s a version with a white background and another one with a transparent background. They were done by Forty-five Degrees in Belper, the firm who also laser-cut our log.
Which brings my nicely onto the story of Bluey (see featured image)! At the JK Relays, Jane and I both noticed the SYO Bee mascot and decided we needed something for DVO. Jane found Bluey on Etsy and I purchased, only to find he was a bit small (fear not – we have this in hand as Judith is trying to scale up the knitting pattern)!
Bluey met the SYO Bee at the Sprint Relays and appeared on the podium on a fine twig. He’s currently en route to the Oringen in Sweden in Ann-Marie’s car.
News from Sweden
The small DVO group heading to the Swedish O-Ringen are making headway. John Duckworth has been cycling from the Hook of Holland through Holland, Germany and Denmark and is now in Sweden. Graham and Val Johnson have made their way from Norway into Sweden and met up with Stuart Swalwell in Vaxjo who had been cycling from Copenhagen. All watched the Soccer Final in a pub in the town. Graham and Val have continued on a scenic route. Stuart going more direct. Aim is to get to Oskarshamn by Wednesday/Thursday where we hope to meet up with Helen Chiswell, the Vincent family and Ann-Marie. Weather to date has been lousy! Rain and cloudy skies.
Shake-up on the Fixtures Committee
[with apologies to Squeeze. Ed.] Not only have the Godfrees moved north, the Macdonalds have moved sideways … Ranald has chaired our Fixtures Committee for over 15 years, with Viv pursuing many of the permissions for events. Ranald will remain active at national level, controlling next year’s JK Sprints in Sheffield City Centre.He told Newstrack that he’s “still running Grade B & C Controllers courses and Independent Scrutineer for the Junior and Senior GB squads. Frequently asked to be on jury at Level A events.
Moving more to musical activities – playing cello and singing in a band; singing in various choirs; co-chair Wirksworth Music Centre. Also on Aquabox Community Liaison Group, responsible for recruiting and training presenters to outside groups as well as giving presentations myself.”
Like Ranald I have been involved with all things Fixtures for many years, so it is a good opportunity to let someone else have the pleasure. But I am still planning to stay involved – mainly organising level C and D events and activities, control collecting and other volunteer roles as they arise. And continuing as the Administrator for the Orienteering Foundation – a registered charity set up to promote the sport – we fund a lot of projects such as ten Club Development Officers (including DVO’s) around the country and sponsor the Adult Coaching Day in the Lakes each year.
Club Champs Allestree Park (Sat 19th October; Officials needed please)
Please see our vacancies for officials and note our September 12 Officials Training Day
Our annual fun mass-finish race and picnic is approaching in rewilded Allestree Park! Please speak to Jane or Nicky if you’d like to plan or organise. DVO often have bring-and-share picnics after our Club Championships, which has led to much sharing of recipes. Fuel Corner ran for a few issues in Newstrack, as follows:
Peanut and Cheese Ring by Rachel Davies
Foolproof Fruit Flapjack by Graham Johnson
Vegan Chocolate Cake by Sal Chaffey (with ill-fated icing of Leeds Uni campus)
Courgette Cake by Sal Chaffey (one of your 5 a day)
Now it’s been revived by Allbran coming back into fashion again and Pauline Ward supplying a recipe. The Editor tested it and found it very nice, but slightly too much sugar for modern palates!
Sprints Weekend by Sal Chaffey
The British Mixed Sprint Relays Championships and individual Sprints Champs were held on the weekend of 22–23 June at Birmingham and Warwick Universities. Rarely, the sun shone at both events!
For me, it was something of a Super Saturday as the day started with ParkRun with Refugees at Markeaton, where we had a stall to raise awareness for Refugee Week. This was followed by the Six Streets (north Derby) Arts Trial and open houses, where I signed up for a couple of winter classes.
Straight on to our Level D at Allestree Park where Michelle’s courses were enjoyed by our first ever MapActive cohort, many of whom did 2 courses. These activities involved as much sitting and eating as possible, to save my legs for the highlight of the day, the Sprint Relay!
I was running middle leg in the DVO Bluebells team with John and Richard. We travelled down as a team plus Viv (Ranald was Controller, so had been on-site all day), out first navigational test being following Google maps through Spaghetti Junction. The second one was when the Godfrees’ electric blue Citroen went a different way, unbeknownst to us to avoid the emissions charge! Many a time has consternation arisen from not having a Godfree to follow!
Birmingham Uni campus has a lovely mix of old and new buildings, the centrepiece being Old Joe the tallest freestanding clock in Europe, completed in 1908. The western half of the map was fairly straightforward but the north east corner was beset with multilevel Valhalla. Fortunately we were able to reckie a bit and watch the elites.
John’s callup was 6:30 for a 6:45 Mass Start, so I needed to be in the holding pen no later than 6:55 (the legs were only around 2km).
Handover accomplished, off I went, only to hear half way to my first control that SYO were in the lead and handing over to their second runner! Okay … so the Commentary Team hadn’t seen John and my nemesis Jenny Peel was about 40 seconds behind me. No pressure at all! I didn’t see Jenny until #7, and by #9 at the base of Old Joe, she and my Arch Nemesis Ruth Kerr were ahead of me. I kept them in sight all the way, often benefitting from their hasty decisions when they backtracked in the multilevel area. The last 6 controls were straightforward, so I hung on in, and all three of us handed over within 6 seconds, DVO being 3rd.
We waited for Richard, not too anxiously as he is known as ‘Mr Consistent’ and sure enough he held our 3rd place, storming down the run-in just 2 seconds behind SYO’s Martin Ward. A great result for the Bluebells.
Warwick brought another sunny day and another medal haul. Both campuses had had pro-Palestinian protesters camping there for several months, and this had meant that the Sunday Finals courses had to be shortened.
For some of the 25 DVO competitors, it was the first time at the British Sprints. In the morning, there’s a Prologue race that determines whether you get into the A or B Final for your class. The Start lists for the Finals are published at around 1pm, with the Finals starting between 2 and 3:30pm, so very soon, everyone is finished.
The campus was quite crowded, with 750 competitors and their families, so we were advised caution going round corners. We weren’t allowed a commentary on the Sunday, because it would have woken up the students [I ask you – races didn’t start until 10:30am]!!
3rd: Nerijus Rozkovas M35 & Sally Calland W45
2nd: Imogen Satherley W12 & Simon Brister M75
1st: Liz Godfree W75 & Derek Gale M80
Congratulations everyone and enjoy your wooden medals!
Edward Lines’ photos here and Rob Lines’ photos here.
Wishing everyone a good summer, please keep sending in your stories! The next Newstrack will appear in the 2nd week of September, with the various notices for our AGM, which is October 9th 7:30pm at the Church in the Peak, Limetree Business Park, Matlock. Copy date for items: 3rd Sept please.
And finally … Puzzle Page by David Vincent
Weighty Matters
Preparation for our trip to this year’s O-Ringen is not going well. Amongst several problems, we have mixed up three pairs of our shoes. They are the same size, brand, and appearance, but differ in their weights due to differences in their in-built cushioning which leaves no visible trace. Their weights were an integer number of grams, and left and right shoes weighed the same. Aghast at the thought of running with one shoe heavier than the other – what new injury would that lead to? – I tasked a girl with weighing the shoes to resolve the problem, and left her with the shoes and a digital balance while I went to buy a “UK” sticker for the car. When I returned, the shoes were still in a heap, and there were no girls in sight. She must have done something, though, for I found the scribble shown below.
I gathered that the first digit was the number of shoes weighed, and what followed was the weight of that many shoes in grams. Examining the memory of the digital balance, I saw that she had done many other weighings, but that the 480 gram reading had been the lowest of all.
Can you deduce the weights of the three pairs of shoes?
