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Race Around the Walls

published: 27/12/2014

Report from Club Captain Mike Smithard

Chris Smithard cruised to victory in the annual Chester Round the Walls race on Boxing Day. Continuing his gradual recovery from injury, Chris would have liked to have been pushed a bit but he was away in front by a few yards from the start with no-one seemingly wishing to keep with him. So his name on a two foot high silver cup and a nice voucher to make up for it.

CompassSport Cup Final 2015 - Deeside finish 5th

published: 15/12/2014

First news from the final is that DEE finished 5th out of 8 with a numerically small team compared to the massed ranks from certain other clubs. BOK, SYO, SN and OD were the first 4 with HH, DEVON and HOC behind us. Congrats to those who ran to form or above, thanks to those who ran despite injuries (hope they didn't get worse) and commiserations to those who aggravated injuries or who suffered damage (some considerable) from tripping over the innumerable collapsed barbed wire fences. It's not a painless sport!

Best of our bunch:

  • Dave Schorah 1st M21
  • Ciaran Allen 2nd M20-/M40+
  • Anna Harris 3rd W14-
  • Bob Verity 4th M70+/W60+
  • Mike Smithard 4th M60+
  • Sara Campbell 6th W40+
  • Ed Calow M18- and Isabel Hill W14- 7th
  • Steve Ingleby M60+
  • Jean Payne M70+/W60+ 10th

Cup results (click on team to see counters) here.

More details later or in DEEnews.

World Schools Championships selections

published: 25/11/2014

Congratulations on their selection for the Select Team for the World Schools Championships 2015 in Antalya, Turkey to

  • Hannah Hateley, Junior Girls Select Team
  • Lachlan Chavasse, Senior Boys Select Team

You can see the full selections for the School teams and the Select teams here.

Newsletter delayed

published: 17/11/2014

Owing to a technical hitch, we have had to post the AGM agenda without Deeside News. You can pick up your Deeside News at the Club Championships/AGM. Please take copies for anyone who lives near you who is not at the event.

Success for Deeside Juniors at World Schools Selection race and British Schools Champs, Leeds.

published: 16/11/2014

Club Captain Mike Smithard reports

On Saturday, Hannah Hateley won the W14 race and Lachlan Chavasse was 4th in M16 in the selection race for the World Schools Event next year. The team should be announced this week.

On Sunday, Hannah repeated her success in the British Schools Champs, with Lachlan 5th in his race. For the 3rd year running, Katie Wilson was on the podium with 3rd place in the year 7 race. Well done to all 3 of them!

3 boys and 1 girl went from Mickle Trafford School and the boys finished 3rd in the year 6 team competition.

Eaton Park Schools League Event Moved

published: 25/10/2014

The Planner and Controller for the 6th December Eaton Park Schools League Event have judged the state of the grounds at Eaton Park unsuitable for use as an Event Venue this year on the grounds of the safety and enjoyment of competitors.

Consequently, the event has been moved from Eaton Park to Marbury Country Park preserving the date of 6th December 2014. Follow this link for more details.

Please don't turn up to Eaton Park on the 6th of December as we will all be at Marbury Country Park wondering where you are! Thanks.

SHI Relays - Forvie sand dunes, Aberdeenshire - 10th October - held in conjunction with a WOC 2015 training week for other nations.

published: 25/10/2014

Mike Smithard reports

Deeside had 3 members running in this - Olly Williams and Dave Schorah for England and Ciaran Allen for Wales. Ciaran took over in 2nd place after Kristian Jones came back a couple of minutes behind the World Medalist from Czech Republic on first leg. Dave, running for England 1, ran 2nd after Aidan Smith came back a couple of minutes later. He had a good run, handing over to Graham Gristwood who had a stormer, prob running with the 2nd Czech team, those 2 having the fastest leg times, finishing only 6.5miniutes behind the WOC medal winning Czech team. Olly and Ciaran ran about 10 minutes slower, Olly not being the only one to get caught by standing water and marshes not shown on the map and being thrown off line.

Race the Castles - Balmoral and Forvie - 18-19 October 2014

published: 18/10/2014

Mike Smithard maintained his position as M65 King by winning the third counting event at Balmoral today. Rumours that HMQ cried "but where's his horse" are unconfirmed. Mike now has an 8-minute lead, which would be enough to win the Tour de France. Let's hope he remembers to check the control codes tomorrow.

Congratulations also to Dave Schorah (ENG), Ollie Williams (ENG - first Senior Home International selection) and Ciaran Allen (CYM) on their runs.

More at Race the Castles.

Race the Castles - Edinburgh and Stirling - 10-12 October 2014

published: 14/10/2014

Mike Pauline and Chris Smithard, Andy and Jean Payne, Pat Moody, Duncan and Anna Harris headed north for the first weekend of Race the Castles.

Mike won both days of the main event in Mens Ultravet, thereby becoming King of the Castles for a week, until someone runs the second weekend as well and knocks him off his perch.

Wee Anna Harris (still only 10 years old) ignored the JW12- class and ran up to JW16-. She came 3rd (out of 4) in Friday's Edinburgh prologue, then 10th out of 16 in the Edinburgh Castle event on Saturday; but more impressive is that she competed in Saturday's TempO event (planner: John Kewley) and finished 23rd out of 44, beating dad Duncan, and getting more answers correct (albeit slower) than Murray Strain!! Well done Anna. Feast your eyes on the TempO results.

Knight errant Nick Campbell set out to rescue a damsel in distress from Stirling Castle on Sunday; but when after 10 minutes he discovered that she was grippled to the top of a tower he lost all interest, and settled for Jane instead.

Families invited to ‘Come and Try It’ sport sessions including orienteering at Speke Hall, Liverpool Friday, 25 July 2014, 11am – 5pm

published: 17/07/2014

The National Trust has embarked on an exciting new partnership with Sport England to make the most of sporting opportunities at Trust properties across the UK. At Speke Hall, His Worship the Deputy Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Cllr Tony Concepcion will launch a new summer sports programme on 25 July as part of the Sport England initiative.

Deesiders will be working with colleagues from British Orienteering at the event to showcase our sport, including the Xplorer programme.

More information about the day, and the Xplorer events at Speke, in the press release.

JIRCS selections

published: 12/07/2014

Congratulations on their selection to run in the Junior Inter-Regional Competition in the Lakes in September to

  • Niall Allen for Wales
  • Saskia Jones for Wales

Junior Home International selections

published: 12/07/2014

This year's Ward Junior Home Internationals will take place in Oban at the end of August. Congratulations to DEE juniors who have been selected:

  • Niall Allen M18 for Wales
  • Saskia Jones for Wales in her first year as a W14
  • Hannah Hateley W14 for England
  • Phil Vokes reserve M18 for England

Barbara Jones funeral

updated: 17/07/2014

Barbara's funeral was on 25th June and was followed by a reception at the Tiger's Head pub in Norley. A large number of DEEsiders attended.

Donations in lieu of flowers were to Macmillan Cancer Support, who were so helpful and supportive in Barbara's final weeks. You can still donate at Barbara's justgiving page, where you can also read some tributes to BJ and add your own if you wish.

Barbara Jones

published: 13/06/2014

Sadly, Barbara died on Thursday 12 June; she had been ill for years but you would hardly have known it from her cheerful demeanour and busy life. Her condition deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks.

Barbara fulfilled more roles for Deeside than most of us know about. A virtual fixture at Enquiries at most club events, Barbara also packed and despatched Deeside News, kept tabs on the permanent courses and had extensive contacts throughout the orienteering community. We will miss her not only for the many jobs she did but mostly for her cheerful presence at our events and functions.

ERYRI Bryn Engan event

published: 05/05/2014

ERYRI will be holding an event at Braich Bryn Engan on Sunday 25th May. Course details TBC but they usually put on 3-4 colours to suit all abilities. Starts 11-12. Follow signs from turning opposite Siabod Cafe (goulash recommended by Pauly-D) on the A5 in Capel Curig.

Interland and WOC test

published: 31/03/2014

By Club Captain Mike Smithard

Interland

Congratulations to Olly Williams and Hannah Hateley who represented England in this year's Interland competition last weekend in France. Olly finished 3rd in M20 and Hannah 2nd in W14 behind another ENG rep, Bethany Kippen. England won overall with the juniors doing very well. See the Results and with the team photo on Team Photo. Elspeth Ingleby was also running, finishing 4th on W21, 2nd English. All 3 counted for the team score.

WOC and WUOC

In the WOC and WUOC test races in the Lakes last weekend, Dave Schorah finished 8th in the Middle race and a very close 5th in the sprint. WOC selection to be announced on 6th April - the WUOC team not until middle of May I think. Results here.

Routegadget 2 on all UK Routegadget clubs

published: 03/03/2014

RouteGadget 2 is now installed on all RG UK club accounts, so you can use it with all new and existing events. Replace “club” with the same abbreviation currently being used: “www.club.routegadget.co.uk/rg2”

Get chapter and verse here.

Dave Schorah wins BUCS

published: 03/03/2014

Mike Smithard reports

Triumph for Dave (Sheffield Hallam) at the British Uni Champs last weekend on Ilkley Moor, winning the 9.75k course in 62 minutes, beating Johnny Crickmore by 1.5 minutes. Matthew Vokes was 12th and Olly Williams 14th. In the relays, Olly (SHUOC2) set off 3 minutes behind Aidan Smith of OUOC in 2nd place, caught him but Johnny Crickmore (SHUOC1) also caught up and beat Olly to the finish by 1 second with Aidan 8 seconds behind. Matthew Vokes, running 3rd for Cambridge, pulled them up to 5th with the 3rd fastest 3rd leg time. SHUOC won the overall trophy, over 20 unis took part so numbers seem to be on the up again.

Full results here.

The selection races for the World Champs and World Student Champs take place on the last weekend of March at Hampsfell (Middle), Witherslack (Long) and Keswick (Sprint). Unfortunately, Chris Smithard has not recovered from the injury picked up at the Nordic O tour last June so is not in training for the WOC races. I'm unaware of which races Dave has in mind - I believe he's been somewhere warm training since BUCS.

DEE Qualify for CompassSport Cup Final

published: 17/02/2014

Club Captain Mike Smithard - "The Special One" - reports on a great win for DEE

Thanks to you all for turning up and generally running to form (ie ranking list) and, for only the 3rd time I think in 30 years, getting DEE to the CSC final! (We did organise the first one at Tarn Hows in early/mid? 1980's after Steve Ingleby, Joh Baston and I re-mapped the area). Good result in line with (my) expectations which were based on me idly perusing rankings whilst watching the Olympics on Saturday. These rough predictions showed us beating DVO by 40 points with MDOC in 3rd, whereas in fact we beat DVO by 40 points with MDOC 3rd. So one up to the ranking list and my guesses. Best performances against rankings were Paul Chavasse finishing 5 places higher than predicted and Barbara Majumdar a massive 13 places higher with success also in us 'promoting' Ed Calow, Nick, Siân Calow and Elaine Sutton to the Open classes where they scored a lot higher than in their 'right' classes and 3 of them contributed to the team score. So, thanks to them for their additional effort.

Lowest placed scorers for us were in 8th place - counters were:

  • Brown - Dave Schorah (1st), Peter Murphy and Ed Calow
  • Sh Brown - Olly Williams (1st), Chris Owens, Ciaran Allen and Duncan Harris
  • W Blue - Sian Calow and Elaine Sutton
  • M Blue - Jon Hateley and Paul Chavasse
  • W Green - Sara Campbell, Liz Jackson and Maggie Hateley
  • M Green - myself, Steve Ingleby and Chris Calow
  • Short Green - John Padget and Barbara Majumdar
  • M/W18- - Philip Vokes (1st), Lachlan Chavasse, Hannah Hateley, Kitty Jones (max of 4 counters so Niall and Evelyn on 94 miss out)
  • M/W 14- - Sam Cross, Anna Harris, Sas Jones

26 names as ties for 8th place so all shown. Calows and Hateleys tie for best family performance with 3 each.

So, the final. Due to clashing event on the normal Oct w/e and Remembrance Sunday on 9th, it's on Saturday 8th November at Long Valley between Fleet and Aldershot. 3.75hrs drive, all motorway via M25 and |M3, 2.5hrs to M40 Cherwell Valley Services Travelodge (£26 for a room), then 1.25hrs to event. SYO (beat LOC and Aire), Happy Herts (beat SLOW), BOK, DEVON in final so far. WM heat cancelled yesterday. Maybe we will think about a coach or minibuses, we will see. If anyone already knows that they cannot make it or will prob make other overnight/on the day arrangements, let me know now whilst it's fresh in our minds. All provisional at the moment of course.

Thanks again, Mike

Routegadget 2 available for DEE events

published: 07/02/2014

Routegadget 2 is now available for DEE events, including all past events. You can access it to draw your routes, and to view other runners' routes, here.

If you have never come across Routegadget, you need to know that it is a great on-line tool for drawing and comparing orienteering routes. It was developed by a Finnish orienteer, Jarkko Ryyppö, who allows it to be used for free for non-commercial uses. You can draw and compare your routes with others and even replay your race head to head with others. Most clubs now put up Routegadget after all their events including DEE. If you haven’t already used the facility, then you should! It’s instructive to learn from others’ routes.

RouteGadget 1 (the version we have used for the past 5 years) runs as a Java applet in your browser, and, if you have installed the latest update of Java, you will no longer be able to use RouteGadget unless you change the security levels in your Java programme (not a good idea) or list Routegadget as an exception site.

There is an alternative solution. Simon Errington (Happy Herts) has developed a new version of RouteGadget that uses different methodologies to work rather. Importantly, Simon’s development has the added benefit that this new version - Routegadget 2 - has an improved user interface.

Routegadget 2 is still under development but works (a number of non-computer experts in the club have tried it out).

You can read about the background to Routegadget 2 here.

Happy route drawing!

News item planned by Jane Mockford and controlled by Bob Elmes

Delamere Permanent Course - Temporary Closure

published: 24/01/2014

The Delamere Permanent Course is temporarily closed for forestry work. The probable reopening date is the end of March.

CompassSport Cup heat 16th February, Irwell Valley, Manchester

published: 09/01/2014

Club Captain Mike Smithard writes

We are contesting the above heat against MDOC, NOC and DVO. MDOC have requested preliminary numbers by Jan 17th and will then send me a schedule of DEE start times for me to allocate names for me to return in early February. If you didn't put your name on the list at Bickerton, please let me know if you can/might/cannot make it by 17th and, if in doubt at that date, to confirm to me asap or by Feb 3rd so I can assess cover on each course. All entries to be through Mike Smithard () tel 01244 380565 . If your age class has changed since last year or you have a new SI card number, please advise me.

Details on the MDOC Flyer.

Further information when available on the MDOC CompassSport Cup page.

Non-comp light green, yellow and white courses will be available eod.

 

Earlier news from