Category: Notes

I’ve added 19 more map extracts to the Map of Maps page. The new extracts are mainly of the areas around Edinburgh and East Lothian, with a few more too in Central Scotland.

I’ve put online a beta of my “Map of Maps” – an interactive map of orienteering maps in Great Britain. At the moment it contains 120 maps, 40 of which have viewable extracts. This is just a small fraction of the orienteering maps in the country. Soon visitors will be able to add their own maps and hopefully the map will grow into one comprehensively covering the country. For now, the points are mainly from my own maps and are clustered around the main areas I’ve orienteered in – the Edinburgh, London and Oxford/Chiltern areas.

You can zoom into particular parts of the map using the tools at the top, to separate maps close together. Thanks to Map Bureau for the package I’ve used to create the interactive map.

You need the Macromedia Flash plugin to view the map (this is a standard part of most browsers) and a Javascript enabled browser. Additionally the interactive map may not work with certain browser combinations, such as IE/Mac. It should look something like the screenshot below. Please let me know in the comments below if you have issues viewing the page, or you have suggestions for enhancements.

I mentioned this project earlier.

A provisional schedule for my orienteering in 2004-5:

5th Sept – SOC District Event & SOC & SCOA Leagues. Farley Mount, Winchester.
12th Sept – LOK District Event. Hampstead Heath, London.
(18th Sept – Moving house.)
25th Sept – DFOK District Event. Lesnes Abbey Wood, SE London.
26th Sept – BKO District Event & SCOA League. Burghfield Common, Nr Mortimer.
3rd Oct – BOK Regional Event, BOK Trot. Moseley Green, Forest of Dean. (maybe)
10th Oct – SO Regional Event. Eartham Wood & Nore Hill, Arundel.
17th Oct – SAX District Event. Vinehall.
(24th Oct – Rest weekend.)
31st Oct – HH District Event. Whippendell & Cassiobury, Watford.
7th Nov – SOC November Classic Regional Event. Burley Lodge, New Forest.
14th Nov – CHIG District Event. Epping East, Epping.
(21st Nov – Rest weekend.)
28th Nov – SO District Event. Tilgate Forest, Crawley.
5th Dec – SAX Regional Event, Saxons Shield. Ightham, Sevenoaks.
12th Dec – SLOW OK Nuts Loop Races. Hankley Common, Milford.

In 2005 I am planning on going to the World Cup spectator races in SE England next April, and the Scottish Six-Day in Royal Deeside, in August.

(In case you are wondering – the remaining writeups of the O-Ringen will appear shortly.)

One of the pages on Peter Gagarin’s website has some great examples of unusual first legs.

This is my big idea. BOF has been building up a national registration of club maps from around the country – but there exists no big “map of the maps.” I’m going to try and build one later this summer.

Well so much for my grand plan for orienteering between now and July.

I was on my way to work on Monday morning when something distinctly snapped in my lower back, and I’ve essentially spend the intervening time in bed, in agony. Acute Low Back Pain (ALBP) is a very common ailment amongst people of my age, apparently – in my case I seem to suffer from it every half a year or so – and for me it is extremely painful – I have been unable to get to sleep for the last 24 hours*. However it has generally cleared up in 2-3 days, and I don’t notice anything after that (until the next time around…) However it puts paid to tonight’s event and possibly Sunday’s too. Reading around, the best cure for ALBP is surprisingly to be active as possible and in fact it’s only by walking that I’m not in any pain. “Keeping your normal routine” is advice I’ve frequently seen and while that was not possible today (without a lot of screaming, I would imagine) I’m going to try my best for the coming days.

Factor in the pectoral muscle strain I had in December, and my runner’s knee recurring in both February and April, and it really hasn’t been the best of seasons for me. However my most recent ailment was probably compounded by the lack of exercise, rather that too much of it – and my sitting desk job can’t be helping. So I’m hoping to bounce back and at least get something out of this season: warm weather training if nothing else (it’s currently 25C in London!)

* I’m really trying to keep to a policy of not taking painkillers unless I absolutely have to, last night was the closest I’ve ever come to giving in.

[Updated 23 May] Well, my own season has been effectively decimated by my recurring injury problems from February onwards, however I’m now in a position to start attending some events for the season’s tail end. The UK orienteering season often winds up with smaller events and summer evening series – the kind of event ideal for me in my “unfit but willing” state!

My plan is:

• Tuesday 18th May – SLOW Local Score Event, Beddington Park, South London (maybe.) (Bad back.)
• Sunday 23rd May – TVOC District Event, Coombe Hill, Wendover. A physical, hilly area, this should wake me up with a start. (Slept in!)
• Wednesday 2nd June – HAVOC Local Summer Evening Event, Epping South West, Chingford. Epping is always delightful at any time of the year, plus it’s within London so nice and close to get to.
• Sunday 6th June – TVOC District Event, Great Hampden, Princes Risborough, OR MV Local Event, The Nower, Dorking.
• Wednesday 9th June – TVOC Summer Series Local Event, Black Park, Slough.
• Sunday 13th June – BADO District Event & SCOA League, Chawton Park & Bushy Leaze Wood, Alton, OR SAX District Event, Brede, Hastings.
• Wednesday 16th June – CHIG Local Event, Latton Woods.
• Sunday 20th June – HAVOC Try O, Thorndon Country Park (North), Brentwood.
• Sunday 27th June – HAVOC Frolic Event, Epping SW/Pole Hill, Chingford.
• Sunday 4th July – LOK Local Frolic Event, Trent Park, North London.
• Wedesday 14th July – HAVOC Summer Evening Event, Bedfords Park, Romford.
• Saturday 17th – 24th July – O-Ringen, Gothemburg, Sweden. I really hope I’m in shape by this time!

Surnames of orienteers that sound like orienteering control descriptions:

Andrew Middleditch (SHUOC)
Simon Greenwood (SAX)
Nigel Bush (MV)
Ian Ditchfield (MV)
Andy, Elizabeth and Judy Bridge (SO)
Richard Field (SAX)
Neil Brooks (LOK)
Terry Marsh (SLOW)

Tenuous:
Paul Street (SLOW)
Jonathan Street (HH)
Joe and Carol House (SO)
Pippa Whitehouse (SO)
David Funnell (SO)
Phil Marsland (SLOW)

More on Nominative Determinism.

I’ve launched this site today – most of the previous entries you see here are copied from my main weblog. My orienteering articles will all appear here going forward, as I look to split out the O content and increase my output.

The name is of course a play on “Nope Sport“, launched late last year by some Edinburgh students, which has with surprising speed become the place for the younger orienteering population of the UK to gossip, post and vent. After many doomed attempts to start up boards on various UK O websites (such as the BOF one) it’s great to see the nopesport forum take on a life of its own. And crucially for an O-website, and something most other O-web designers seem to have overlooked… it looks good. Damn good.

Anyway I hope they don’t mind me being inspired by their name!

I’m aiming for this site to be an events and training diary. Now, those who know me know also that I do diddly squat in the way of exercise. Hopefully having this website will encourage me to go do some this season. All I need to
do now is convalesce!

This is a table of the individual and team winners of the annual Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity orienteering match. The earlier races are compiled from the VM archive page on the CUOC website. See also OUOC‘s website.

This table originally appeared here in early 2003. It is regularly updated to include results from subsequent years.