A small contingent of 13 Sarum Orienteers joined 500 other runners to compete in the Chiltern Challenge held in Wendover Woods in Buckinghamshire. The Chilterns are famed for the Red Kite populations that they support and it was quite uplifting on the drives there and back to see these magnificent birds in flight. When the Sun illuminates their plumage it is truly an uplifting sight.
Snow covered the ground in the early morning when the organisers, Thames Valley OC, were setting up the courses but by the time the courses opened conditions for running were just about perfect for the Level B event. 
The Chilterns offer open runnable broadleaf woodland but with muscle-aching climbs in and out of the deep valleys that are physically demanding. This was particularly so for the longer courses but less so for the shorter courses which were more restricted to the ridges and had much less steep climbing.
For Sarum, Charles Bromley Gardner took a fine 9th place on the 8.9 km Brown Course in 73:08 min. Club Chairman Ian Peirce was a little off his usual pace coming 15th on Short Blue (5.2 km; 55:01 min) but Brian Hart continued his current good form with 8th place on the Green Course (4.5 km; 54.02 min). Peter Hambleton was 1st on Short Green (4.5 km; 47:42 min) with club mate Dave Oxenham in 9th (57:13 min) while Joan Hambleton gained 5th place on Very Short Green (3.2 km: 52:08 min). The other Sarum results were: on Short Blue, Dave Battison 32nd,62:09 min; Carolyn Dent 58th, 72:46 min; on Green, Pat Hart 45th, 102:39 min; on Short Green Charlotte Thornton 23rd, 64:27 min; Richard Thornton 42nd, 86:43; and Freda Peirce 43rd, 88:50 min; Very Short Green, Jan Oxenham 14th, 89:45 min.
Full results are available here.