The Spring Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May saw the enjoyable annual ‘SINS’ – Springtime in Shropshire event. SARUM was represented by 9 “athletes” who took the journey to Shropshire to compete in the 3 days of events in the vicinity of Ludlow. Report below from Ian Peirce.
Day 1 was an urban around Ludlow in beautiful sunshine. Courses were taken around some of the old town through alleys and tunnels, which made for careful navigation. All courses finished with several controls within the castle walls and around the castle ruins. Great fun. The castle grounds were closed to the public at 6pm and then available only for the orienteering from that time onwards.
Day 2 was on the open moors of Stapeley and Rorrington on a windy but rain free day. Some areas were tussocky which made for slow going in places. I found the navigation not too difficult but made a poor route choice on one leg, going down a valley and up the other side. Charlotte did much better by contouring round and did well to come in 2nd place in the W80 class. Kerry Corkery also did well with 3rd place in the W45 class.
Day 3 was on the open moors of Titterstone on a windy and sometimes wet day. I had some controls in areas of gorse. The areas of gorse that you could work your way through were mapped as broad hatch, whereas impenetrable gorse was dark green. However, once I was in amongst the gorse, I could not visualise which was which and had a couple of prickly fights.
Charlotte Thornton had a great run, coming in 1st W80, matched by Robert Elston with a 1st M21 in the Short Brown. Kerry Corkery and Ian Peirce both achieved 3rd in their class.
Freda Peirce so enjoyed the scenery that she stopped at a control to take photos. She then forgot to punch and was disqualified!! Seems unfair, as we know she went there – we have the photo evidence!!!!
Full results can be found on the WREKIN and HOC websites.
