TrialO No, not a spelling mistake, this really was a trial of the new map of the National Trust property of Dinton Park and Phillips House produced by Liz and Alan Yeadon. The original intent was to install a permanent O course in the Park. This is still an objective but the National Trust, through…

DOWNTON MOOT SAVES THE MOONRAKER RELAY The late loss of access to the Bulford Ridges area nearly caused this year’s Moonraker Relay to be cancelled. Thanks to a bit of creative thinking and a determination not to be beaten the bright idea of using the Moot at Downton saved this popular event from disappearing from…

Sarum Summer Series#5: Old Sarum A warm, sunny summer evening drew over 30 orienteers from Sarum and neighbouring clubs to the steep banks and ditches of Old Sarum for the fifth in the Sarum Summer Series of Club Nights. The sun was setting behind what was the original city of Salisbury making it cooler for…

CROESO 2016 Whilst Emily Benham was winning Gold medals in Portugal seventeen club stalwarts joined nearly 1600 competitors (that makes us over 1% of the runners) at Croeso 2016 in South Wales for a week of mixed weather, mixed terrain and mixed fortunes. The first two days (long and middle distance) were run over the…

Emily Benham, Double World MTBO Champion While some of us were sunning ourselves (ha ha) in South Wales, Sarum former club member Emily Benham put in a stunning performance becoming a double World Champion at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships held in Aveiro-Coimbra, Portugal.  Emily took the gold in the Sprint race in a…

SARUM CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS The last few years have seen Sarum adding variety to the Club Championships by offering novel race formats in compact areas, such as the Moot at Downton, that support micro-sprint type events. This year the Championships were held in Churchill Gardens as part of the Sarum Summer Series midweek evening events. Planner…

Two teams of veterans from Sarum Orienteers competed last weekend in the Wessex Orienteers Hardy Relays. The event was held at Upton Country Park near Poole, Dorset and provided some good orienteering challenges over mixed terrain including open parkland and woodland. The race was run using the Harris format whereby teams of three each have…

Round three of the Sarum Summer Series took us to a recently refurbished Victoria Park for an urban-based course planned by Rachel. A score event, runners had to select to visit even or odd numbered controls before tackling the other set. On a lovely evening the usual suspects were joined by several visitors and the…

British Sprint and Middle Distance Championships 2016 A small flock of Sarum Orienteers headed east to compete in the 2016 British Sprint and Middle Distance Championships.  The sprint races were held in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, an area of reclaimed wetlands in the Lea Valley that includes some of the iconic structures used in…

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…