ChigChat 170
CHIGCHAT
The Newsletter of
CHIGWELL AND EPPING FOREST
ORIENTEERING CLUB
Number 170
May 2010
In this edition: Chairman’s letter | New Committee | New Members | Club News Performances | Dates For Your Diary | JK 2010 (by Jason Haigh) | CHIGs at the JK | Grizzly Virgin (by Ian McClymont) | Club Kit SEOA & EAOA Fixtures List |
Chairman’s letter
Despite the cold weather early in the year it’s been a good season this year so far, with a variety of events so that nearly every weekend has seen the opportunity to get out and enjoy the sport. Cancellation due to poor weather is a nightmare for the organising club, since usually it has to be done at the last minute, and actually means more work, not less. So we are grateful to the Blowers and others who managed to send out the communication about Pishiobury to stop people setting off in unpleasant conditions. It’s also good to see that all the planning and organisation didn’t go to waste as we were able to reschedule the event.
Further afield the JK and the British have tested the orienteering skills and the stamina of Club members with some stories of success and otherwise following in this edition of Chigchat. It’s very easy to get lulled into a sense of ease with a set of park races coming up over the summer – sometimes we need the physical terrain to show us that orienteering is not only for us southern softies. Keeping the brain engaged when physically tired is a unique challenge so some technical training in our summer evening programme is pretty useful as well as keeping up the running!
Personally I’ve had some difficult issues these last few months, and I’m really grateful to other members of the committee, especially Tim Pribul, who have been filling in during my absence. I heard the AGM went well, and am grateful to those who have helped on the committee over the last year. It’s also good to welcome Ray Weekes back in the role of Treasurer which will allow Alan Brett to relax a little bit – he has put in some sterling work on the website and on the SI front with which he will be continuing.
It’s also good to know that the club is continuing to expand, although one of the newest members who put in her first appearance on the 2nd day of the JK individual isn’t going to be lacing up her own O shoes for a year or three yet. Congratulations to Philippa and Kevin, and let’s hope that grandparenthood is not going to slow down Tim and Sally too much.
Jennifer
New Committee
As elected at the AGM:
Chairman Jennifer Taylor
Secretary Tim Pribul
Treasurer Ray Weekes
Fixtures Ray Curtis
Mapping Tom Edelsten
Membership Helen Hampton
Coaching & Training Josh Jenner
Social Secretary Kate Brett
The committee aims to meeting every month, with the exception of August.
New Members
We would like to welcome:
Stephen Potts (M60) who teaches canoeing/kayaking/sailing to secondary school children and disabled children and adults, and is soon to become a UKCC Level 1 coach.
Evelina Vilkiene (W21) is a local member who lives in East London. She is returning to orienteering after a break as she previously orienteered with her school as a teenager (in Lithuania).
Club News
We are pleased to announce the arrival of Edie Florence Allen (parents Philippa (nee Pribul) and Kevin Allen), born on Easter Sunday, 4th April, much to the surprise of her grandparents as well as her parents, as she was four weeks early. She is looking forward to being taken round her first string course by proud grandpa, Tim.
Performances
Harold Wyber 3rd M21 South East Middle Distance Championships
Josh Jenner 3rd South East Sprint Championships
British Champs – Cannock Chase – Sunday 1st May
Dylan Campbell 11th M12A
Harold Wyber 11th M21L
Mark Ford 6th M35L
Robert Campbell 4th M40L
Mike Brett 8th M45S
Peter Cheetham 25th M50S
Tim Pribul 3rd M60S
Robin Campbell 9th M70L
Jocelyn Brett 3rd W12B
Alice Campbell 15th W18E
Kate Brett 13th W45L
Charlotte Cheetham 26th W45S
Jennifer Taylor 24th W65L
Ruby Campbell 4th W70L
Well done, everyone!
Congratulations too, to Carol Pearce (DEVON and social member of CHIG) who won W65L!
JK performances are shown elsewhere
Club Dates For Your Diary
Full details of all these events will be found on the CHIG website nearer each date.
Date Event Location
Monday, 24th May Committee Meeting Helen Hampton’s, Loughton
Monday, 5th July Committee Meeting Tim Pribul’s, Sawbridgeworth
Saturday, 15th May CHIG Local Event Pishiobury Park
Sunday 16th May HAVOC v CHIG Bedfords Park
Sunday 19th June – HAVOC v CHIG Weald Park Score Event
Saturday, 26th June Club Champs Epping Forest
incl. Club social
Sunday, 27th June FROLIC inc CHIG v HAVOC Gunpowder Park (new map)
Wednesday, 30th June Gooseberry Fool – Score Pishiobury Park & Pribul’s,
Event and Club Social Sawbridgeworth
The Haigh Family’s First JK
Along with a number of other CHIG’s, the family Haigh ventured South West for their first JK experience. With the first event on Good Friday I started south on the Thursday and sampled the local pub in Sidmouth on Thursday night where darts, funny accents and ample servings of sausage and mash were on the menu.
Bicton College, near Budleigh Salterton – Day 1 – Sprint
A short drive on Friday morning to Bicton College in torrential rain was enough to make me want to detour to a local Cider House; however with an early start luckily they were not open. The parking and administration area suffered from many weeks of heavy rain and the green grass slowly deteriorated into large areas of Glastonbury-like mud. It was great to see so many competitors and seeing familiar faces from CHIG, HAVOC, WAOC and SUFFOC made me feel part of a larger team.
The course itself received mixed reviews, but from my point of view I thought it was good, providing a few little navigational decisions and a combination of gradient changes, following tracks and navigating around the college buildings. The pavements were slippery, there were a couple of people ‘caught out’ by an un-crossable fence in the middle of the longer races and the last 500m was pretty much a procession back to the finish. Overall it suited my running style orienteering but even in this short event there were 3 or 4 controls that cost me a better finishing time.
The weather cleared up and the sun shone brightly encouraging us to cheer competitors to the finish and it was good to see fellow CHIGs striding out to the final spectator point.
Cookworthy Forest – Day 2 – Individual
We were again greeted with heavy rain, which did not ease for most of the early starters. Parking was on forest trails and my bike helped avoid a long walk to the administration area. Despite there being a huge field for tents and food vans, finding a dry underfoot area was challenging if not impossible. There was good warm-up trot to the start area, and from my point of view it could have been another planet. When I picked up my map, and ran off in the logical direction, I made the novice’s mistake of not really orientating to my surroundings, with parallel ditches taking me in the wrong direction; 15 minutes later at the first control my race was all but over. The terrain was challenging and very muddy; I have never before seen so many orienteers falling over. However, after my early challenges, I really enjoyed the course, with loads of route choice.
Watching the competitors finishing, many were happy to reach the final spectator control, avoiding rabbit holes and plenty of brambles in the final stages. Baxter, our Golden Retriever enjoyed a run through the adjoining woods after my race and lapped up all the attention from fellow competitors.
Braunton Burrows – Day 3 – Individual
Sunday in Devon, must mean a day at the Beach, well near enough. The sand dunes north of Bideford saw fine weather and a huge field of competitors for the world ranking long distance event. The challenge of a 1:15,000 map and some well hidden controls caught out a number of runners, and this being my first real navigation of dunes, it resulted in some confusion between knolls and depressions.
A familiar sight of competitors standing on a high point looking around in all directions (either for a control point, or trying to triangulate their position) made me feel better on my 2 hour run.
The M21 and Elites ventured North to get a good view of the sea, but for the rest of us, if we needed our swimming gear it was for a short cut across some of the small lakes. The courses were challenging and deciding whether to go over or around some dunes was a 50/50 decision, dependent on heavy legs and tired mind.
Braunton Burrows – Day 4 – Relays
Returning to Braunton Burrows gave me a little concern, especially with the kids going out on their own relay event; however with a shorter course and local knowledge from day 3, I was confident of a better run. CHIG had 3 teams out including one junior team, and it was exciting to see the first waves leave the transition area from one of the two elevated spectator areas.
With 3-4 course options per category, there were good opportunities to end up at the wrong control if you had a lapse in concentration. Some muscle was needed to get to a couple of checkpoints as competitors jostled at bottleneck common controls.
Overall those attending seemed to enjoy themselves and there was a good mix of socialising, competing and holiday activities. I am guessing this won’t be our last Easter JK event.
CHIGs at the JK
[Photos to follow]
CHIG JK Results
Sprint
Oliver Brett 18th M10
Dylan Campbell 9th M12
Jason Haigh 25th M40
Mike Brett 33rd M45
Derek Jenner 76th M55
Robin Campbell 3rd M70
Jocelyn Brett 25th W12
Alice Campbell 13th W18E
Kate Brett 40th W45
Ros West 28th W60
Jennifer Taylor 3rd W65
Ruby Campbell 11th W70
Individual
Oliver Brett 12th M10B
Dylan Campbell 16th M12A
Josh Jenner 24th M21L
Robert Campbell 4th M40L
Jason Haigh 38th M40L
Mike Brett 3rd M45S
Peter Cheetham 28th M50S
Ian Andrews 14th M55S
Derek Jenner 29th M55S
Tom Edelsten 6th M65L
Robin Campbell 18th M70L
Jocelyn Brett 4th W12B
Rosa Hampton 6th W16B
Alice Campbell 20th W18E
Carolyn Andrews 9th W18S
Kate Brett 23rd W45L
Charlotte Cheetham 20th W45S
Helen Hampton 22nd W45S
Ros West 15th W60S
Ruby Campbell 14th W70L
Jennifer Taylor 12th W65L Day 3 only
Kostya Lutsenko 5th M35L Day 2 only
CHIGaChuggers Josh Jenner/Tom Edelsten/Jason Haigh 39th M120+
CHIGAJIG CHIG Rosa Hampton/Helen Hampton/Kate Brett 61st Mixed Ad Hoc
CHIGellits CHIG Lachlan Haigh/Oliver Brett/Owen Haigh 14th Mini relay
Congratulations to everyone who took part! And apologies if I have missed anyone. (Ed)
Virgin Grizzly!
By Ian McClymont
(Bishop’s Stortford Running Club and CHIG Social member)
Why Did I Agree To Do This?
On the Thursday 4th February I saw my physio for some treatment (he has been trying to pull my head off to see if there was a brain inside it for some while) and he said “there’s a spare Grizzly place, you’ve got to do it!”
So…..I got an entry.
What Next?
My running was in the 20 mile a week zone, using the John Baker method, i.e. got to have a drink or two after each run.
So…how to prepare for this run, only 4 weeks to go, and allegedly it’s as hard as a marathon, or even worse?
I had heard so many horror stories…the bogs… the hills… and worst of all… the shingle beach!
Luckily I had entered a couple of half-marathons, Great Bentley and Roding Valley, so I had some longer runs planned. The furthest I had been since Christmas was the Buntingford 10, so I went out for a 10 mile run instantly. Sunday 7th Feb was the Great Bentley half, I did that, and I managed to get in 36 miles that week, a bit of a step up from 20miles.
The next week I managed 42 miles, then did 54 miles the week after that including the Roding Valley half, which was a disaster. A Personal Worst! Far too tired was the real reason, not the usual excuse of hills and wind and rain. I was exhausted and just to cap it off, I got sinusitis as well.
So my final week before the Grizzly I decided to do as little as possible, packed in running except for a gentle 4 mile on the Wednesday club-night, and consumed loads of carbs, and the odd glass of wine.
The Race Weekend
We were travelling down on two mini-buses, so we met up at the clubhouse at 10:00am on the Saturday before the race and set off for sunny Devon. Our group was staying in a Hoseasons Holiday camp between Lyme Regis and Seaton. I had already christened it Stalag Luft 20, but it was a lot more comfortable than I expected, very good in fact. Other club members were spread amongst B&B’s around Seaton, and one crazy was driving down on the day! We tucked into a pasta party in the evening and had an early night.
Race morning
…lovely sunny morning, but still chilly from the overnight frost.
I had had a restless night, so I got up early and got dressed in my running gear…. I ate my usual breakfast, a large bowl of porridge laced with honey ….. …..we left for Seaton … parked up by 9.30…. the race start time was at 10.30 and off we went to the start on the promenade with the usual nervous jokes.
The Race
10.30…off we went, 2000 of us, 100 yards down the promenade, then a sharp U-Turn onto the shingle beach…..how do you run on shingle…..just look at it….
Seaton Shingle Beach
It took me about 30 yards to sort out my legs and breathing…the most efficient way for me was a pitter-patter style, trying to touch the shingle for as little time as possible. I was passed by a lot of people, never mind, I was there to enjoy the run….I hoped.
We came off the shingle after half a mile, thank God, and headed back across town and up the first hill, heading out of town.
View back into Seaton from first hill Beer
We climbed out of Seaton and headed for Beer. Everyone is still very jolly.
We leave Beer and head into the country, hills. Ahead there is a snake of runners across the other side of the valley, at least a thousand people in front of us. Up and down, across the camber this way and that way, ankles wobbling, slipping on the relatively dry earth.
At about 5.5miles it flattens out, we are on the top fields and we cross a field. I can smell slurry, apparently it’s pig slurry. The field exit is a sticky mess for about 50 yards, I head for the field edge for firmer ground and get out quickly.
Soon we are heading down to Branscombe beach.
We get to the beach and charge through a dammed stream.
I now have cold legs and numb feet. We are heading up a gentle slope towards Branscombe, and we occasionally glimpse other club members ahead. Up through Branscombe village (7.5miles) and then we start the next section of hills, hills and hills.
We are now running/walking up and down, weaving a wiggly path across the countryside. I am expecting bogs at any minute, but nothing as yet. Then I hear voices laughing, occasional squealing, bogs are close. First bog, a black bog, not as bad as I had thought, only half way up my legs, then off again to the next hills. Then we hear more squeals. This time I am too confident and trip up on the stream before the bog. I now have black (yellow originally) gloves. I try to wash them in the next stream and they go grey.
More bog, and again it’s not as bad as I had feared and I follow a club member through the “shallow” right hand side away from the support ropes. We run on and next come to the Fountainhead Pub in Branscombe. Lots of people here and we squeeze through the crowds and cars. No free beer here!
I am feeling OK and know that the next section will be heading back to Branscombe Beach, so it should be runnable and I can catch up on lost time.
Branscombe shingle beach, 1 mile of it!
We now are on the shingle.
About 50 yards in my left hamstring tightens up. I walk and massage it, then jog and massage it, all OK if I do my pitter-patter jog. I decide to keep going at a constant pace. The end of the beach is in sight and then we are onto a steep path up the side of the cliff. Walk, occasional jog, up I go 350ft vertically to the top of the cliff.
Then I have an easy run across the cliff tops and down to Beer Head Caravan park. Down to Beer, and then up another steep coastal path. At the top I pass a runner on the path who looks awful, and give him my water bottle to drink. He empties it in one go!
Never mind, not far now.
We come into Seaton and drop down to Seaton Hole. I had forgotten that we go back onto the shingle. Not good. Pitter-patter, off we go again trying to keep the rhythm going. It’s not so far this time, only 400 yards.
Then we come of onto the promenade and the finish straight is in sight. We had done 20 miles, 3500ft ascent and descent, final sprint, 4:09 and change!!!
The Finish!
Fantastic, what a run.