October Odyssey 2016Simonside / Slaley Hall, 8/9 October 2016
A handful of ESOC members competed at two contrasting areas in Northumberland, as well as spectating at this year’s Junior Home International.
The October Odyssey is an annual weekend, organised by clubs in the North of England. This year it was Newcastle and Tyneside Orienteers’ turn. The weekend incorporated the Junior Home International, with the Individual event on Saturday and the Relays on Sunday. On both days, the JHI races took place first, with a later than usual start window for the October Odyssey competitors.
The Day 1 event, on Saturday 8 October, was a Long Distance race at Simonside, near Rothbury in Northumberland. Simonside is a rough, tough area on a steep-sided hill, with lots of vegetation, rock features and very complex coniferous forest. The start was fairly high, so shorter courses were mostly downhill, while the longer ones went higher still onto open, heathery hillside.
The weather was fine, with some good views.
Day 2 was a complete contrast - a Middle Distance race at Slaley Hall Estate, which is further south, near Hexham. This is a gently sloping area of coniferous forest and fields of rough pasture. Parts of the area are used for adventure sports including quad biking and paintball, so there were some unusual tracks and constructions in the forest. There was an excellent arena, with a bridge providing a great vantage point for watching the JHI relays.
The weather was mostly fine, with a few showers.
See the event page on the NATO website for more details about the weekend, and full results including Routegadget.
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