An incredible turnout and team performance steers Sarum safely into the Compass Sport Trophy Final. On a crisp cold day with frost on the ground and puddles turned to ice, 10 clubs competed in the Compass Sport Cup & Trophy Heats at Holmsley, for places in the final. There were 3 large clubs competing for…
Club News
Andy Thornton 1949-2020 It is with regret that I have to advise everyone of the passing of Andy Thornton, a dear friend who was a keen SARUM orienteer and lead coach who massively contributed to our sport.Andy passed away on 29th October 2020, aged 71yrs, after losing his battle with cancer. The South West Junior…
Star Posts/Swinley This event had been postponed by three weeks because of bad weather – what a surprise! Nevertheless, five Sarum stalwarts turned out on the night to navigate the complexities of the Star Posts/Swinley map along with 118 other keen night owls. The area is a favourite one for trail bikes and some excellent…
Nine young Sarum orienteers and a cohort of helpers recently enjoyed an evening of map reading training in the Reading Room at Stratford sub Castle. The evening started off with the presentation of a cake to Charlotte Thornton on the occasion of her (censored) birthday. Marc Balston and Liz Yeadon put together some challenging exercises…
There was a good turnout of 723 runners for the ever-popular November Classic, run this year on Kings Garn Gutter. After the easy going underfoot of the Salisbury City Race, runners found this a greater challenge; tough terrain and navigation and very wet underfoot – with some unexpected mispunchers and missed punchers in the results…
Holding the City Urban event alongside the November Classic has benefits for both events as this attracts runners keen to have a weekend of orienteering and makes it well worthwhile travelling. Unfortunately the weather was rather grey with the odd spot of drizzle for the City Race but brightened up somewhat for the Classic the…
At the Sarum AGM it was suggested by two of our Juniors, Bea Halsey and Lizzie Balston, that Sarum should have a club mascot, maybe a sheep (perhaps redolent of orienteers running aimlessly around or following one another). Fortuitously, a few days later, a lonely looking lamb was spotted in a Trussell Trust shop window…
What is it about the CSC Cup final that seems to bring on foul weather with loadsamud? This year it was Storm Ashley that blessed the North West of the country, together with CSC competitors, with strong winds, rain and mist, oh, and loadsamud. For clubs in the South it was a long haul North…
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…
This two-day event, formerly known as the Caddihoe Chase, is an annual competition that SWOA clubs take in turn to organise. This year it was in the hands of Devon OC who opted to site the event on Braunton Burrows, a complex set of sand dunes not far from Barnstaple. Braunton Burrows is a bit…
A small contingent from Sarum joined an international field for a multiday festival of orienteering based in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons National Park). With the Event Centre sited in Aberhonddu (Brecon) a mix of four long distance and two middle distance races with the best four results counting towards the competition. There was a…
As we were unable to hold our event at Farleigh School on the preferred date there was a late change of venue to The Moot at Downton. It is some time since we used the Moot which, although small in area, lacks nothing in complexity giving Planner Liz Yeadon plenty of scope to fit in…