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June 2002 |
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Editor’s Notes In this edition Clive keeps us up to date with the forthcoming events as well as a look back over the last year. Anyone with storage space or garage please take a look at Page 4. John explains the workings of the SOS relays coming up in July. An exciting visit to Northern Ireland and the BOC is described in detail in Junior Points East, plus all the forthcoming fixtures can be found on the Fixtures Page. Ian
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Chairman’s Chat I hope many of you can look back on a packed Spring orienteering programme with pleasure reinforced by a sense of achievement. It seems that since our Badge event at Rendlesham last January there has been a fixture within the Region on most Sunday mornings. All I can claim from a seasons competition is consistency ~ I usually manage to set the standard for others to beat ! Those of you who came to the Shrublands event will have noticed our new Club tent. Some also accepted the challenge to put it up ~ for the record it has 5 poles of 3 differing lengths . They are now colour coded ! The justification behind this acquisition was to provide a windproof waterproof shelter for the SI team and the computer network at future events. Since starting to utilise SI equipment we had relied on the goodwill of John and June who not only loaned their caravan but also towed it to and from each event. Having a large tent of our own allows the Webb's to miss the occasional SUFFOC fixture ~ 'twas only fair. Thanks however to both of you for providing our SI home base up until now. Our event at Shrublands effectively brought the SUFFOC spring season to a successful conclusion - the last of the scheduled events that had had to be postponed due to foot and mouth. Paul planned some great courses - a particular favourite being the Brown with its uphill finish ! Many thanks Paul for all you planning efforts over the last 14 months. Thanks are also due to Andrew, John and Mac for covering the Organising, SI team co-ordination and Controlling tasks, and for the rest of you who turned out to help and compete. It was particularly good to have more coming forward to help master the SI system and help at the end to dismantle the tent and collect controls. All packed up and ready to go home soon after 3:30 ~ is this a first ? It was also good to find so many members supporting the club at High Lodge for the Compass Sport Trophy match. There were I know some confusions and a few sorry tales ~ Course selection obviously presented an additional challenge ! The best excuse I have heard for the confusions over the courses to be run was that a tree obscured the sight line between the Club tent where Mac, Yvonne, Paul and myself were hiring the SI cards and John's car which was acting as the Club mustering point. Amazing we should find trees in an East Anglian forest ! Joking apart I am sorry that some members had a frustrating time before the run and disappointment once the reality dawned at the end of the race. It was an experience ~ never again to be repeated. Thanks John for standing in as Club captain on the day. We may not have won the round ~ we did however manage to assemble 32 runners on the day and post a score on each of the competition courses; pretty good for a small club. Since I reported his 2001 achievements in the last Punch John successfully defended his M65 East Anglian Championship Trophy at the Sheringham Park Badge event. Once again ~ well done John. And now we can look forward to the Summer. I know some will be venturing further afield to orienteer in the Lakes. For myself I will probably be hanging up my 'O' shoes and heading for sand, sea and hopefully some sun. My initial thoughts for holding a club picnic have been adapted, as we have had problems matching dates, locations and available organisers/planners. Rather than run our own event your committee hit on the idea of holding a summer picnic in conjunction with the SOS relays ~ Hylands Park, Chelmsford on 7th July. The orienteering will be based around Yellow, Orange and Light Green course combinations. Nothing too taxing.. Teams of four run four yellow, three orange, and two light green courses. We do however need to pre-enter ~ John will once again be co-ordinating relay teams. Please let him know if you are coming - then just turn up ( with your picnic) and have a fun canter around the park. As for the future seasons we have reserved dates within the EAOA fixtures calendar for :- Bridge Wood 29/9/02 ~ a
limited colour coded 'Come and try it event, Louise Walker will be
organising Thanks Louise, Mac, Martin. Andrew, Paul and Simon for offering to cover your various tasks. There are however still some serious gaps in personnel who can commit to organising and planning many of these future events. Most critically we need to quickly identify a planner for Bridge Wood and an organiser for Rendlesham. We can worry about resourcing the other events in the autumn. Bridge Wood would be an ideal event for someone who has not previously experienced the joys of event planning. CATI's only require 3 courses; typically White/Yellow, Orange and Light Green standard. As this is a public area we will not be utilising SI electronic punching ~ pin punches on canes, just like the old days. Anyone interested do give me a call ( 01394 384399).
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Finally ... Enjoy your Summer - hope to see you at the SOS relays. Clive |
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We have been served notice to quit the Garage (by August 30th 2002) that has served as our club equipment store for many years. The Guides are selling the building. . Is anyone able to provide a secure home for the kit ? The equipment comprises 'O' signs, canes/punches , kites, map boards, a Garage, or would be happy plastic bags/tape, organisers equipment box etc.. It currently fills the short wall of a single garage to a depth of about 2 foot. If you have space in to allow the club to erect a small padlocked shed in your Garden please give Clive a call ~ 01394 384399 or email ~ clive.coles@freeuk.com
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It has been suggested that we make the SOS Relays an opportunity for a club social get together and picnic built round the event, so put the date - 7th July - in your diaries now. For those who haven't taken part before, the SOS Relays is a fairly informal handicap relay event which you can take as seriously or casually as you choose. However, it helps if all four members of a team are agreed as to how serious or casual to be! The system is that there are three courses, short (yellowish), medium (orangish) and long (light greenish). Each team is given one map for each course to be passed around between the four members of the team. All four have to run the short course, three members have to run the medium course and two have to do the long one. It is up to the team to decide who runs which course and in which order. No-one is allowed to run the same course twice. You do not have to declare who does what, or when, so plans can be changed at zero notice if things go very wrong! Oldish and youngish people are given a time advantage which is applied to the whole team. A team with four M21s in it may start up to an hour after a team with sufficient older and younger runners. W65s are in great demand as team members as they are worth 20 minutes to the team. Teams have to be at least partially pre-entered, so if you want to put in a team, or to be included in a team, or just to know more, please contact me as soon as possible, indicating whether you want to take it seriously or casually. John Webb 01473 742778 or John@sproughton.flyer.co.uk
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