Sarum’s contribution to the 2024 SW Orienteering League was held on Bulford Ridges. For a change there was no rain, just a still, overcast and pretty cold day. For a relatively small and linear area Bulford Ridges includes some complexities that than catch people out, especially in and around the old slit trenches. Oh, and the paths are inclined to be very slippery, not unsurprising in a hilly chalk geology. I mention these things because many of the runners included them in their comments after finishing.
Annoyingly we were subject to a degree of vandalism with two controls going completely AWOL. We can only hope that the culprits are still getting headaches trying to work out what the electronic devices actually do!
Full results for the event can be found here. These include full results and also a breakdown of the SWO League results.
Planners’ Comments
The area offers many fast running short grassy rides and areas of longer grass rough open. Also there are a few areas of challenging navigation with a maze of gullies and pits. Unfortunately, the thorny bushes and bramble have taken over many areas and attempts were made to avoid the worst. To make some courses work, the planner found it necessary to do some serious gardening to cut back some bramble and thorny bushes along narrow paths. It appeared that not too much blood was spilt by competitors on the day!!
Some steep tracks are worn down to smooth chalk, which was very slippery when even slightly wet. Metal spiked shoes would have been a good choice.
Sadly, 2 controls had been removed from their holders, leaving just the stakes and kites. Although those controls were not found, we were fortunate that this occurred after all competitors had completed their runs.
Everyone seemed to enjoy their course or decided to stay silent. With so many pits and gullies in some areas the control description could have been “Pit”, or “Eastmost pit”, or “5th pit from the left”, or change to a different feature such as “6th gully bend from the south”. It is hoped that everyone enjoyed the puzzle.
Without being in race mode and with the luxury of time, it would have been possible to enjoy some of the beautiful panoramic views from the upper parts of the ridge. Hope everyone enjoyed the area.
The images were taken by Ian during planning, not on the day.



