British Orienteering Championships 2015Forest of Dean, 18-19 April
This year’s British Long and Relay Championships were far away in the Forest of Dean; a small but determined ESOC contingent competed.
The British Orienteering Championships were based at Speech House, in the heart of the Forest of Dean, west of Cinderford, Gloucestershire. The Individual race was on Saturday 18 April and the Relays were on Sunday 19 April.
The Individual event was at New Beechenhurst, which some can remember from JK 2007. Parking and assembly were not far apart, and the Elite starts were a short bus-ride away at Brierley, while other starts were near at hand.
New Beechenhurst is mainly mature deciduous woodland with some coniferous sections, and is generally very runnable. The terrain is undulating, with some streams in deep gullies, and there are many areas of old mine workings with associated broken ground and a few very large and complex spoil heaps. There are abandoned railway lines and a good path network, as well as a great many ditches. Many competitors noticed sculptures on the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail during their runs. Elite courses started in Brierley, further N, which is much steeper terrain, deeply dissected by the Greathough Brook and its tributaries.
The weather was wonderful – sunny all day, though cool enough for comfortable running – and it was mostly dry underfoot.
ESOC’s best result, and only podium place, came from Eleanor Pyrah, who was 2nd in W70L. Claire Ward had the fastest time on W21E but was robbed of her win by a control that didn’t register. (Although she was seen punching, the rules don’t allow reinstatement if the SI card has not registered.)
Other ESOC results were:
M20E (24 competitors) – Craig Nolan 13th
M21E (32) – Andrew Lindsay 18th
M45L (68) – Terry Johnstone 44th
M60L (83) – Crawford Lindsay 24th
M65L (73) – Dave Kershaw 20th, Roger Scrutton 40th
M70L (46) – Ian Pyrah 17th, John McLaren 28th
W21E (27) – Bex Harding 11th, Rona Lindsay 20th
W45L(42) – Helena Nolan 6th
W55L (38) – Maggie Scrugham 7th, Sally Lindsay 21st
W65L (35) – Anne Stevenson 8th
The Relay event was at the neighbouring area Cannop Ponds, and had the same parking field with a short walk to assembly. The area is on a west-facing slope, mostly open deciduous forest with some dense patches of conifers. Again there was evidence of past mining activity, as well as charcoal burning platforms. It was surprisingly rough underfoot, though dry, and there was a long and rough uphill run-in. The weather was dull and cooler than the day before.
ESOC had 5 teams. Our best result came from ESOC Jedi (Bex Harding, Rona Lindsay & Claire Ward) who came 2nd in the Women’s Premier class, which had 10 competing teams.
In W50, ESOC Rebels (Sally Lindsay, Anne Stevenson, Maggie Scrugham) came 6th out of 18.
In M60, ESOC Stormtroopers (Dave Kershaw, Crawford Lindsay, Roger Scrutton) came 12th out of 30.
In M/W70, ESOC Land Speeders (Ian Pyrah, Eleanor Pyrah, John McLaren) came 2nd out of 3.
In Mixed Ad Hoc, ESOC Droids (Bill Stevenson, Kirsteen Kershaw, Terry Johnstone) came 42nd out of 51.
Full results, Routegadget, and other details about the weekend’s events are on the BOC 2015 website.
Some photos from the weekend are available in the BOC 2015 album of ESOC's Google Album Archive.
The Individual event was the 8th event in the 2015 UK Orienteering League.
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