Tamar Triple Success for Sarum Orienteers
Seventeen Sarum Orienteers competed successfully in the three day Tamar Triple festival which involved running in three different types of race over the Bank Holiday weekend. It was a weekend of good performances from Sarum with five club members coming away as SWOA middle distance Champions.
Day 1 was an urban race through the City of Plymouth that took in some of the main tourist sites of Plymouth: the historic streets around the Barbican, the sea shore and the famous Hoe, and thanks to permission from 29 Commando, access to the inside of the Citadel, the most impressive 17th century fortress in Britain. For Sarum Gary Sawyer took 7th place in the Men’s Open race with Carolyn Dent placed 5th in the Women’s Veteran’s race. Charlotte Thornton was 5th and Liz Yeadon 9th in the Women’s Ultra Vet. Class with Ian Peirce 12th placed Men’s Ultra Veteran
Day 2 was a long distance race on Davidstow Moor on the northern side of Bodmin Moor taking competitors over mainly open runnable moorland with some interesting remnants of historic mineral mining. Sarum Star Ben Chesters (M35) won the highly competitive Brown Course with Lucy Butt (W21) in a fantastic 4th place on the same course, running mostly against men. Adam Walker took 3rd place on the green course and Liz Yeadon (W70) 12th place on the Short Green course.
The third day’s races were used for the South West Orienteering Association’s middle distance championships. Courses were set in the grounds of Mount Edgcumbe Country Park taking runners through parkland and pockets of woodland and offered stunning views across the Tamar estuary. The views did not distract Sarum runners from putting in some great performances and five Sarum runners came away as SWOA Champions: Lucy Butt (W21), Ben Chesters (M35), Carolyn Dent (W50), Charlotte Thornton (W70) and Freda Peirce (W75). Liz Yeadon won the W70 course and Alan Yeadon was second on M80 but neither were eligible for the SWOA competition.
For the full results click here.
A report based on this account was published in the Salisbury Journal June 9th, 2016.