WIM/WSX Club Event at Stonebarrow Hill
Monday 6 June
Stonebarrow offers fast running but some relentless climbs. Stay on the upper slopes of the ridge and it's OK. Go down towards the SW Coast Path and alarm bells ring as your descent continues. The technical challenge of reading complex vegetation is made much harder by fearsome contours.
The fact that 7 runners completed the course within the hour was a triumph of will over screaming muscles; James Crickmore and John Cook running it in under 45 minutes was amazing!
Route choices were immediate - east or west? Clockwise or anticlockwise? Two topics seemed to dominate post-mortems: the 4 easternmost controls on Chardown Hill, and the descent to 180.
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The order of 187, 188, 189 and 190 depended on whether you were doing a generally clockwise or anticlockwise course. Also, if you were coming from or intended to go to the controls in the central wildflower meadows. The approach to 188 generated lively debate!
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The decision with 180 involved strategic route choice and energy. How did it fit into your overall course? Would you have time to make the descent and climb worthwhile? The 40 points for 176 were designed to tempt!
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Special thanks go to the 3 helpers who ran everything so smoothly - Dick (IT), Di (Start & control collection) and Mary (Registration, control placing & collection). Thanks also to the National Trust Golden Cap Estate for permission to use Stonebarrow, and for their much valued support of orienteering.
And thank you to all who came, some travelling a fair distance. As well as Becca (who made it after work by the skin of her teeth!) we had runners from SOC, Devon, QO and Kerno. I hope you enjoyed this lovely if strenuous venue and look forward to seeing you in West Dorset again.
Mike Kite
Background photo from Stonebarrow looking over Westhay Farm (centre) towards Golden Cap (far left), by Mary Kite