​In view of the latest advice regarding travel and social pub type meetings,I have decided to cancel tomorrow nights event.
I have all the maps and fixed controls ready so will suggest that when things settle down I will put the event on again
Thanks for your understanding
Regards
 
Richard Lewis

Wrekin Lake District Coaching Weekend
 
A small group of Wrekin Orienteers took the opportunity to combine some coaching on Graythwaite with a WCOC event on the complex contours of High Rigg over the first weekend in March this year.
Some of the classic areas were earmarked for major events this spring and this limited our choice somewhat. However, Richard Tiley, LOC and Lake District Access Officer was able to negotiate permissions to use the Dale Park area of Graythwaite. In addition, Richard provided the OCAD file of the area, supplied pdf files of previous events and training exercises and went the extra mile by hanging half of the mini markers on control sites a couple of days beforehand!  
  
The area was visited over the weekend of storm Ciara to identify and tape suitable control sites. Felling has taken place on parts of the map but there is still adequate quality terrain to deliver coaching exercises. 
Any one who has delivered coaching will know of the challenge to provide activities for a wide range of age and abilities. This is part of the challenge that I enjoy when coaching. To help me on the day I was fortunate to have club coach Tony Callow with me and also my wife Debbie. 

To help those taking part get to grips with the map, a simple line event was the first activity. This involved following an imaginary line on the ground and counting how many markers were encountered on the way round. The aim was to encourage orientation of the map and interpretation of contours.
The map displays a huge amount of detail and it is easy to get too engrossed checking off all the features on a leg during a race. So, a couple of exercises using attack points and a traffic light approach were produced to help simplify the use of the map.

Finally, there were a number of short courses to allow these skills to be put together. The emphasis here was accurate navigation rather than speed around the course.  Another benefit from the weekend was that there was chance to spend time on quality terrain in a non - competitive situation. For many people the first chance they have to study a map of such complexity is when they pick one up from the map box at the start of a major event. Hopefully, those who attended will feel more confident if they take part in some of the major events taking place in the next few months.

​
Thanks are due to the Graythwaite Estate for Permissions and to Richard Tiley for going the extra mile.

Congratulations to Kristof who completed his 9.8km course, with 345 metres climb, in just 61 minutes and 37 seconds, to bring home the gold medal at the British Night Championships, in the M35 class. He beat second placed Nick Barrable from SYO by over 5 minutes. Congratulations Kristof. 

 
Congratulations also go to Derek Turner who won the Bronze medal in the M80 class. Derek's course was 3.5km with 115 metres of climb.

February 2020 Spring into Orienteering
A news sheet for WREKIN Orienteers about forthcoming events and to advertise a significant organising opportunities. 
This isn’t everything you need so please check details on a relevant website. There are other events in the West Midlands- check out Thursday nights with Harlequins.
The club had a successful first month of the year including the finish of Choc O, competitive success at the Laurie Bradley Score Event on New Years Day to staging the West Midland League Race at Wrockwardine Wood, holding the social Club Presentation Dinner at the Corbet  Arms and there were a couple of Winter Street Races as well.
More....

WREKIN ORIENTEERS
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019
MADELEY COURT 04/01/2020
 
 
Age:
Championship:
Handicap:
 
Junior Men
   M14-
   Philip Stedman-Smith
   Lewis Kieniewicz
 
Junior Ladies
   W14-
   Gemma Block
   Hannah Stedman-Smith
 
Intermediate Men
   M16-20
   Callum Nightingale
   N/A
 
Intermediate Ladies
   W16-20
   No competitors
    
Open Mens
   M21-40
   Tim Kieniewicz
   Kristof Nowicki
 
Open Ladies
   W21-40
   Heather Kieniewicz
   Delia Kingsbury
 
Senior Men
   M45-55
   Clive Richardson
   Tony Callow
 
Senior Ladies
   W45-55
   Diane Jacks
   Julia Allinson
 
Vet Men
   M60+
   Lawrie Jones
   Rod Postlethwaite
 
Vet Ladies
   W60+
   Jill Leventon
   Lynda Simpson
 
 
Summer Series (Di’s analysis)
 
Junior G Allinson
Ladies L Riley
Men E Heritage
Most Improved Beginner M Rowley
West Midland League, most points
Lady G Allinson
Man C Richardson D Turner
 
Chairmans Big K Trophy
for the person who has done most for the club awarded to Dave Deakin, for his work as Treasurer and Fixtures Secretary, which means he gets through a lot of work every year.

Wrekin are proud to be hosting The UK Urban League at a brand new area of complex housing in Telford.
​
We have been considering using Woodside for urban races for a while but we have now managed to secure the skills of Rod Postlethwaite as Mapper to capture the complexity of the area.

The race forms part of the UK Urban League and will a great sharpener for the JK sprint day the following week.

Details are available here
Entries at: Fabian4.co.uk
​

Thanks for coming to Wombridge we hope you all enjoyed the race. The results have been updated and added Routegadget. Could you take a moment to add your routes its great feedback for the planner and cathartic to confess your sins..
Routegadget link

Hi Everyone,

I have just had confirmation from the Lake District Access Officer for permission to use an area of Graythwaite known as High Dale Park for coaching on Saturday 7th March 2020.
This area has been used for British Championships, JK’s and other prestigious events and is some of the best technical orienteering terrain available.

Routegadget link: www.mdoc.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#292

Graythwaite is in the south Lake District between Lakes Windermere and Coniston.


I hope to be able to provide coaching exercises to help you develop your orienteering skills without the pressure of competition on the Saturday.

On the Sunday there is a WCOC event on High Rigg; an area of complex open fell just north of Thirlmere when you will be able to put into practice your impressive range of navigation skills!

Debbie is looking for suitable accommodation for groups with self catering and rooms to sleep 2-4 people.
To help with the planning could you please let me know:

1. of your intention to come to the coaching.
2. if you need accommodation on Friday and Saturday.
3. Let me know as soon as possible but no later than 14th February.
 
Please make your own arrangements if entering the WCOC event on the Sunday.
 
Best wishes
 
Andy Clough.
just had confirmation from the Lake District Access Officer for permission to use an area of Graythwaite known as High Dale Park for coaching on Saturday 7th March 2020.
This area has been used for British Championships, JK’s and other prestigious events and is some of the best technical orienteering terrain available.
Graythwaite is in the south Lake District between Lakes Windermere and Coniston.
I hope to be able to provide coaching exercises to help you develop your orienteering skills without the pressure of competition on the Saturday.
On the Sunday there is a WCOC event on High Rigg; an area of complex open fell just north of Thirlmere when you will be able to put into practice your impressive range of navigation skills!
Debbie is looking for suitable accommodation for groups with self catering and rooms to sleep 2-4 people.
To help with the planning could you please let me know:
1. of your intention to come to the coaching.
2. if you need accommodation on Friday and Saturday.
3. Let me know as soon as possible but no later than 14th February.

Please make your own arrangements if entering the WCOC event on the Sunday.

Best wishes

Andy Clough.

Final details for the upcoming West Midland League event on the 26th January 2020 are available here and from the events pages of the Wrekin website

A news sheet for WREKIN Orienteers about forthcoming events and to advertise a significant organising opportunity. 
This isn’t everything you need so please check details on a relevant website. There are other events in January- check out Thursday nights with Harlequins.

Until Jan 5th
CHOC-O
Priors Halt
A great chance to wander around the southern Long Mynd

January 1st
Laurie Bradley New Years Day West Midland Team Score Event
Baggeridge and Himley Hall
A race for everyone- the more of us who attend the more points we can score in a competition against the other West Midland Clubs.
Score event with handicap points for everyone. Time limit I hour.

January 4th
WREKIN Club Championships
Madeley Court, Telford
Many trophies available to compete for and gain the honour of being a WREKIN Champion

January 5th
West Midland League Race 1
Brindley Heath, Cannock Chase
WREKIN finished second last year. Can we go one better in 2020? Let’s get off to a good start for the New Year

January 14th
WREKIN Street Series
Bridgnorth
45 minutes of night time street action- If you like lamp posts this is the race for you.

January 19th
MERCIA Hill Trial
Priestweston
A navigational Fell Run Competition planned by our own Tim Kieniewicz

January 26th
WREKIN event.
West Midland League Race 2
Wrockwardine Wood, Telford
WREKIN first event of the year- Ian Hopkins planning and Richard Lewis Organising. 
We will need all our usual team efforts to help out. Watch out for request for helpers

February...TBC
WREKIN Club Dinner
Corbet Arms Uffington
Save the date- further details to follow.
Presentation of Club Championship trophies and a general celebration of the past year.

April 5th
WREKIN Orienteers UKUL and WMUL Event
Woodside, Telford
A high class event in the UK and West Midland Urban Leagues. It is early in the season so we should have a good quality turn out.
Clive Richardson is planning but we need an ORGANISER. If interested please let Adrian Pickles know asap.

 
In February we have West Midland League 3 at Nuneaton and the CompasSport Cup Knock-out round in the Wyre Forest to look forward to.
Thanks to everyone who has helped in any way over the last year. Orienteering only happens because we make it happen and in 2019 we have sustained our efforts as a club involving more people which is a good thing. The more the merrier as we continue to develop Shropshire Orienteering.
 
Wishing a Happy New Year to everyone
 
Adrian Pickles

Two of our club officials have children who crossed the Atlantic to live and work. Club Secretary John Broadhead has a son in Vancouver, British Columbia while Club Chairperson Adrian Pickles’ daughter works in New York.
​
During recent family visits to see their children both John and Adrian co-incidentally managed to find Orienteering Events to run in. John participated in the West of Canada Championships while Adrian along with Jac Stevens completed the Older Dash US Masters Championships. 


Older Dash..Boulder Dash.   WREKIN Orienteers on tour  Adrian Pickles and Jac Stevens.

​
The Boulder Dash is an annual Orienteering event put on by Up-North Orienteers in New Hampshire, U.S.A. 

The cunning event name gives a strong clue about what you will find in the terrain and the event format is a two-day version of our own Springtime in Shropshire. Overall results are determined by total time over both days. For 2019 the US Masters Championships was incorporated into the weekend, so the event was cunningly renamed the Older Dash, despite this the boulders and rocks remained as plentiful as ever.

This year’s venue was Gunstock Mountain, a winter ski resort near Alton, N.H. with a wide range of summer activities also on offer. This enabled the planner to start the longer courses at the top of a ski lift, including the ride-up in the entry fee. The mechanically assisted ascent was replaced by the pull of gravity as the courses descended 220 m in the first 2 kilometres. Despite the steep descent, progress was slow through natural woodland made up of a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees. 


​The famous Fall display of autumnal colour was in full swing, so the woods were beautiful with a full range of leaf colours from yellow to deep red covering the trees and the ground. Although there were no nettles or brambles the forest floor of boulders, rocks, grasses, moss and an understorey of shrubs and close growing trees made progress slower than expected. 
 
300 competitors had travelled across the USA and some from Canada. Only two were from Overseas from anywhere else; both WREKIN members. We had travelled further than anyone to be there, but only just, thank goodness no-one came from Alaska or Hawaii. The size of the USA and Canada means a huge commitment of time and money is needed to participate in National events and makes the concept of National Championships challenging. The organisation was helpful and easy for an experienced orienteer to work out. Although my (M60) course was Green, just like a West Midland league event, the colour coding system for courses is quite like, but not the same, as ours. Even in US dollars this was the most expensive event we had ever entered but the event was well done with relatively low numbers.
 
There were two sociable activities which were different to our way of doing things. One was a bring-and-share table on which people put cakes, crisps, raisins, biscuits, sliced fruit etc. Many conversations started around the sharing table and I met up with some people I last ran against in Devon, back in 1986. It was nice but could be tricky to replicate in November on Titterstone Clee. On the first evening there was an event meal in a school hall, followed by people discussing the race using the course map projected onto a big screen. Although I was a bit wary of this it was quite interesting: Seeing how people lost time was actually more informative than hearing about how people didn’t make mistakes. 
 
The map was very good, the main navigational challenges were implementing your planned route and accurate relocation. Ski-runs provided clues about your position across the slope, but many had diffuse edges and encroaching vegetation which made using them for exact relocation harder.  The combination of steep slopes and tough going made it easy to drift off-line and arrive somewhere which could be confusingly similar to the correct location. Good distance judgement, following a bearing accurately and maintaining the correct height were the key factors in successful control finding.

Day 1 Green Course- Fastest Time 47 mins..Adrian Pickles 62
Day 2 Green Course- Fastest Time 47 Adrian Pickles 54.

Results- Jac Stevens ran the Orange(R) course at sort of Light green+ standard and I (Adrian Pickles) ran M60 on the Green course. 
​
I was first M60 on both days some time behind some nippy M55s . Although I didn’t count for the US Champs I was awarded the M60 prize. 
 
The presentation did involve a podium but was definitely a classic Orienteering prize giving i.e. long, mysterious and confusing which WREKIN would do so much better. Prizes were specially made bars of soap, of which I am so proud I haven’t used it yet. There was some debate if there were gold silver and bronze soaps but it was nice to have a useful memento even if it won’t last forever!

We got our money's worth today! Great challenging courses and perfect weather... Thanks to Adrian and helpers Results here and on Results 2019 pages

Start and Finish this year is in Gogbatch at the north east tip of the Long Mynd. Three courses all hard some some less hard. Initial details here More details to follow. 

A great turn out on a lovely summers evening at Attingham Park - a total of 86 competitors. Hopefully the courses were interesting whilst being limited by river crossings and deer avoidance measures. Apologies for a couple of slightly misplaced controls and the difficulties getting to 110 - the nettles grow quickly at this time of year!
Thanks to all who helped with the medical incident, Eric is making a rapid recovery. Plus those who helped collect in the controls, much appreciated.
James, Jo, Cathy and Gemma

Last nights results are up on the Wrekin website
html.wrekinorienteers.co.uk/Attingham%20Park%20SEE%202019/

​Wrekin member Duncan Bayliss has launched a website BetterOrienteering. org

https://betterorienteering.org/ 

For a long time there has been a need for an easy place to point people to who are interested in starting orienteering, or who have been going for a while and want to improve.

Better Orienteering helps you get better at orienteering whether you are a newcomer or have been going for a few years and have plateaued and stopped improving.  The website is structured in sections:
Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced - Beyond Advanced.

There are 9 skills videos in collaboration with SLOW,  and a series of free downloads on orienteering skills and links to many useful resources on orienteering.  It really is a one stop shop if you want to improve and are wondering how to work on your technique.

The Quick Start section helps you navigate the website and find material that is relevant to the level of experience you have whether you are just starting orienteering or are wanting to find resources to help you stop repeating the same mistakes again and again.


Orienteering is something where there is always room for improvement.  It is a great combination of navigation challenge and test of fitness and even orienteers who have been competing for 25 + years are still learning!

Duncan