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Previous Issues: 1998, 1999, 2000, Volume 22 No 1 January 2001
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Chair's Chatter
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
SYO AGM & Event - Tuesday 20th November 2001
2002 Postponed Until 2003
News clips ...
'Not the CompassSport Cup" Nov 10th 2001
THE SCOTTISH THREE DAYS - LOCHABER 2001
Fixtures
GB TEAM - Summer 2001 and beyond
The Swiss/Italian 6-day Event 2001
R.I.C.E. takes a reality check
Commonly Made Mistakes (4): Overconfidence
Commonly Made Mistakes (5): The diagonal downhill leg
Jenny James
Welcome back!
Hopefully we have an Autumn season ahead of us. Colin Best has co-ordinated a list of local fixtures which should tempt you to dust down your compass and get back out in the woods. For those with greater expectations they should provide a warm up for the rearranged British Championships and a chance to perfect & relearn those techniques. In some ways a break could be positive. In Britain we can normally orienteer all year and the disadvantage of this is that we don't take a break, get a chance to refresh and then 'go for it'. So a break could actually lead to better results - had you thought of that?
What better chance to 'go for it' in the 'Not the Compass Sport Cup'? Well we're not allowed to call it that but Ray Waight has been working away all summer co-ordinating a National Inter-Club Competition that we, SYO will organise on 10th November in Ecclesall Woods. A new map has been drawn - Ecclesall Woods being one of the few areas that remained open - and all clubs have been contacted. So come along, run, help and make it a day - and thanks to Ray for getting the idea off the ground when so much has been cancelled.
It's also time to announce this year's AGM -see details later on but put Tuesday 20th November in your diary. Beryl Seaman will be stepping down as Secretary so if anyone fancies this or any other role on the committee please get in touch with one of us or speak to me on the night - no experience required and job-sharing is allowed! Thank you to Beryl and the rest of the committee for their continued hard work and effort that keep this club chugging along. New blood is as ever needed but I think we have now at last found a home for the club equipment, which includes our new posh signs from BOF - Organisers take note!
I've had a busy summer at first the Nordic Champs & the World Champs in Finland, then the Scottish 6 days and finally the World Games in Japan. Now it's back to work, reality, and shorter days. But the memories will stay with me and I'm enjoying the fitness that 5 months off work gave me. I recently tried my hand at MTB '0' up near Scarborough and ended up getting interviewed on NOW.com 1V. The race was excellently organised (thank you EBOR) and for me made a change from orienteering which unlike many of you I have done to complete excess this year.
The big question now for me is do I retire from the British Team? I'll get back to you with that one...
Finally I have to say well done to Tim Tett at the Scottish 6 days. His runs in M21 E became the talk of the week. Aged 41 Tim surprised his much younger rivals by turning out top performances every day and proved that age doesn't matter. With one victory & several 2nd places Tim gave Tim Lenton a tough time in the Chasing Start on Day 6. With only a short lead Tim Lenton had to work hard to keep our Tim behind him but 2nd place was truly great! I look forward to a repeat performance at the British.
Enjoy the forthcoming races and I hope to see you at the AGM - no press-ganging I really do promise this year!
Brian Shaw
I wonder what you've all been doing during the spring and summer. No doubt lawns have never been tidier nor allotments more fecund, or perhaps the back bedroom has at last been decorated, the house painted or a long lost relative finally revisited. For myself I have really enjoyed the break from orienteering, what a luxury just having time. Time for building a tree house for my grand daughter. Time to make a vegetable garden for Jo. Most people, myself included, found that what they missed was not so much the orienteering but not being able to get out into the countryside to run. When Longshaw reopened, sans sheep, it was joyous just being able to run with the bonus of virgin vegetation and bluebells which had never previously stood much of a chance and not to have to worry about Jilly the dog. Sundays have been like they used to be - leisurely.
Of course Sundays when I was a boy were not just leisurely but boring. In the 1950's Sunday in our village meant putting on your best clothes and not going out except to church or Sunday school or to visit aunties. There was no entertainment of any kind except the radio which in our house was on constantly. And I don't mean radio 1 or even 2. They hadn't been invented. No it was the Light Programme or the Home Service. Coming back from church the smell of sprouts mingled with the sound of Two Way Family Favourites -no rock'n'roll mind, this was the BBC -then, worse, as we all sat down to Sunday lunch, the Billy Cotton Band Show which for some totally inexplicable reason my father found hilariously funny.
The mountain of washing up was undertaken to the sound of Educating Archie or something equally horrific where people like Max Bygraves came on and said "Iolly" each week in a slightly different context which to my amazement was greeted by rapturous applause. Each dreadful catch phrase was fondly anticipated and when it came was greeted like some old friend. Sad. Whilst we laboured in the kitchen my father, exhausted by his exertions carving the joint slept in an armchair and woe betide anyone who disturbed him. Rather than run the risk we usually opted for Sunday school where at least you got to see girls in their best frocks. Sometimes you even got invited to stay for tea somewhere. Otherwise it was home again to be greeted by Down Your Way, possibly the most boring programme ever invented, followed by tea consisting of meat paste sandwiches and jelly to be eaten with bread and butter, and finally banishment to the front room to do the homework which had been deferred to the last minute.
Orienteering? Not been invented. What wouldn't we kids have done to be allowed out to run in the woods on a Sunday, or go out on the moors, to get dirty without fear of retribution. Oh for an '0' Sunday. Can't wait to get back into it.
PS I wrote this load of rubbish back in April at the height of the foot and mouth epidemic but was reminded of its relevance during the Scottish 6 day which I spent with Bill Hanley who is an even bigger radio addict than my father was. Reception was poor in NW Scotland but this did not stop Bill from trying to tune in to every programme going from Woman's Hour to You and Yours. Be warned!
Notice of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of South Yorkshire Orienteers. It will take place on Tuesday 20th November at the Norfolk Arms on Ringinglow Road at 8.30pm.
First there will be a mass start event starting from the pub at 7pm - headlights required but all abilities welcome and I do have at least one spare headlight (stadium power). Then we have booked some food in the pub for 8pm, followed by the meeting at 8.30pm.
Hope you can make it as it's best when as many members aas possible take part. Last year we had a great turnout and I hope it can be beaten this year. Any agenda items or nominations should be sent to either Beryl Seaman or Jenny James in advance of the meeting. Please could you let us know if you do intend coming so we can book the buffet for the right nubmers and have enough maps pre-marked for the event?
Vacancies:
Secretary
Committee Members
If anyone is interested in being a member of the committee please feel free to discuss it with Jenny James, or anyone else on the Committee. Enthusiasm is much more important that expertise and it means between 6-8 meetings a year, currently held at our house in Endcliffe on Monday evenings at 8pm.
Brian Shaw
Just in case anyone doesn't know the British Championships due to have been held in Wharncliffe in 2002 have been postponed until 2003. Next year's British Champs will be in Northern Ireland having been held over from this year. This years British Champs are at Newborough in Anglesey on Oct 21st. This is one of the great areas in the UK and is not to be missed. Pre-entry date is Sep 20th so you may just have time to enter.
The land owners of Wharncliffe and Greno have confirmed their agreement to the revised date and the officials have all said they are still available:
Individual (Wharncliffe)
Organiser - Phil Haywood
Planners - Tim Tett, Charlie Adams
Controller - David Olivant (NOC)
Relays (Greno Wood)
Organiser - Ian McMillan (EPOC)
Planner - Richard Payne (EPOC)
Controller - Not yet appointed
Co-ordinator - Brian Shaw
SYO are hosting an inter-club competition in Ecclesall Woods on November 10th which is open to all clubs. There has already been a very good response from clubs in England. Ray Waight has masterminded this one-off competition to take the place of this year's CompassSport Cup which had to be abandoned because of Foot and Mouth. The rules are similar to those of the CS Cup and Trophy except that clubs will only be allowed to send the number of points scorers per class +1 ie a maximum of 27 competitors per club (20 in the Trophy competition). Alan Goddard has agreed to organise and Jo and Rob McPherson will do their usual on the e-punching. Dave Peel is the course planner and has also produced a new map for the occasion. Help will be needed and the intention would be that all SYO helpers would get a free run. Contact Alan on 01246 567623.
Doreen Best
As a last resort, we packed our wellies, clean, unworn for months, and still in their carrier bag. As we sloshed our way from the car park across the Lochaber High School playing field ferrying tent, food boxes, Primus stove, sleeping bags, beds, and O-gear, we realised we could have made a fortune hiring them out as horrified campers stared across the flooded wasteland wearing sandals and posh trainers. Apparently it had been a dry winter and spring in the Highlands, but this was hard to believe as the water table this side of Fort William was clearly two inches above the grass! By sheer luck our booked pitch was above the water, well almost. Because the field was not quite level there were little islands of dry land, and over the next couple of days these "islands" became inhabited with villages of tents surrounded by mini lochs and moats. Quite amazingly the field never became muddy as the grass seemed to be fighting for survival with sphagnum moss. The moss of course acted like a sponge and was quite comfortable to sit on through the ground sheet!
We had come well prepared for the Scottish midges with bottles of repellent, creams and gels. I don't know whether they worked, or whether it was just too wet, but we weren't bothered with the little blighters at all. It may also have been the yeast tablets, taken on the advice of my daughter, who assured me that they make sweat taste horrible to midges and mosquitoes! My son, who is now a seasoned expeditioner, swears by Marmite, but I wasn't sure whether I had to eat it, spread it on my arms or flick it at them!
I had forgotten how far north Scotland is, although I suppose a nine hour car journey should have told me something. But it never got quite dark at night. This saves on torch batteries when you finally cannot put off that trip to the loo at two in the morning any longer. All the same, by the time you have struggled out of your sleeping bag, donned trousers, coat and heaved on damp wellies, not using a torch is the least of your worries!
Camping is not all struggling with damp matches and trying to dress in a crouched position. The view from the tent was Ben Nevis and the Nevis range. It was a pretty fantastic backdrop to our morning tea and if we looked to our left we could see up the Great Glen.
We did do some orienteering while we were there, camping after all is only a means to an end (is it?). We only did the first three days, Achdalieu, Strathmashie and Ardchattan. Achdalieu was very tough and intricate, part wooded and part moorland, and wet everywhere. I had a bad run, not a good start to the Scottish. Strathmashie and Gorstean was part working forest with rides and some paths, and with a small area of moorland in between the two. I liked this variable terrain, and it was also hot and sunny. Our last day was Ardchattan which was mostly open moorland. We had a very high start so I was not expecting much climb on my course, particularly as the course description stated 55m of climb (did "m" stand for miles?). I obviously did not take the optimum route.
Only three days, but it was good to get back into orienteering after the devastating effects of F&M over the last seven months. Not only had I survived the orienteering, but I had relived the joys of camping from my youth -the simple life, the roar of a healthy Primus, (why is it that no matter what you cook on a Primus your dinner always looks like a plate of Pedigree Chum?) late night revellers, damp clothes, grass in my tea, ah yes, the sheer romance of it. And for those people who did not use the Event Campsite -we know who you are!
Ed. Yes, we do and make no apology for it. Our veggie (concession to Bill) B. and B. was superb and only £16 per night but we did camp at Arisaig for 3 nights on a wonderful camp site overlooking the Inner Hebrides where the sun shone virtually the whole time. But of course you were swanning around somewhere in France by this time Doreen.
- see the special Fixtures page.
Jenny James
SYO has been well represented in the British Team this year. Dave Peel, Jamie Stevenson and I all ran in the World Champs team this summer in Finland. Jamie had the best individual result with a 5th place in the Sprint Race. Dave surprised everyone (or maybe not) having spent 6 months injured he ran his first races at the WOC selection races in Finland and made the team. Just to prove a 'rest' can work in your favour? I took 5 months off work to concentrate on performing in what was my 6th & probably final WOC. The results weren't what I had dreamed of - Tampere, Finland proved to be probably the toughest place that I have ever run and especially difficult to do well against the Scandinavians & Swiss. I salvaged something at the Scottish 6 days proving to myself that I was fitter than I've ever been, before heading off to the World Games in Japan. In the end my best result came there as I finished 8th against a similar field to WOC & Jamie got the Bronze to become the first individual medallist of 2001.
So what now? Dave Peel has retired from the British Team along with Yvette Baker and Steven Hale (ex-SHUOC). This will mean a huge loss of experience, talent and knowledge from the team and won't be replaced easily. All of them have, in their own way taken British Orienteering forward to places we were all told we would never reach.
Yvette won her first World Cup race in 1984. She then ran 10 WOC's and her record will go unbeaten for a very long time. She won 1 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze at World Champs. She won several World Cup races, the Nordic Championships, & the World Students and is respected across the orienteering world as one of the best ever. In the British Team she is respected and is often asked for advice. In Finland this year she was helping out the rookies as they approached their first appearance at a World Champs. Her knowledge, technical & mental skills, and experience are unparalleled. Being World Champion brought her no financial rewards and an uncertain future so if she ever gets around to writing her experiences down be sure to buy a copy.
Stan was one of the first Brits to take the plunge and move to Sweden where he now has a wife and 2 children and he is famed for his training plan -2 x 52 x 10. Twice a day, 52 weeks a year for 10 years is the way to International success. He is also famous for his quote for success in short races -'don't rush' after a World Cup Race silver medal. Until Jamie's successes Stan had an unbeaten record of individual and relay successes and perhaps most memorable was his final leg in the World Champs in New York, USA, 1993 when he brought the men's relay team home in 2nd place with the fastest run of the day.
Dave doesn't have the top results of the other 2 but he has played his own important role in the past 15 years. Early success with his class-mates Stephen Palmer & Andy Kitchin for Walton Chasers in the British relays whilst still juniors got them noticed. He ran his first World Champs in 1999 causing surprise to the then established men's team and selectors. Dave's greatest successes probably came in World Cup years where he has several top 20 results to his credit which at the time were the pest runs in the team. A naturally talented athlete with excellent technical skills has made Dave hard to beat whatever setbacks he has had and his performances at the WOC 2001 selection races were no exception to that rule. These days of course he is also known for his maps and he has won the Best Professional Mapper award in 3 out of 4 years since he's been in business and along with others has ensured that Britain now has some of the best maps in the world.
So what about the future? Well it's not bleak. The WOC team this year had several new and talented members. Hannah Wootton (SHUOC) and Sarah Rollins (BAOC) both debuted in the sprint race to get 2 of the best individual places of the week - 19th and 13th. The discipline was new, the courses easy but it still required extreme concentration, running speed and the mental toughness to hold it together. The race was over in 12 minutes so there was no room for errors and both girls performed extremely well which is an excellent sign for the future and they are both raring for the next WOC. Hannah has moved to Halden, Norway for a year to work as an au-pair and is looking forward to training with Heather Monro. Jenny Whitehead (EBOR) ran in both the short and classic individual races having proved in the selection races that she is one of the most consistent in the team and qualified for the finals in both races. These days and particularly in Finland this was no mean feat as I have never known such a tough field. I have no doubt that Jenny will now become a key member of the British Team.
Oh I nearly forgot the men! Well the biggest loss to the team this year was Dan Marston, now living in Norway (ex-SYO junior). Dan was on excellent form 2 weeks before the selection races when he dived down a hill rather too enthusiastically during a race and shattered his elbow. As Jamie said he was the 'man on form' this year so he was missed especially in the classic where his fitness would have really shown. Richard Wren (EPOC) ran his first World Champs where he was selected for the classic race. Nerves probably had the better of Dickie but I've no doubt he'll be back to show 'em in years to come. Oli Johnson (SHUOC) ran in his 2nd WOC and beat the memories of 1999 by qualifying for the Classic final, which was an excellent performance in a tough place.
Then there were those who didn't quite make the team - Jo Stevenson (SYO) who made the Nordics Team but then didn't quite have it at the selection races and Helen Hargreaves (SYO) who narrowly missed out, hampered by injury and foot & mouth (not personally). Spending the year at home proved a huge disadvantage with no running on the fells available and Helen, the only full-time working member of the women's team lost out the most.
Then hopefully there's all the youngsters who I don't yet know about who, if reading this, would be mad that I hadn't included them. Good luck!
Clare and Ruth Sutherland
After two long days of driving we arrived at the Swiss Event Centre at around 6pm and were directed to the Event Car Park. Having never been to a Swiss event before we were not prepared for the fact that no vehicles would be allowed on the camping field at all and only official vehicles would be permitted on the tarmaced roadways within the Swiss National Youth Sports Complex where the event was being staged.
We had not travelled light as we planned to stay a second week on Lake Maggiore doing watersports after the orienteering. Our roof rack was groaning under the weight of two canoes, stuffed full, (and surely beyond the roofrack's weight limit?) with camping gear; plus two sail-boards and two mountain bikes ... The temperature was 30 degrees and we had to unload the entire contents of our vehicle onto a flat-backed lorry to be transported 500 metres to the edge of the camping field where we unloaded again and proceeded to 'ferry' our kit to the plot we had been allocated another 200 metres away.
My mum was ready for cancelling everything, what with four hot tired children grumbling and working at less than half speed and wanting only to get to the lake for a swim, and a camping-plot barely large enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder once the tents were up. (A group of 25 from DVO had taken over a sizeable chunk of the field and commiserated with us as we passed.) Fractious families were carting camping gear on all sides, watched smugly by those who had arrived at dawn and been allowed to drive in close and were now licking ice-creams in the shade of their awnings as they dried off from their refreshing wallows in the cool blue swimming pool. We were ravenous and all the shops had closed for the weekend and apart from the few limp offerings left from our journey we had only baked beans or muesli to eat. Suddenly and with no warning it began to thunder. Within minutes heavy clouds rolled up the valley and then huge lumps of rain began to drop from the sky. My mum's face was a picture! It looked as if we were in for the Event from Hell ...
To everyone's amazement things did not get worse. We survived the thunderstorm, found we could buy meal tickets and ate a good supper in the staff canteen. We met our camping neighbours who were all friendly and cheerful. The rain stopped and it was so hot that everything dried rapidly even though it was already dark. We had late starts on the first day which allowed us to have breakfast (muesli and baked beans), 'get organised' (as my parents say) and fit in a swim before departing for the Swiss Alp behind the campsite where the event was.
We carried our spare tent and folding chairs from the car park to the finish area and found a spot in view of the last control to make our base. Jim, Mark and I set off for our starts while Ruth (who had a calf injury sustained at the French two weeks previously so was not running) took Andrew to register for the Troll course for 10 year olds and under and Fiona to the 'string course' nearby. We all had good runs on a fine wooded hillside and returned to the campsite to jump straight into the water to cool off.
The second day's event was in Italy which involved a tedious drive south along Lake Maggiore but was fun when we got there. We were approached by an English family who had children in the same classes as Mark and me and wanted to compare routes and times. They were camping close to us and we soon became good friends, although each day we all set off with the intention of beating each other. We learned a lot from comparing courses after each event and had a good laugh on the diving boards and round the ping-pong table every evening.
The cramped camping plot became insignificant as we took advantage of all the fantastic facilities at the Sports Centre. There was a brilliant outdoor covered climbing wall which was floodlit at night. There were all sorts of water sports and the lake had a diving raft you could swim out to. We borrowed in-Iine skates and tennis rackets; we met German, Belgian and French children playing run-around table tennis. There were superb athletics facilities and we swam all the time between activities to cool-off. It was the Swiss National Holiday Day while we there and when it went dark there were fantastic firework displays on the lake and all along the mountainside which we watched from the campsite where there was music and a lakeside party.
The orienteering was good. We all felt the three days driving down into Italy were a drag and the terrain, although good, was no better than our local woodlands in Sheffield. The Swiss days however were something else! The drives were much shorter and the beautiful alpine-meadow and craggy mountain terrain were outstanding. My dad got carried off the hill on day four with an ankle injury which was a sad end to his running but despite the grumbles I would not have missed the Swiss/Italian 2001. As we basked in the sun and canoed on the lake the following week when everyone else had gone home we had only the smallest of pangs about being in Switzerland and missing the Scottish!
(Dr and Dad} Jim Sutherland
Lying in a meadow high above the St Bernard pass having heard an extremely loud crack from my left ankle led me to consider the practicalities of treating ankle injuries in orienteering.
The principles are well established -
R est
I ce
C ompression
E levation
Stopping immediately after an injury is the most vital action. This minimises further damage and bleeding but when a passing mountain biker stopped and offered to phone for help I was unsure whether I could stand the ignominy or my insurance the cost, of a helicopter ride so I declined the offer. This left a one hour painful crawl/hobble over a substantial hill to intercept the route to the blue start at an ice cold stream enabling me to employ the second principal of cooling an injury to reduce the circulation to the area to cut down internal bleeding. A motherly Swiss orienteer took pity on me and moved down-hill incredibly fast, especially considering her size, and later a first aider and a marshal appeared to help me down to the nearest road and back by car to the assembly area.
The doctor at Belinzona Hospital seemed surprised it had taken me 6 hours to appear after my injury, but then he was not an orienteer who had had his family distributed over a Swiss mountainside most of the afternoon!
The diagnosis was one of displacement without fracture and a massive padded splint and daily injections to prevent thrombosis were proffered but refused by me as over-kill, in favour of crutches and ankle strapping. I left, having signed a disclaimer, with instructions to ice the injury hourly ringing in my ears. I was not told how to achieve this on an event campsite with temperatures of 33 degrees!!!
I had only just stopped taping my ankle after an injury 18 months earlier; I prefer the freedom of running without tape. I have tried running in lace up canvas braces but found they give less support than zinc oxide tape in a double stirrup locked with a figure of 8. This is restricting but is meant to be. A discussion with the physiotherapist to one of our orienteering teams who felt strapping ankles routinely was of more psychological than practical benefit led me to research the subject.
A recent review of sports medicine in The British Medical Journal quotes several trials in soccer and basketball showing that both ankle braces and strapping do reduce the injury rate in players with previous injuries but not those without previous injuries. This suggests that their effect may be through improving neuromuscular control of the ankle joint rather than through physical support of the ankle. The difficulty of correctly applying tape is highlighted in subsequent correspondence from physios hence the popularity of braces. I have not been able to find any data comparing different proprietary braces.
It is often not appreciated that not only the ligaments are damaged when an ankle is sprained but the control and balance mechanism is also impaired. This is best illustrated by trying to stand on one leg with your eyes closed, which will be found to be much harder on the injured side. Standing on a "wobble board" is often suggested for rehabilitation after ankle injuries but a more practical alternative is to clean your teeth, answer the phone etc. standing on one leg. You will get some funny looks but this is easy to incorporate into our busy lives.
There is an excellent guide to the management of common sports injuries on-line
at www.sportsman.org.nz This gives guidance
on early treatment, rehabilitation and when it is safe to return to full activity.
The section on ankles refers to:
Grade 1 injuries i.e. simple sprains without instability.
Grade 2 sprains such as mine, with demonstrable instability of the ankle but
without complete rupture of the ligament take longer and
Grade 3 complete rupture - may need surgical repair.
The BMJ article referred to can be accessed online by searching under "Sports Medicine" at www.bmj.com.
Ed And I thought I had trouble with my feet!
Most errors in orienteering can be put down to loss of concentration but there are occasions when an error of judgement is made without any apparent reason. An example was on day 5 at the Scottish 6-day on a superb open area above Arisaig. This must be one of the most remote areas ever used for mass orienteering in the UK, 40 miles west of Fort William on the Road to the Isles. The route uphill to the start allowed magnificent views of Eigg, Rhum and Skye and as we passed under the railway line a genuine steam train puffed over us. It was all just too much.
We set off with a real feeling of exhilaration despite very rough and intricate terrain with not a path of any kind. The first five controls were all difficult but were executed without serious loss of time but then the course turned downhill. Leaving control 5 the route crossed a friendly marsh ending with an obvious stream junction at which point a decision had to be made: whether to follow the stream down to the flatter area and then pick up the crag on the knoll, the nearest attack point, or to strike out over the top of the hill on a bearing. Feeling that things were going well made the decision to go over the top missed the control and couldn't relocate. I had to run E to the stream junction to come back in before finding it straight away hidden in a small niche. What would I have saved if I had found the control by my original route? Perhaps 20 seconds. This one bad decision ruined my chances for the week.
Corrective action: Don't take unnecessary risks especially when you are doing well, it just isn't worth it.
The very next leg 6-7 was an absolute beauty, a planners dream. A long diagonal leg (1.5km) downhill. The difficulty with downhill legs is knowing how far down you've gone. Afraid to go down too far in case you end up climbing back up the result often is to stay too high. I just couldn't persuade myself to go down far enough and completely missed it. The safe answer is to get down to the right level then contour across. There were ample opportunities on this leg -pick up the stream and follow it down before contouring across picking up friendly features along the way.
Corrective action: Don't just run blindly downhill on a bearing - slow down, keep in contact with the map and navigate all the way.
Last modified: July 25 2003 10:21.
