Wimborne Orienteers

West Midlands, 30th March - 2nd April

Overview by Chris Branford

JK 2018 Triumphs over the Beast from the East! by John Warren

Photographs by John Warren

Day 1 Photos

Day 2 Photos

Day 3 Photos

Day 1 Course 3
Paul Pickering 1st

Day 1 Course 8
Annie Pickering 1st

Day 2 Course 8
Jo Pickering 1st

Day 2 Course 16
Sue Hands 2nd

Day 3 Course 19
Keith Henderson 3rd

Overview by Chris Branford

A very hectic long weekend at the JK in the Midlands with nearly 40 WIM members taking part. We had everything from sunshine to rain, hail, snow and lots of mud but it was a fantastic few days well organised by the Midlands.

Friday was the sprint at MOD Stafford and was organised by Sally Calland who was a WIM for a number of years. The venue and atmosphere was brilliant and the organisation could not have been better - so well done Sally. Nearly 30 WIM's ran in this event.
Top results were
Annie Pickering 1st W21Open
Paul Pickering 1st M21Open
Keith Henderson 4th M75
Becca Ellis 6th W21Open
Harry Bratcher-Howard 8th M12
Grace French 11th W12

Then on Saturday it was the Middle Distance at Brereton Spurs on Cannock Chase. Here we had nearly 40 WIM's competing and the results for this were added to the results for the long distance at Beaudesert - also on Cannock Chase - on Sunday to give the overall JK winners.
Top Results for JK classes for the two days were
Sue Hands 3rd W70L
Keith Henderson 3rd M75L
Brian Johnson 5th M65L
Harry Bratcher-Howard 5th M12A
Michelle Spillar 5th W35L
In Open Classes
Jo Pickering 2nd W21 Open
Paul Pickering 5th M21 Open
Annie Pickering 6th W21 Open

Finally on Monday we had the relay at Beaudesert. It was notable initially for the snow and later for the quality of the mud - a sea of brown gloopy muck several inches deep.
WIM Results for this event were
M/W 210+ class 4th Chris Branford, Keith Henderson, Brian Johnson
Junior 40minus Class - 13th Harry Bratcher-Howard, Monty Bratcher Howard, Grace French
Women's Short class 17th Tamsin Horsler, Sue Hands, Karen French
Men's 120+ class 17th Simon Branford, Andrew Howard, Duncan Taylor

Well done everyone and I hope I have not missed anyone off.

JK 2018 triumphs over ‘The Beast from the East’!

What a weekend! The 2018 JK on Cannock Chase will live long in the memory of those who were there. We all enjoy a challenge but for those who took part in all 4 days it proved to be a testing experience. There was admittedly some sun, but freezing temperatures, torrential rain, snow, and dense fog are the abiding memories for both competitors, spectators and the unsung army of helpers from West Midland clubs, without whose efforts there would have been nothing for us to do.

After 2 years of preparation the event launched with the Sprint event on Good Friday within the almost flat MOD base on the east fringes of Stafford. Being in the Midlands, people arrived from far and wide on a cool, but dry, bright day and gradually the assembly area, with the usual supporting traders, began to come to life with people collecting their race bibs, and meeting friends and rivals both inside and outside a spacious, warm sports hall. The JK is not only a major sporting event, but also a rare opportunity to meet people from all over the country in a relaxed atmosphere without the constant pressure of race and travelling time. It was interesting to see that there were no vacancies in any local Premier Inns or Travel Lodges for a range of about 15 miles!! The co-organiser of the Sprint day was our own Sally Calland in one of her last roles as a regular Army Officer. WIM were very sorry to lose her dynamic personality when she left Blandford Camp a year or two ago.

With the Start, Spectator Control and Finish all within about 200m of each other there was much to see, with a well informed commentary keeping everyone up to date. Courses were fairly straight forward and very fast, but as you can see from the WIM results it was still quite possible to miss a control when running fast under pressure. It was great to see Paul and Annie Pickering achieve a remarkable married couple double by both winning their respective M/W 21 Open classes! Keith Henderson 4th M75, Becca 6th in W21 Open, and Grace and Harry getting good results against the best orienteers in the country, plus quite a few from abroad!

At the end of the day, for most people, there was the luxury of only a short distance to travel to overnight accommodation, re-assembling on Saturday morning for the Middle Distance race at Brereton Spurs near Rugeley. Now we were to get to grips or in some cases vice versa, with the hilly woods, spurs, re-entrants and paths of Cannock Chase and it was surprising how quite a small area of woodland could absorb more than 2,600 competitors. Parking was in a gently contoured field, which could have been a problem had it not been for the well planned use of track matting and careful parking which resulted in almost no stuck vehicles. Near Arctic temperatures prevailed and it wasn’t quite the day for sitting outside at the picnic tables provided by the caterers. The WIM tent was established right by the finish line, so it was easy to see incoming runners from the shelter of the tent! Once again the WIM contingent produced some impressive results before all departing to warm local accommodation.

View of Day 3 Assembly by John Warren

Easter Sunday saw the event move to Beaudesert for the Long Race. The venue was in a Scout Outdoor Education centre using the remnants of a once private house and estate on the highest point of Cannock Chase. One of the great facilities were indoor loos with hot water, instead of the normal freezing portaloo queue! There were even emergency showers which were very necessary in at least one case where a girl had fallen and rolled into a marsh! The day was cold and mostly dry, but with a high open forest, the icy wind didn’t affect us too much, so as the morning passed more and more club tents began to line the ‘run in’ which was a broad open tree lined avenue of short cut grass sloping gently downhill to the finish line. Yes, the rare bonus of a downhill finish! The start was in the old walled garden of the estate, making it a real sense of occasion and the JK being a World Ranking event the start procedure was almost silent. Again the WIM results reflect both great personal achievement and frustration! Beaudesert is a mixed forest with some very steep slopes and lots of detailed contour features including ‘bell pits’, the remains of industrial working, where a depression is surrounded by an earth bank. Being a working forest, furrows and brashings abounded but everyone rose to the challenge in terms of personal achievement.

The combined results from days 2 and 3 meant Jo Pickering achieving 2nd place in W21 Open, Sue Hands and Keith Henderson 3rd in W70L and M75L. Paul Pickering M21open, Michelle Spillar W35L and Harry Bratcher Howard were all 5th in their classes and Annie Pickering came 6th in W21Open. The only down side to the end of the day was the challenging state of the parking field but by 5pm everyone was safely out, thanks in part to a tractor!

Some, possibly wise people, decided to miss the Relay event! Overnight there was torrential rain, followed by 2 inches of snowfall and temperatures falling to -3degsC, added to which there was dense fog on the top of Cannock Chase. What had we all done to deserve this? At 6am a crisis conference was held with the Day Organiser and the Co-Ordinator. The car park was under water!! Cancel or not? After 2 years work this could not happen!- so it was decided to attempt to literally ‘shoe-horn’ vehicles into every nook and cranny round the Outdoor Centre. The car park team deserved a medal, working with great good humour in soaking icy conditions and by about 10am they had got everyone in. I think that everyone who was there has their own individual memory of Easter Monday on Cannock Chase!!

However this wasn’t the end of the story because the assembly area began to look like a WW1 battlefield. Along with many others, the WIM tent had been left up overnight, but had collapsed under the weight of snow breaking some poles. Yesterday's run in looked like a disaster area and it took about 45mins to sort out the wrecked tent before it was bodily dragged down to a new location which was initially nice green grass adjacent to the Relay Run in, but rapidly degenerated into a brown quagmire! The mud became spectacular, a liquid brown slurry that it was impossible to avoid, not to mention the run in which had a 180 deg corner half way along it with predictable consequences. Photographs really don’t do justice to the scene but the intrepid WIMs who took part have experiences to tell of sliding down hills before struggling back up to the finish which was on top of the hill.

Almost amazingly, by soon after mid-day it was time for the prize-giving and not only congratulations to the Relay Class winners, but also some huge praise for the event teams whose achievement was quite beyond the call of duty! Unless you had been there you cannot appreciate what efforts went into making this a unique and memorable JK 2018.

Thank you to all the members of the West Midlands who worked so hard to create 4 memorable days of high quality orienteering

John Warren

P.S. I am afraid that my account may be a bit biased because Andy and Alison Yeates were the overall event co-ordinators, and they are my daughter and son in law!!!

More photographs by John Warren

Scenes from Day 1 at Stafford