Junior News
Malham YHJS Training Weekend - Reports by Sam and Anna
Over the weekend of the 13/14th of April, juniors from the North East, North West, East & West Midlands and Yorkshire Junior Squads gathered in Malham, North Yorkshire to take part in a training weekend. Staying overnight at the Malham Tarn Field Study Centre, squads trained on three areas (Monks Road, East and West Malham) in rotation. These areas consisted of limestone pavement and open moorland – terrain very similar to what competitors will face at the British Long Champs at Kilnsey on 5th May.
Below are two accounts of the weekend by two relatively new full squad members, both from SYO:
Sam Todd (SYO):
“I awoke early to my alarm on Saturday morning, feeling nervous about my day ahead. We took just over 2 hours to drive to our first training place up at West Malham area where we met with the all the other members of the Yorkshire and Humberside Junior Orienteering squad. The first area had very vague contour detail and quite a bit of limestone pavement (broken bare rock). There was a crossing point exercise where you went out in pairs and were supposed to navigate to a control, then to a mandatory crossing point, where your partner would pick up and take over navigation. There was also a pick exercise where there were a lot of controls closer together and also an attack point exercise where each control was the attack point for the next control. This was very good training for the rapidly upcoming British, as the British will be held on a very similar area – Kilnsey Moor. After a good few courses, we sat down for a few minutes to have our lunches, then walked back to the car park to head off to our next area – East Malham.
It was fairly similar, but quite a bit bigger and larger sections of limestone pavement. There were again a wide variety of exercises focussing on different things each time, so there was lots to go at. However, I think I pushed myself self too hard, and ended up with quite a painful blister on my left toe. After we had finished at East Malham, we drove to where we were going to be spending the night: Malham Study Field Centre. We put our bags in our room and made our beds, then it was time for the sprint relays.
As we walked out on the lawn, there was a great atmosphere. There was a big speaker with music playing and commentary by Dom, Ryan and some juniors from other squads. They did a great job presenting it! I was very nervous as it was my first ever relay event, but I think I did quite well. There were three different classes, each with different mass starts. We were team number 8 in the B class and I was running second leg, which I was pleased about. While all this was happening, Jacky Dakin was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. It was Pasta Bolognese, which was absolutely lovely, and just what we needed after a long day orienteering. We had sticky toffee pudding for dessert, which was equally delicious. Then, we had some free time before some technical coaching sessions indoors. Nick Lightfoot’s presentation about the JK, was brilliant and helped me feel a lot more confident on how to prepare for the big races. There was also a recap of the day, followed by a look at the maps for the next day’s area. Finally, exhausted, we headed for bed.
The next morning, we woke up and went to breakfast. After breakfast, we prepared our own lunches of a sandwich, a packet of crisps, some fruit and a snack. Then, we had to go and pack our bags and tidy our rooms before we could go out. We loaded up the car with our bags so we could come straight back and go. It was a fairly short walk up a steep hill from the centre to get to today’s training ground. There were a good few courses to go at again, but it was a lot colder than yesterday. Once I had done a few courses, I collected a few controls in with Nick. We got back to find everyone sat in the tent keeping warm. I was so so cold! We walked back down to our car to try and warm up again, then said goodbye to everyone. It was really sad that the weekend was over already, but I loved every moment. Thank you to everyone who came along for organising it all!”
Anna Todd (SYO):
“This was my first ever full squad weekend, so I was very excited but a tiny bit nervous. As soon as we’d started, I knew that there was no reason to be nervous. We met all the other orienteers at the car park in the village, before driving up to our first location – Malham West. We had a quick warm up jog, and then started our training. The terrain was quite easy running, except from the large sections of limestone pavement and the occasional patch of tussocks. All the courses were interesting and took us to the different parts of the area. We had a variety of courses to choose from: the crossing points course, where you had to navigate to the control and then the crossing point before handing the map over to your partner; the control pick, which was a normal course (this helped me get used to the terrain); and the attack point course, where every control was an attack point for the next one. At roughly 12:30, we had our lunch, which tasted amazing after all the courses that we’d done.
We then drove to Malham Central. Our base was a crag which provided us plenty of shelter from the vicious wind. We warmed up again, and then were told about the courses on offer. We could practice control flow, aiming off, using catching features and attack points. I started on the catching features – which was a good course, even though we had to run up the same hill quite a few times from different directions! Unfortunately, I had to stop after that course due to my blisters. The terrain was interesting, with one hill and lots of limestone pavement, most of which you needed to run over.
We drove to the field centre, which lots of people seemed to know (I seemed to be one of the only ones who hadn’t been before). Once we’d helped ourselves to cake and any hot drink or squash, we were then allocated our rooms, all of which were in the North Wing. I was in room 8 with Freya and Alex C. It was a very nice room with a single bed, a bunk bed and our own bathroom.
Soon, everyone was unpacked and getting ready for the inaugural BML Print Sprint Relay. Robbie, Freya and I created the playlist and in roughly half an hour, the relays were ready to start. First, we were put into teams with people from the other regions. We found out that there were 3 races: race A, race B and race C. I was a second leg runner in race A- Hannah Mather was passing onto me and I was passing onto Peter Scott. The race started and soon, I was off running in the grounds of the Field Centre. I had a good run, even though it’s not my favourite terrain. I think I got another blister, which hurt when I walked; I made a mental note to get some bigger inov8s.
Soon, everyone was enjoying a lovely tea of Jacky’s homemade spaghetti bolognaise. We had talks from both Nick Lightfoot (about race preparation) and Pete Tryner (about the courses that we had been doing that day). Then, the day was drawn to an end and all the orienteers lay in bed, ready for the next day.
My alarm rang at 7:15am, telling me that it was time to get up. Breakfast – at 8 o’clock - was almost whatever we wanted. We made our lunch, and at 10ish, we could start heading up to Monk’s Road, the terrain which is most like Kilnsey (the place where the British Long will be held). We were in small groups, completing gaffled courses. I did my first course, and then got some padding on my blisters. Later, I went out for a walk with Nick, partly to collect controls, but mostly to look at the contours and other features. The terrain was good with many ruined walls, and more contours than the other areas. We set off back to the Field Centre, and soon were driving back home.
The whole trip was a great experience and really fun. I’m really looking forward to the next one.”
Thanks very much to Sam and Anna Todd for those brilliant reports of the weekend, and to James Garnett for all the wonderful pictures.
Our thanks also go to all the coaches (from all the squads, not just YHJS) who were instrumental in running what was a brilliant weekend – whether it was planning & organising the trainings, hanging controls, organising accommodation, catering, giving us lifts (or anything else we’ve forgotten!) – we all really appreciated the time and effort you put in.
And finally a huge thank you to BML Print, who very kindly printed all the maps for the weekend (you may have noticed the sprint relay sponsorship mentioned in Anna’s report!)
We hope our juniors put in some strong performances over the British Champs Weekend, and that the training pays off at Kilnsey!
Magnetic Fluctuation unsettles plans for JIRCs Relays 2019 at Tankersley (April Fools!)
Preparations for the JIRCs relay at Tankersley on the 29th September are well underway, but have been thrown into turmoil this week after officials encountered a rarely-witnessed phenomenon.
TankersIey is known for its infamous Bell Pits, but what is perhaps less well-known is that these were created as a result of Iron Ore mining, which took place there over hundreds of years until the 1800s. It appears that because of a combination of earth movements due to forestry works, and extreme temperature fluctuations (such as this spring) causing exfoliation, there has been a significant breakdown of the outer layers of the ancient mine workings, exposing much of the remaining iron ore deposits. The Environment Agency is aware, but have assured SYO that this poses no health risk for wildlife or other users of the area.
As a result of this, magnetic north has effectively changed. This phenomenon was discovered only a few weeks ago, and this is the first ever case recorded in orienteering history. The change has been calculated currently to be 104.19 degrees from grid north, but there are fears this figure will continue to fluctuate throughout the summer, depending upon climatic conditions.
Whilst other parts of the world, such as Australia, are more familiar with the effect of Iron Ore on compasses, there has never before been a reported problem in the UK.
A geology expert within SYO commented “Polar wander is always happening, but this far more significant… It’s similar to a total magnetic reversal, but this has never been seen on just a local level in the UK.”
It has been declared today in a statement that SYO will be “monitoring the situation closely, with hopes that the magnetic instability will settle as we move into Autumn, and that a reliable figure can be obtained”.
This clearly will have significant implications for the map of Tankersley. After careful consideration, three options as to how to overcome this issue have been put forward:
The first is to superimpose north lines on competitors’ maps on the day of the competition. Due to the nature of waterproof paper, it has been suggested perhaps the best (and fairest) way to do this would be for athletes to draw their own north lines on the map in the start lanes – sharpies will be provided. However, this has a major impact on Tankersley’s all-important undergrowth screen, with lines running roughly perpendicular to the north lines, with huge potential for confusion.
The other option would be to establish an accurate reading for north as close to the competition date as possible, and then produce the map accordingly. But this would be a very time-consuming adjustment, potentially with just weeks to go until the competition, with significant work to undertake particularly on the area’s many bell-pit depressions & pits and the undergrowth (all of which are orientated to north on a map drawn to the ISOM 2017 standard).
It is also not clear how a re-orientated map would fit on a standard A4 page, and so to keep costs down for the event it may be that the scale will need to be altered – causing yet more work for the mapping team.
A third solution would be to re-calibrate competitors’ compasses on the day of the event. This technique has been trialled in Australia, and SILVA confirm that this causes no lasting damage to the compass. It is uncertain as to whether re-calibration complies with BOF rule 19.4.1
A final decision on re-mapping vs compass re-calibration is expected to be confirmed later in the season.
Competitors who have previously run on the area may be faced with significant navigation issues, with some suggesting it will change the ‘feel’ of navigating on the area.
Concorde Model Flying Club, based on a field adjacent to Tankersley Woods, has also been adversely affected, with club members forced to ground all planes due to magnetic interference with their radio signals.
The event organiser raised concerns just yesterday that the re-magnetism of the area could prevent the use of SIAC enabled controls for the forthcoming event, due to unknown inaccuracies. SportIdent UK are yet to comment.
SYO would like to take this opportunity to reassure juniors that the JIRCs Relays will nonetheless still go ahead, and that every effort is being made to overcome these technical difficulties.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please do get in touch.
Win for England at Interland - Report by Ryan
At the end of last year I was selected as reserve for the England team for the Interland match on Sunday 10 March in France however unlike last time I soon received the call up to the full team; this was my first time running for England.
Interland is a one-race team competition (like the CompassSport Cup) between England, Hauts-de-France (LFHCO), the French-speaking region (FRSO) and Flemish region (VVO) of Belgium and the Netherlands. Last year in the Netherlands we came second to the Flemish-Belgian team so we were keen to put that right this year.
After meeting to catch the coach in Beaconsfield at the not-so-bright but rather early time of 6:00 on Saturday 9 March we set off on our way to the middle distance training event on a similar area to the actual competition. The forests were very similar to ones back in England: slightly hilly with lots of low bramble but also some very nice super runnable bits as well as a good path network. I was getting over an annoying cold the week before so wasn’t able to run before Saturday, so I spent the course trying to get back into my stride.
Later that evening some of us took part in the night sprint race around the Val Joly Leisure Centre where we were staying. This was a fun mix of cabins, woodland and other buildings in the centre that lent itself to a fast sprint (with the occasional complex area to catch me out when I lost focus!) and I was pleased to be running much more comfortably than during the middle distance. Then we had a very nice dinner followed by a team meeting where those of us who were running for England for the first time received their Orienteering England badges.
Sunday came and we grabbed our breakfast and promptly headed off to the race venue at Saint Michel. The forest was nicer than Saturday’s but had some massive streams that were waist deep at some points! I started my race reasonably well getting the first few controls fine with only a small mistake on the way to number 5. Then there was the longest leg on the course from 7 to 8; I chose the path route with not much climb but a little bit further. This might not have been the fastest for me but it did give me an opportunity to look ahead at the next few legs.
Over the rest of the course I managed to catch up the other England M20 runner, Ethan, who set off 6 minutes before me (an oddly small gap we thought; CSC is 8 minutes between club-mates). The last few controls were physically tough with another ‘stream’ crossing, uphill to 15, down to 16 then up again for 17 and the finish with legs screaming on the run in after 13km of running! After a short shuttle ride back to download I found out that I actually won M20 by only 8 seconds!
The prize giving area was in the courtyard of the Abbaye de Saint Michel and was surrounded by a very picturesque cloister. It was the moment we had all been waiting for: had England won back the Interland trophy or would we strike out for the second year in a row? First to be awarded was the Interland Junior Trophy, awarded to the team with the best scores from the M/W20, 17 and 14 classes. Sadly we lost out to our rivals from VVO who just beat us to retain the trophy. Now for the main Interland Trophy and after wins by myself in M20, Clive Hallett (BOK) in M50, Melanie Slade (SN) W50 and Alison Simmons (BOK) W60 we managed to win back the trophy by a comfortable margin! Very well done to fellow Yorkshire juniors Alex Crawshaw (SYO), 4th in W14, Laura Harrison (EPOC), 6th in W20, and Jamie Lightfoot running as M14 reserve, as well as SYO adults: Amanda Crawshaw despite illness managing 7th in W40, Nick Barrable 2nd on M40 and Tim Tett 2nd on M50. We then went up for the individual prizes and I got a very nice bundle with lemonade and biscuits! We then embarked on a long coach journey back to Beaconsfield, which was made much easier by substantial quantities of food provided by the team organisers.
Like last year, the competition was a brilliant experience; despite the similarities to English terrain it was a good, long, challenging course that pushed me to use a variety of skills and concentrate for all of it. I learned what I do well and what to improve in my race-day preparation and routine and I of course had a wonderful time! I would definitely recommend any juniors keen to improve their racing skills to attend future selection races for Interland next autumn as they are very much looking for those who are enthusiastic enough to go to national standard races all year round, not just the big spring races like the JK which get you on summer training camps. I’d like to thank SYO and YHOA for subsidising costs for the trip and my brilliant mum for driving me all the way down to London and back. Finally thanks to John Rye and Philip Gristwood and the rest of the England Orienteering Council for selecting me and organising such a great trip!
Win for SYO at CSC Heat
Over 100 members of the club travelled to Sherwood Pines near Mansfield to take part in the Compass Sport Cup Heat. Thankfully the day was mostly dry and sunny and, in contrast to last weekend, there was very little mud to be found anywhere. Conditions were quick and many members raced round their courses in very swift times.
Juniors run one of two courses - Green (TD5) and Orange (TD3) - and are split into Men and Women.
Our Junior scorers were as follows:
Orange - Women - Freya (100), Imogen (98) and Alex C (96)
Orange - Men - Olmo (96)
Short Green - Junior Women - Isabelle H (96)
Green - Junior Men - Dom (100) and Euan (98)
The full results can be found here
SYO won convincingly by 97 points over DVO. We had 7 course winners - Oli, Al, Kim, Tim T, Paul B, Dom and Freya - who scored the maximum 100 points. Our other scorers were Chris W, Charlie, Jenny P, Peter G, Euan, Jill, Pete T, Imogen, Martin, Jaimie B, Amanda, Alex C, Olmo, Isabelle H, Lucy, Jenny J, Alex R & Michael. (Ian and Colin S also scored 95 points the same as our last scorer). Well done to everyone who took part, even if you didn't score, as you all helped push down the score of other clubs.
The final is on 20th October at Pippingford Park near Crowborough in the deep south! Please put the date in your diaries - we need as many members as possible to attend so we can hold off BOK and FVO to retain our trophy!
5 Northern Champions!
Well it was an interesting weekend for Spring in Sheffield, with all 4 seasons in one hour, let alone a day, on Sunday for the Northern Champs!
But despite the rain, snow, rain again, wind and (maybe?) sun, we now have 5 Northern Champions, with 18 podiuming in the junior classes!
Check out these winners, along with all the past years' in our Hall of Fame!
Full results and pictures can be seen here.
Well done to all those who took part and helped put on the event - great efforts all round!