Furrow Hoppers Relay
at Gillingham School on 9 July 2017
Planner: Chris Turner Organiser: Chris Branford
On Sunday we had the Furrow Hopper Relays at Gillingham and Chris Turner planned a total of 7 courses to keep everyone thinking and working hard. We had 3 WIM teams who ended up
5th -
Andy Howard, Andy French, Karen French, Mike Kite, Richard Brightman
6th -
Steve Horsler, Tamsin Horsler, Sarah Horsler, Elizabeth Horsler, Charlotte Oakes
10th -
Michelle Spillar, John Oakes, John Warren, Gillian Cross, Martin Cross
with Kath Pike in a part team with WSX coming 11th.
Junior honours went to Grace French and Lyra Medlock with Harry and Monty Bratcher-Howard in second place.
Well done everyone.
Chris Branford
A Time Traveller
Nervous? Just a bit. Seven years at Gillingham School half a century ago would count for nothing, since a splendid university-like campus had erased all traces of the hotchpotch I affectionately recalled. The town had changed a lot too.
And it was my first run on an urban map! I had officiated and placed controls on urban courses, and I'd capably controlled a parkland event, but never actually competed. So now, four other WIM orienteers were relying on my arsenal of ISSOM map reading skills. If only the car had broken down...
Course D (Sprint) was my baptism. Surprisingly, there was only one serious wobble. Having run determinedly 50m from the Start, I didn't know where I was. OK, calm down. Think. The 1:4000 scale had caught me out. I relocated swiftly and found number 1. Note to self: engage brain before feet. Confidence grew steadily from that point. Apart from a minute of lunacy on 6-7 I was pleased with a succession of apparently intelligent route choices and returned feeling greatly enthused.
Course B was next. It included an interesting 700m leg from 4 to 5 where I delighted in the twists and turns of streets and paths both familiar and unknown. 6 to 7 was a memory lane exercise taking me past the door of Grandad's fish shop (3 generations of Kites lived here - you might hear the ghostly chatter of the extended family playing pontoon for pennies around the kitchen table). No time for reminiscence though as I was endeavouring to keep up with John Cook. A silly idea I won't try again...
My first urban but not the last. I polished up some essential skills, not least keeping the map orientated continuously because frequent changes of direction and fast decision-making demand unbroken map to ground contact. Today there were no long, straightforward legs when you could let your thoughts meander and contemplate the universe. Chris Turner did a good job making us think hard about optimum routes - thank you!
Mike Kite
The Team Captain of Wimborne Wizards!