Latest News: 2008

Having honed up your skills at Low Park you'll be ready to test them against the club's best at Wellington Wood. Dick's handicap means everyone's in with a chance to carry off the coveted trophy (well, probably not if you've won in the past or if you've managed to upset him!). Registration from 1.00 pm with a mass start at 2.00 pm. But the fun doesn't stop there. Immediately following there are games, food and prizes to enjoy as we re-locate to Abbeystead Village Hall. Some food to share is all you need - everything else is on the club.
To help plan the best course for you Julian would like to know the chances of you making the event - definitely yes, probably, possibly, definitely no would be appreciated. He'll be at Low Park or you can contact him on 01524 845990 or kezi1@ btinternet.com

All are welcome at the 8th New Year Cracker, guaranteed to get your pulse rate up and make inroads into the Season's excesses! Short easy course for beginners and younger juniors, starts from 12.00 to 12.45. Mass start score courses for the more experienced, starting at 12.30 (long - 60 minutes) and 12.40 (short - 40 minutes), plus a free string course. Many prizes, with prizegiving as soon as possible, probably at 13.45. More details on the fixture list and here.

The SROC Webteam wish all club members and visitors to this site a relaxing Christmas followed by an exercise and adventure packed New Year!

Lakeland OC are providing a series of short races, on 26th, 28th & 30th December. See this item on the LOC website for more information. Then SROC hosts the 8th New Year Cracker at Low Park Wood, on Thursday 1st January. Courses on offer include a free string course, novice and short novice (of Yellow standard) plus 40 and 60 minute score "with a difference!" A great way to start the year as you mean to go on! See the fixture list for more details.

Half way through the night street league season and there are some clear leaders starting to show. However, with some strong runners not yet with five counting scores there are sure to be some changes in order over the next few events. The next event is on Wednesday 14th January at Lancaster West (new area and new map). League tables are here.

In case anyone is looking for O-action there are two great events to go to this weekend which you may not have spotted. Saturday evening sees SELOC's night league event near Oldham, while Sunday has the DEE Daresbury chasing sprint. This event consists of two parts, a woodland sprint in the morning followed by an urban/parkland chasing sprint in the afternoon. More details here: SELOC and here: DEE.

Unfortunately our Ripley sessions are temporarily suspended while mock examinations take place in their sports hall. Fortunately a new venue in Caton has been found that will enable the sessions to continue on the same day and at the same time. However the sports hall is not as large, so to start with we will only run a circuits session but in time some O elements may be introduced. Sessions at Caton start 6:30pm next Tuesday 16th December at Caton County Primary School, Broadacre, Caton. Click here for a Google map to show you where.

The prestigious Blackpool Tower Trophy, awarded at a nominated event close to Blackpool once each Street League season, has been won by Karen Nash who scored at the highest rate (points per hour) when adjusted for age. This is a once-in-a-lifetime trophy as once you have won it you are automatically excluded from all future times that it is contested. Results for the Thornton event are here.

The event has been added to RouteGadget so please put your routes on. Scores and league positions will be added soon, plus who won the Blackpool Tower Trophy?

Results for the event at White Coppice & Brinscall are now available here. Winsplits online, Splitsbrowser, RouteGadget and colour standards are also available, linked from the results index.

A beautiful moonlit night was enjoyed by a record number of night orienteers at White Coppice (Brinscall), some of them on their first ever night event. Some found the open area a bit tougher than expected, but the course lengths had been kept short to compensate for this, and winning times were as expected. Results can be viewed here. RouteGadget will follow after the day event.

Scores in the gross and age adjusted tables have been updated and can be viewed here. John Britton has a good lead in the gross table but Karen Nash is closing on him rapidly in the age adjusted league. The next event, number five from ten, is at Thornton on 10th December, when the prestigious Blackpool Tower Trophy will be contested.

Not content with providing training on Saturday (see below) we have two more events to offer this coming weekend, both on the area known as White Coppice, at Brinscall near Chorley. The Saturday evening event has a choice of three courses, suiting most standards except perhaps raw novices. For this event you will need a good head torch as it is part of the North West Night League. Sunday's event offers a range of courses from White to Brown, covering all standards. The day and night courses are all different, so you can run competitively in both. Final details for Sunday have now been added to the fixtures page, and please note that the parking areas are different for the two events. More details on the fixtures page.

You are warmly invited to training at Williamson Park, Lancaster on Saturday 6th December. As before, we will be providing a fun training session aimed at giving beginners (of all ages) basic skills. This is a special Christmas event - find Rudolf the Red Nosed Orient-deer and share his treasure! There will also be exercises for more advanced orienteers. Meet at 1.00pm, finish about 2.30pm. Training fees for Club members: £ 1 per Junior or Adult. Families £ 3 Non Club members: £ 2.
Please contact Ian Selby asap and by close Thursday 4th December latest to tell him you are coming, how many, and ages of Juniors. His contact details are 01995 600292 and hlirselby@btinternet.com.

Results for Wednesday's street event are now available here. Another good run by Steve Lang on 75 minutes, with Karen Nash back on form and scoring at almost the same rate on the 60 minutes course. Why not join in the discussion of this event here.

The new club buff (see below) will be on sale at the next training session at Ripley School, Tuesday 2nd December. Bring your £ 10 (per buff) and solve your Christmas present woes! Please note that the buffs are already selling well, don't miss out!

Another good turnout for a great event from the Nash team based at Fulwood Leisure Centre. RouteGadget is now ready to receive your routes. Results will follow as soon as possible.

One of the most versatile pieces of kit we have seen, the buff, is now available in an exclusive SROC design. Is it a hat, is it a scarf, is it a headband? It's all of these and more. See the buff website. Our version is so new that we don't have a photo of one yet, so we are showing Bob Nash modelling a similar one. Our design is shown on the right. Only £ 10 from Karen Nash. Order yours now, or see Karen at the next Street League event.

Great to see so many at our first SROC Spook O, it was really good to see so many in costume and enjoying the event in a fun minded spirit. A big thank you to all my helpers. While I know next time to have many more marshmallows, please provide any other feedback for a future event via the club's message board here. It would also be good to hear of your experiences in the wood.

Results are here along with a report. Only you know how you came by these points!

Found after the event, an Ives scarf and one black patterned Buff. A compass was also lost at the event, if found can you return it to the organiser.

Quentin Harding led a session on map interpretation at Eaves Wood on 22nd November, which included having to draw your own maps! This was rounded off with some very close head to head races, which included winning and eating chocolate coins. The next training session (for Juniors and Adults) is on Saturday 6th December at Williamson Park, Lancaster. Contact Martyn Roome (01995 603885) Martyn@adasmroome.demon.co.uk to book a place.

A large number of ghouls, witches, devils and assorted creatures of the night gathered for the inaugural SROC Spook-O at Eaves Wood this evening. The format resembled a more normal mass start score, but with the added dimension of being at night, and with vampires on the loose! Any of the three vampires could demand the map and control card unit from any other runner or group, who then became a replacement vampire. This required new tactics to arrive at the finish with any points! Vampires at the end received prizes, and there were prizes for best costumes and highest points. First back, with all the controls (un-vampired) was Becca Roberts. Best costume award went to the Skeleton and Alien team (pictured). All then enjoyed hot soup and toasted marshmallows. More photos here. Results to follow soon.

We proudly present the first ever SROC Spook O, a fun orienteering event for all the family, at Eaves Wood on Saturday 22nd November. Congregate, costumes optional, at 3.45 ready for a mass start at 4.30 pm. Preceded by an adult and junior training session from 1 pm. Contact Quentin to reserve your map. More details on this flyer.

The British Schools Orienteering Championships were held today in Hampshire, following a selection race on Saturday for the World Schools Champs next year. The Lancaster Girls' Grammar School sent its strongest team ever and it showed! Year 7 girls team were 1st, years 9 & 11 teams both finished 2nd (with individual 2nds for Katrin & Zoe Harding), and the school was third overall in the large secondary category. Most of the team are SROC members. Other SROC members were running for Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Ashton Community Science College, including Chris Nash who was 1st in boys year 9. Results can be seen on the BSOA website.

We are delighted to report that Tony Marlow has agreed to be co-opted onto the committee to take on the new role of Membership Development Officer. He will be tasked with ensuring that potential and actual new members have a positive experience when attending their first events, right through to becoming fully integrated members of the club.

Thanks to our club statistician Bob Nash for bringing the league tables up to date for the club gallopen (all colour coded courses/ages), junior league (regional, national and championship events) and all colour standards, junior ageless and aged badge standards. These are accessible from the results index. Any corrections or comments to Bob please.

The results for the latest Street League event have been published here. If you are not sure how to add your own route to RouteGadget (recommended!) see this post on the message board. League scores are here.

An excellent night for running, and another great street event enjoyed by many people, some of them first timers. Results will be available soon, but in the meantime why not add your course to RouteGadget, or discuss the event on the message board. Details of the next event, in two week's time, have been updated on the fixtures page.

All is set for a fine evening of street orienteering. The weather is set to be fair, the tides are out and it is an open competition whether you do the 40,60 or 75 minute course. Meet at the Last Drop Inn at the back of the Royal Station Hotel. Starts from 6:30pm until 7:30pm. Further details in the fixtures. Food available, orders before 8:30pm menu here. Please, no changing in the bar area.

Well at least it stayed more or less fine while the controls were put out and collected. In between, when everyone (nearly) was running, it could hardly have been wetter! Combined with the waterlogged ground and slippery paths this turned into an endurance test for some. Bob Nash's courses set a fair challenge and most of the relatively inexperienced guides and scouts completed the event successfully. Preliminary results are now available here, plus Winsplits, Splitsbrowser and RouteGadget - share your route and compare with others. Some photos have been added to the gallery.

While out on a three hour training run over the Lakeland fells last Wednesday, club members David Roome, Mike Johnson and Quentin Harding were fortunate to view a Brochen Spectre from the top of Froswick. While this may sound like a hangover from Halloween or a new fighter jet, it is a natural phenomenon whereby strong sunshine diffracts around your body and projects your shadow and surrounding light on to cloud. The cloud in this picture was below in the valley ~400m away so the projection is also enlarged. A magnificent sight.

Wondering how the age adjustment system works? An explanation of how league points are calculated has been written by scoring supremo John Ashton and can be found here. Venue details for Event 3, Carnforth on November 12 are now on the fixtures page. Street events through the rest of the season will be at fortnightly intervals (apart from the Christmas break).

After a few changes we can now announce that both West Cumberland OC and Deeside OC are through to the final of the Yvette Baker Trophy, the national club based competition for juniors, after the preliminary round at Torver on Sunday 2nd November. WCOC where victorious by just one point, but DEE go through too because WCOC were in the top five in last year's final. Congratulations to both teams, and bad luck to BARRO who came a close third. Both MDOC and SROC fielded under-strength teams. To view the scores click here.

Thanks to Martyn Roome for some shots of the team which brought you today's event. See the gallery. Any more pictures anyone?

What a fantastic day in the Lakes! The weather played ball this weekend, unlike last, and a true test of orienteering skills on a classic open fell area was had by all. There was some close competition in the Yvette Baker Trophy. Preliminary results are now available here, and preliminary Yvette Baker scores are here. RouteGadget for the event is here. All Club Captains should check their teams' results and notify results@sroc.org of any changes as soon as possible. No doubt because of the excellent weather we were surprised by the numbers who turned out, and we apologise to anyone who had to give up their map or indeed use a second hand one. Anyone who gave up their map will get a copy sent on, if details were left at the event. Any photos of the event would be welcome, for addition to our gallery. Please email them to webteam@sroc.org.

Congratulations to South Ribble's David Rosen who has been named as the IOF Senior Event Adviser to the World Orienteering Championships to be held in Switzerland in 2012. David has been a true ambassador for the sport for many years and has held many positions of responsibilty at major events, both domestic and international. We wish him every success in his role at this, the highest possible level of event.

A reminder to any SROC juniors that the Yvette Baker Trophy qualifying round is at Torver on Sunday. Sarah Watkins requests that you let her know if you are taking part so that she can make sure everybody has a start slot allocated. Anyone is welcome - some of our juniors at an England selection race - so SROC needs your help!

There were a number of SROC members that took part in the well publicised OMM event at the weekend. Jo Hamilton-Taylor has found an article that strikes a balance compared to the sensationalist reporting from the mainstream media. There is also a thread on the message board where you can share your 'experience' with everybody.

Final details for the district event on Sunday 2nd November at Torver are available here.

Congratulations to Zoe and Katrin Harding on their storming run in the second night street event of the season in Chorley. Along with MDOC's John Britton they achieved the highest points per hour. After adjusting for age, Zoe and Katrin again set the standard gaining 100 points in this League. The event results and latest league scores are now available on the street league page.

Note that the next round of the series is on the 12th November at Carnforth.

RouteGadget is now set up for the second event in the new season. See the Message Board for help on how to add your route, or to comment on your run. Results will follow shortly.

Our next big event is at Torver on Sunday 2nd November, when we will be hosting the North West preliminary round of the Yvette Baker Trophy, the national competition for juniors representing their clubs. There will be a range of colour coded courses from Yellow to Brown on this excellent technical Lakeland terrain. For more details see the flyer.

I would like to say a big thank you for coming and supporting the club, and putting in a highly creditable performance. Coming 7th is very good indeed, and perhaps it's a bit like the Olympics - the first time it's all new and strange, and you don't do your best performance - next time. . . ! The main thing is that we all enjoyed ourselves, see the photos in the Gallery. Let's hear your experiences on the message board - triumphs and disasters. And what were the funniest moments?

This day only went off so successfully because of the effort put in by some club members - notably Sarah Watkins our Club Captain and Steve Wilson - stats analyst extraordinaire! So a very big thank you to them.

Martyn Roome

A coach load of South Ribble runners had a grand outing to Sutton Park today (19th October). The occasion was the Compass Sport Cup Final, hosted by OD. Many enjoyed their runs, but a few had nightmares of varying degrees. When the points were counted we had finished 7th, not bad for the first time at the final! Full results are available here.

The first set of scores (both raw and age-adjusted) are now available from the Street League index. Check out the RouteGadget page for some of the winning routes, and see the RG instructions if unsure about how to add your own.

With apologies for the delay, here are the results from the first event in the new season. Who's off to a good start? Add your route to RouteGadget and see where others chose to go.

Please note that on Tuesday October 28 there will be no circuits session at Ripley School as it is half term. The circuits session is taking place as usual on October 21 and will be back again on November 4. Do come and join the fun.

Will all Compass Sport Cup coach passengers please note that the pick up times have been moved forward by 15 minutes. This means that Lancaster will be 07.15am and Fulwood 07.45am. Please can everyone concerned email Sarah to say you have read this message, and tell anyone else who may not have read their email or looked at the website to do so.

Last night saw the first street event of the season with over 40 SROC members and guests pounding the streets of Clitheroe, then tucking into massive portions of pie and peas arranged by the Ormerods. Results, league points and routegadget will shortly be posted on the website. In the meantime, there is already discussion on the message board. Because of half-term and Bonfire Night, note that there is just a week's gap until Event 2 (Chorley on 22 October), then a three week gap to Event 3 at Carnforth (November 12th).

Due to problems, especially concerns the controller has over safety, the MDOC committee have reluctantly decided to cancel the Crowden Regional event on November 9

Following good runs in the London City race on Saturday 12th October SROC members Glenys Ferguson (Women's Supervets) and Steve McLean (Men's Vets) are both lying in second place in their respective classes in the Nopesport Urban League. See the full Women's and Men's tables.

Seventeen SROC members had a great time at the Ceilidh on Friday 10th October, which was organised for Garstang Sports Clubs at Claughton Village Hall. If you thought that we got lost in the forest it was nothing to how we got lost in the middle of the dances - chaos and laughter ensuing! Some members (no naming and shaming) don't know their dosidos from their strip the willows. The photos show us taking fuel on board, gathering strength and energy for the next bout of activity. Definitely should be part of the circuit training on a Tuesday.

Or reasons to come along to the club training session at Ripley St Thomas next Tuesday, 14th October. 1. British Orienteering Participation Manager Steve Vernon will be making a guest appearance, and sharing some of his extensive physical training knowledge. 2. There will be the usual full program of circuits and O exercises. 3. Later we will have a session preparing for the Compass Sport Cup match, studying the map and finalising transport details. Team members please make every effort to attend. Steve will be leading a short run from 5.45, otherwise meet at 6.30 as normal. See this map for location details.

The minutes of the SROC Committee meeting held on 2nd October are now accessible via the Committee page or directly from here.

As noted below the planned training and event at Lords Lot on Saturday 4th October have been cancelled. This was because of extensive felling rendering the map out of date, plus the area is a lot more "rugged" than befits a White and Yellow course. However the training part of the day will still go ahead, but at Salt Ayre in Lancaster. See the Fixtures page for details.

Details of the first of this season's night street events (Clitheroe on 15th October) are now on the Fixtures page. Email Mike Ormerod by 12 October if you would like to order the pie and peas. Note the higher fee for this event and don't forget your towel to take advantage of the showers. If you would like to learn more about this highly successful series read this overview.

The Lords Lot O-zone event scheduled for Saturday 4th October is cancelled, due to felling. Further details will follow shortly.

Votes will be counted at the end of September, so don't delay if you haven't yet visited the Message Board to cast yours. We always welcome pictures of orienteering related subjects to add to the Gallery, and the montage on the right was made up of some of the best from the last couple of months. The winning photographer will be awarded a memory card to suit their camera, in the hope of encouraging further photographic inspiration. To vote follow this link, and while you are there why not post on another topic!

Organiser Dave Hargreaves offers this photo of some of the magnificent open fell terrian which is Torver High Common as a taster of for our next big event. More details of the event are available here. We will be hosting the North West round of the Yvette Baker Trophy, so expect a good turnout. Dave would still like to hear from any club members who can help on the day. Please email him if you can spare some time on the day.

The next Wednesday evening run will take place on Nicky Nook - but this time from Scorton Village - all intending to run should email or phone Martyn Roome (01995 603885) for the precise starting point. Meet 6.15 for 6.30 start. In case of very bad weather Martyn will cancel and contact anyone who has expressed an interest.

At Wednesday's AGM the following club officers were re-elected: Sue Denmark (President), Martyn Roome (Chairman), Karen Nash (Secretary), Dick Collins (Vice Chair, Treasurer and Newsletter Editor). All continue in their previous roles, while Harold White remains Auditor. Other committee members re-elected: Rowena Browne, Sarah Watkins, Alex Finch, Dave Hargreaves, Quentin Harding, Steve McLean and Chris Roberts. Welcomed to the committee were Gavin Smith, Julian Lailey and Matt Nash (Junior rep.), while Peter Knott and Katrin Harding stood down and were thanked for their contribution. Who does what, apart from the principal officers mentioned, will be determined at the first meeting of the new committee. The picture below shows the attendees celebrating the end of the meeting!

The first session attracted 35 people who enjoyed a choice of physical training or orienteering games. These sessions will take place each week on the same day at the same time. Don't worry if you can't make every session, just come when you can. The sessions are intended to cater for all abilities of fitness and provide a good opportunity to socialise. As you can see from the photos, there's a lot of space for more so come along and give it a go. See the fixtures entry for further details and a map.

All club members are invited to attend the 2008 AGM, in the Senior Common Room of Furness College, at Lancaster University at 7.30 pm. See map. Come along and bask in the glory as we hear about club members' successes over the last 12 months, then help choose the next committee! There is an optional run beforehand (start 6.30 pm), and Jacob's Join supper afterwards, so bring along some food to share.

Congratulations to SROC junior members Katrin and Zoe Harding, who have both been selected as members of the 2008/9 Start Squad. Details on the British Orienteering Website.

Tickets are available from Martyn Roome for a Ceilidh at Claughton Village Hall (near Garstang) on Friday 10th October at 8pm. SROC are sharing this event with several Garstang sports clubs. Tickets cost ONLY £ 10 and include hotpot supper and apple pie for pud! Drinks can be bought too. Tickets will go quickly and on a first come first serve basis - please let Martyn know asap and by noon Saturday 13th September.

The first in the new O-zone series of events went well, with many newcomers turning up for the training before running in the event proper. The Technical course tested more experienced orienteers, taking them around some new parts of the map. Results are here, RouteGadget is also available. Plot your route and compare with everyone else.

A reminder to all club members that we are in the Compass Sport Cup final at Sutton Park on Sunday 19th October. This is the premier inter club competition and we are not accustomed to being in the final! The club is laying on a coach to get us all there, and Club Captain Sarah Watkins needs names. Contact her by email at captain@sroc.org Details of the final will be posted here soon, and more on the SROC team arrangements will appear on this website when known. Let's make the most of this opportunity.

Pictured are both SROC teams with Team Manager Quentin Harding. They finished in 10th and 25th places overall in this annual team relay for juniors, starting at 5 a.m. in Middleton Park, Leeds today. Team SROCodiles were placed third in the Joan George Trophy for teams with a total BOF age of 90 or less. Results are here. More photos in the gallery. More . .

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Don't miss the first of many regular sessions at our new training and meeting venue; Ripley St Thomas School in Lancaster. Follow the map above to the Julian Lailey Sports Hall where there will be "guided tour" of the facilities at 6.30 pm, followed by a mix of activities for all. See this article for more details. All are welcome.

Remember all those delicious cakes you bought from the NWJS stall at events over the last year? The profits helped to fund the NWJS training camp in Norway this summer. Thanks to John Ockenden for the obligatory tour photo (cool O-tops!) There are more pictures in the gallery.

The O-zone returns on Saturday 6th September at Lancaster University! This Autumn there is a series of events at roughly monthly intervals. Preceding each we will have a training session for juniors and adults, aiming towards Yellow and Orange standards. Places on the training need to be reserved in advance by contacting Martyn Roome. For more details click here.
The O-zone event will have Yellow and Orange courses and there will also be a technical course for experienced orienteers. Details of the first event on 6th September are here.

Thanks for the last few entries. A webteam committee has short-listed ten photos for you to vote for. To see them and vote go to this topic on the message board. You will need to scroll around to see all the photos, and to find the voting buttons!

The summer photo competition will be going live very shortly, but there is still time to get your snaps in. Anything from the NWJS tour in Norway? Will this picture of the team score at White Rose be the winner? Votes will be cast via the message board, you need to join the board to vote! (It only takes a couple of minutes).

This Autumn sees the return of the O-zone, but with a difference. There will be a short series of introductory events, at roughly monthly intervals. Preceding each we will have a training session for juniors and adults, aiming towards Yellow and Orange standards. Places on the training need to be reserved in advance. For details click here. Details of the first event on 6th September are here.

As usual the White Rose weekend of orienteering was held over the August bank holiday, but there were only a few SROC members taking part this year. Even so, between them they picked up four top-three places. Apologies for the "mug shot" above, but all the prize winners left before the prize giving for various reasons! In 1st place were Julian Lailey (M60L) and Chris Nash (JM5S). 3rd were Karen Nash (W40L) and Becca Roberts (W21L). More here.

Thanks to Matt Nash for this photo of the athletes and coaches who went on the recent Badaguish tour. Look out for Matt's tour report in the next Newsletter.

Starting on Tuesday 9th September, and continuing on Tuesdays thereafter, we will have a regular meeting place with orienteering and fitness related activities each week. For details see the July/August Newsletter or click here. Discuss this new venture on the message board.

Event organiser Dave Hargreaves is gathering names of helpers for the SROC district event at Torver High on Sunday 2nd November. All members, new or old, who can spare an hour or two are invited to contact Dave by email or phone: 01772 628026. This is a great opportunity to help at a club event; there are many different things to do from marshalling cars to processing results by computer. No experience necessary! (And you get a half price run as well). Comment on this event on the message board.

Thanks to Bob Nash for some great pictures from the French 6 days, SROC Junior training and from the Regional Event at Great Tower in July. All photos are gratefully accepted, and remember there will be a prize for the best photo submitted this Summer. The voting will start after the White Rose. Keep checking back here and send us your photos!

Thanks to David Johnstone for this picture of the SROC Harding duo about to leave the overnight camp (and win their class) on day two of the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon at Dowthwaite Head.

Eight intrepid members (pictured above), including the Chairman and Secretary, travelled to France and enjoyed the incedibly detailed terrain and maps. Meanwhile twenty-one members, including the President, Treasurer and Permissions Officer, endured adverse weather at the otherwise very enjoyable Croeso 2008 in South Wales. Results for the French 6-days are here, and for the Welsh here. More photos, from both events, are in the gallery.

The World famous Body Worlds 4 exhibition is offering TWO FREE TICKETS TO EVERY CLUBMARK ACCREDITED CLUB in the North West region to attend the exhibition at MOSI, the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, on Friday 08 August. They are also discounting entry for club members and up to three members of their family per person to £ 8.50 (Usually £ 11.50) for adults and £ 5.50 (usually £ 8.50) for under 18's.
To claim the two free tickets for your club, please call or email Laura Hall on 0161 223 1002 / laurah@greatersport.co.uk and to book additional, discounted tickets in advance please call 0871 231 0847 or go to www.mosi.org.uk and quote/enter 'sport' when booking. First to contact gets the two free tickets!

Peter Knott would be most grateful for some help at the Beacon Fell Novice event on Wednesday 6th August between 12.30 and 3.30pm. Please contact him on 01772 683072.

It's that time of year when the domestic orienteering scene grows quiet and club members head off to a multitude of multi-day events. This photo is a reminder of Spey 07, but this year the equivalent event is Croeso 08 in South Wales. Whether you are Wales bound or have been to Oringen or one of the other European events we want your photos for the SROC gallery! All photos are welcome, but especially action shots showing orienteers doing their thing. The webteam has had a whip round and is offering a brand new 1 GB SD card (or alternative if your camera uses something else) for the best shot of the summer, as judged by website viewers!

Seven South Ribble juniors today (Thursday) attained the Orienteering Young Leaders Award after a two day residential course in Caton. This provided the training to enable them to introduce orienteering to beginners, and progress the beginners' development in a structured and safe manner. While this is particularly suited to introducing orienteering in schools, it is hoped that these new Young Leaders will be able and willing to help coach at both South Ribble Junior and Club levels.
The recipients of the award were:
Kira Browne, Matthew & Chris Nash, Ben Selby, John Ockenden, Katrin & Zoe Harding

The British men's relay team of Graham Gristwood, Jon Duncan and Jamie Stevenson have won the Gold Medal in the World Orienteering Championships in Czech Republic today. See this news item on the British Orienteering website. Congratulations to them and all the British team.

Several people have reported finding ticks on them after running at Great Tower. Everyone there is advised to check carefully, and remove any ticks they may find. There are various websites telling you how to do this, for example netdoctor.co.uk and lymediseaseaction.org.uk.

Left behind at the Club Picnic: a thumb compass, a large oval dish and a tartan rug. Contact admin@sroc.org to claim.

Prizes for the Summer Series were awarded at the picnic, see the final league table. Qualifying juniors were also awarded badges and certificates for their recent successes.

A varied group of SROC members and a few guests enjoyed a run through the wooded terrain of Great Tower Scout Camp. Some found the area more challenging than it sounds! Afterwards there was a grand feast and junior scavenger hunt. Results are here. And it would be good to get as many routes as possible on RouteGadget, to compare route choices.

A reminder to all club members: the picnic will be on this Saturday, 12th July, at Great Tower. In addition all particpants in SROC's O-zone who have as yet not joined the club are also invited to come along. Entry is free but remember to bring some food to share in the Jacob's Join, plus your own plates, forks etc, and something to sit on. In the event of inclement weather (Lake District in July - surely not) we have a large covered area at our disposal. See the fixtures page for a location map and other details.

Thanks to Edward Mellor of SELOC for putting on a street O with a difference from Leyland's Worden Park. To see how it differed, have a look at the answer sheet, then compare this with the map on RouteGadget . Apart from the colour coded controls and bonuses we had a mass start to cope with as well. League point scores for most were somewhat reduced by Quentin's fantastic run. See results and comments. The final Summer Series league table will be published after the prizegiving at the Club Picnic on Saturday.

Regular mountain marathon partners Quentin and Kevin Harding split up this weekend and paired up instead with their respective daughters to win two classes at the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon at Helvellyn. SROC members Quentin and Katrin were in deficit by 8 minutes after the first day, but scorched around the second day to win the Wansfell class by almost 9 minutes. Meanwhile Kevin and Rebecca won both days on the Harter Fell class. Full results are here.

A note from the planner, Steve Wrigley, on today's event at Beacon Fell: "I was having problems reconciling the file scale which said 1:10,000 and the map scale which says 1:7,500. As a result all the quoted course lengths were understated. People should therefore not be too disappointed with their times. Also give my apologies to all the runners, it was my first time planning such an event, and I learned a lot!"

Results, including league points, are now available via the Summer Series page. RouteGadget is ready to receive your routes. The league positions with one event to go can be seen here. With the Long Green being a higher maximum points race, and a few early series leaders not turning out, there has been a shake up in the class leaders. Ian Selby is now in a strong 1st place, with Phil Stuart not far behind. Top female is still Zoe Harding (W14). John Ockenden is top junior boy and Mike Ormerod leads the vets. It could all change at the final event on Wednesday evening, 9th July. Prizes will be awarded at the Club Picnic on Saturday 12th July.

We are now able to display results from a number of recent events which have taken place in schools and parks. These include the Hornby Family Orienteering Festival, Christ Church Summer Fair, the Lancaster trials for the Lancashire Youth Games, Moorlands Alive & Kicking and the Nether Kellet Summer Fair. All may be accessed from the results page.

This year's club picnic is on the afternoon of Saturday 12th July in the excellent wooded terrain of Great Tower Scout Camp, near Newby Bridge, on the shores of Windermere (Grid Ref SD394915). This a closed event for club members only. More details are on the fixtures page.

This award is designed for 14-19 year olds to enable them to coach the basic skills of the sport, provide fun activities on a safe enclosed site and enable them to assist as volunteers at school, local events and coaching sessions. It is also thought that it can count towards the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. Quentin Harding will be holding the course in Brookhouse for SROC juniors at the start of the school holidays over the two days, Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th July. If you are interested and would like to know more, either give him a call or drop him an e-mail .
Further information about the award can be found here.

Club statistician Bob Nash has been trawling through the results for recent events and has published the latest tables showing Club League (juniors only) and Gallopen positions, plus standards achieved in colour, junior ageless and junior aged classes.

The North West returned to form at the weekend of 28th & 29th June by winning the Junior Inter Regional Championships. SROC was well represented with four of our best juniors being selected for the team. In the individual races they were: Chris Nash (M14) 7th, John Ockenden (M14) 15th, Zoe Harding (W14) 1st and Katrin Harding (W16) 5th. Zoe and Katrin were also two thirds of the winning ladies relay team the following day. Full results are available here.

Planner/Organiser Tony Marlow for the latest event in the series says: "Please could you pass on through the website my heartfelt thanks to all who helped, advised and supported me in organising my first event." Results are now on the Summer Series page, and the latest league scores can be viewed here. Current leaders are John Ockenden (M14) and Zoe Harding (W14). Can they hang on to the lead as we go into the final two events?

Details for the final Summer Series event are now available from the fixtures page. Please note that previously advertised start times are incorrect. There will be a choice of two mass starts: 6.30 or 6.45, so please make sure to arrive in time. If running Street O on dark Winter evenings has never appealed, come and have a go in daylight!

Well done to everyone competing in Saturday's Spar Lancashire Youth Games in Blackpool's Stanley Park. Fantastic occasion, lots of special events and many closely fought sporting battles. See link for provisional results by course. More . . .

If you're going to this event, and are willing to help for an hour or two as well as run, could you please contact Bill Cook on b.cook@lancaster.ac.uk or leave a message on 01524 735862. This will be a low-key, friendly event & would be ideal for newcomers who haven't gone 'behind the scenes' before at an orienteering event. This is a really good way to learn more about the sport, and to get to know people in the Club better.

Yes, the SROC Summer Series isn't just about enjoying yourself on glorious summer evenings, there's a serious side as well. Prizes will be awarded in a number of categories, depending on your best three scores in the whole series. See the scoring method and current postions after two events. Will anyone knock John Ockenden off the top spot next week?

Summer Series event 2 at Beacon Fell included an exciting loop race, as was experimented with last year. We have encountered a few minor problems in processing results, these should have been fixed by the next event but there will be some gaps in the split times shown for Williamson Park and Beacon Fell. Because of the problems there were three runners disqualified in error last week, they have now been reinstated. All the results can be viewed via the Summer Series page.

Planner and Organiser Mark Edwards comments: "A big thank you to everyone who helped on Wednesday especially Julian Lailey who put out the controls for me. The weather was terrible." Results are now available on the Summer Series page.

Due to popular demand the SROC Message Board is back, after an update which we hope will keep the spammers at bay. Post away!

Lots of enthusiastic youngsters and adults enjoyed orienteering in Happy Mount Park and Ryelands Park as part of Love Parks Week this Monday and Tuesday. Courses were score with a difference - 10 points for each one on their map; minus 5 for each not on their map! Well done to all who took part - hope to see you orienteering again soon. Thanks, in particular, to SROC's Quentin Harding and Rowena Browne and Lancaster City Council's Elliott Grimshaw. Results are available via the Results index page.

As part of a national series of events to celebrate our parks there will be two orienteering events: Monday 16th June in Happy Mount Park, Morecambe and Tuesday 17th June in Ryelands Park, Lancaster. For details click on the park name. Or visit the Love Parks Week website.

The 2008 SROC Summer Series, held in conjunction with SELOC, is almost here! There will be four Wednesday evening events and one on a Sunday. The first is in the familiar but challenging terrain of Williamson Park, Lancaster, on 18th June. Courses for novice and seasoned orienteers. There are similar events in Beacon Fell and Worden Park on the next two Wednesdays, then a limited District Event on Sunday 6th July, followed by the final event courtesy of SELOC. This will be a street-O in Leyland on Wednesday 9th July. There will be league points (and prizes!) to be earned in various age categories, check back here for more details later. For further details on each event check out the Fixtures page.

A possible three events in less than 15 hours for those that headed down to High Wycombe for this year's Harvester Trophy and JOK sprint. It all started with the JOK sprint in Bloom Wood, a couple of hours later the outcome of that sprint set your position in a chasing sprint final. Becca Roberts came home 9th in the Women's Open that was a UK Cup event, Katrin Harding was 2nd in the Junior Women just ahead of her sister Zoe, while Quentin Harding came 3rd in the Men's Vets. Chasing sprint results can be found here.

Two South Ribble teams competed in the Harvester, a night relay starting at 2am in the morning. A full account will appear in the next newsletter, but the night had both excitement and drama. On the first leg Katrin Harding came through the spectator control in the pack ahead of Cath Wilson, but Cath turned this all round in the last kilometre to come home first outright with Katrin not far behind. These positions were hard for the team to sustain, the SROCodiles (Cath Wilson, Quentin Harding, Chris Roberts, Zoe Harding, Matt Nash) finished 4th overall and 2nd Handicap by 4 mins while the SROChoppers (Katrin Harding, Steve Wilson, Sue Harding, John Ockenden, Steve McLean) were not far behind in 13th overall and 9th Handicap team. John Ockenden added to the drama by being disqualified for missing the last control, only to be reinstated after referring to the back up punch card on the EMIT brick.

Both teams did very well and all were enthusiastic, there was a superb mix of seniors and juniors in both teams and all performed well. Harvester results can be found here.

O-zone 2.6 was held in Williamson Park on Sunday 18th May, using mainly the permanent control markers. For a message from the organiser please see the O-zone home page. Results, including colour standard times, may be viewed here. Also on Sunday there was an event held at St Wilfrid's primary school in Halton. For results please click here.

Congratulations to four of the club juniors on successfully being selected for a British Orienteering summer tour. Zoe Harding and John Ockenden are in the M/W14 Lagganlia group. Meanwhile, Katrin Harding and Matt Nash will be in the M/W15 group at nearby Badaguish. Well done and keep training!

This popular series of cycle-O events returns for its 13th season. There are six events, all on Tuesday evenings in June and July, spread around South Cumbria. All use minor roads so no need for a special bike, and there are classes for families and juniors as well as more serious cyclists. For more details see this flyer or visit the Mint Cake MTB website.

Our statistician, Bob Nash, has gathered data on all the events so far this year and has produced new Junior League and Club Gallopen tables. As in previous years the Senior League will be distilled from the National Ranking lists. These tables are always accessible via the Results page, where you may also find explanations of the scoring systems used. Any queries or omissions to Bob please.

Please note that the Salt Ayre event provisionally scheduled for Saturday 17th May has been replaced with an event in Williamson Park on Sunday 18th May. Various access problems have caused this change. Starts will be from 11.00 to 12.30.

This year's trials will be held on Wednesday 14th May at Williamson Park. Entry is open to primary and secondary pupils up to year 10. more . . .

A very successful day of orienteering was held in Happy Mount Park, Morecambe, on Tuesday 29th April. This was organised by SROC member Mark Edwards, and was attended by school children from the Carnforth family of schools. Take a look at the results, or read this report.

British Orienteering are once again organising a coaching day to suit all levels of orienteers from Orange standard to Green and above. This year it will be on Saturday 7th June, close to the National Event at Brown Clee the next day. Click here for more details and an application form.

The message board has suffered an attack of spam (no Monty Python jokes please) and has had to be disabled. We hope to have it back up and running again in a few days.

4 more evening runs have been added to the fixtures list. These are:
Wed 30th April - Clougha
Wed 7th May - Longridge
Wed 14th May - Glasson
Wed 21st May - Pendle
A Cycling option will also be available at Clougha and Glasson.

Version 1.4 of the Event Handbook has been added here.. You may also download a Word or PDF version by visiting the Organisers' Development page. All organisers and planners are asked to acquaint themselves with the contents of the handbook, and all users and contributors should report any errors or suggestions for improvements to the Volunteer Manager.

The good news is that Alan Springett was discharged from hospital in Barrow last Saturday and has since returned to his home in London. We wish him all the best for a complete recovery and hope to meet Alan and Catherine again at orienteering events. Many people have been asking about Alan's progress and sending good wishes, so this spot on our website has been well read. In fact Alan has been reading it too, so if you would both like to join SROC as local members when you visit the North, you would be more than welcome! So, best wishes again to Alan and Catherine, from all in SROC.

Fancy running for SROC in this 5 or 7 person relay event? Two years ago SROC won the Handicap trophy but didn't defend the title last year. It's time to stand up and be counted! For more details click here. To register interest email Sarah Watkins. Don't delay!

Thanks to several club members we now have a selection of images from the British Championships weekend to view in the gallery. Anyone who would like to share their photos should email them to the webteam.

A strong contingent of SROC members made the long trip to Moray to compete in BOC 2008. Both individual and relay days took place in the very technical but mainly runnable terrain of Culbin Forest. Both days involved several controls in low visibilty forest on most courses; these proved the undoing of many. SROC has one BOC champion: Quentin Harding took 1st place in M45L. Top five places were recorded by Chris Nash (5th M14A), Dick Collins (2nd M60S), John Denmark (4th M60S), Maurice Collett (2nd M80), Annie Ockenden (4th W10A), Lisa Quickfall (2nd W14B), Katrin Harding (4th W16A) and Rebecca Quickfall (2nd W16B). After a convivial club dinner in a local hostelry nearly everyone reconvened on Sunday for the relays in a different part of the forest. Once again SROC was successful. The M14 team came in 1st after Chris Nash overcame a deficit of 44 seconds to finish well clear. The Mixed Ad Hoc team completed the medals haul by finishing in silver. Full results can be viewed here.

We have just received another call from Catherine Springett. Her husband has now been brought out of sedation and has started on the road to recovery. They plan to take him out of Intensive Care later today or tomorrow morning and move him down a level to the 'High Dependancy Unit' - a very good sign. He's already asked if he can run at BOC next weekend!

Mike & Mary

Catherine Springett, the wife of the competitor who collapsed in the car park at the Hampsfell event, rang me today to say a big thank you to all those who helped and supported her and Alan on Sunday. In particular the rapid and skilled response from the St John's Ambulance people almost certainly saved Alan's life. He is still in the Intensive Care Unit at the Furness General Hospital in Barrow - 'very poorly but stable'.

Mike & Mary Ormerod

Badge standards times for age classes and colour coded courses have been added to the Hampsfell page. The National Rankings List has also been updated with Hampsfell results.

Thanks to Alan Hartley of Aut-O-Download and Sportident UK for sorting out the considerable mess which was our split times file. All is now well and Splitsbrowser, Winsplits On-line and RouteGadget are working as intended. All may be accessed via the Hampsfell page.

A major 'thank-you' to everyone who has been concerned with the preparation and delivery of the Hampsfell Regional Event, both beforehand and actively on the day. The day was clear and dry, excellent conditions for the over 700 entrants. The setting at Hampsfield Hall Farm is lovely, with certainly one of our best car park fields. Unfortunately, after his race, one of our competitors was taken severely ill in the car park field. The St. John's team dealt with him in a professional and competent manner, before the ambulance arrived. He is now in hospital in Barrow, in a very poorly but stable condition. We hope that he makes a complete recovery.

Mary & Mike Ormerod,Organisers

We have set up RouteGadget for the Hampsfell event, albeit using the incorrect split times. These will be corrected and updated very soon, so you can add your route straight away. However, the animation feature may not function correctly at first, but will be fixed once the splits are right.

Some images in and around the assembly field have been added to the gallery. Any pictures in the forest/on the fell would be welcome.

Provisional results for each class have now been posted here. Splits are proving a little problematical, as many will have noticed we had some strange times on one or two control boxes, despite these having been checked before the event. Once the splits have been sorted into something like their correct form we will add the usual Splitsbrowser and Winsplits plus RouteGadget. Any queries about results please email results@sroc.org.

Start times for Sunday's Regional event are now available, either via the Hampsfell page or through the Oentries website.

Final details for the regional event at Hampsfell on Sunday 13th April are now available from the Hampsfell page. You may also download copies of the control descriptions. Start times will be posted on the same page, and on the Oentries website, from Monday 7th April.

Results from the fifth event in the current O-zone series may be viewed here. Add your route on RouteGadget. A selection of images from the event may be seen in the gallery.

O-zone 2 event at Lancaster University on Saturday 5th April, starts 12.00 - 2.00pm - details here. This event features a brand new map by Alex Finch, drawn especially for the event, incorporating all the recent building changes.

Our thanks to John Denmark for this picture of our President Sue Denmark, flanked by Volunteer Manager Quentin Harding and Coaching Officer Steve McLean, holding the British Orienteering Club of the Year 2008 award. This was presented to the club at the recent BOF AGM.

Thanks to our roving photographers we now have a selection of images from the JK weekend, mainly from the relays. See them in the gallery.

The SROC ladies W120+ team (Karen Nash, Mary Ockenden & Sue Harding) came home in first place a mere nine seconds clear, at the JK relays held at Eridge Old Park on Easter Monday. This success followed on from a wild and wintry weekend of individual races, with first places recorded by Lisa Quickfall (W14B) and Flora Hetherington (W16B). In second were Zoe Harding (W14A) and Quentin Harding (M45L). Third were Sandy Hetherington (M20L) and Karen Quickfall (W45S). Congratulations to them all. Full results on the JK2008 website.

SROC are planning to hold a training session on Saturday April 12th at Black Beck Woods, for Orange standard and above more . .

We are putting on a workshop for those who might be interested in planning or organising a low key Ozone or Summer event, or those who want a bit more knowledge to move up to a District event. This will be on Saturday 26th April, at Brookhouse, Caton. More details are on the fixtures list, or contact Martyn Roome.

LOC is holding a series of events aimed at a similar audience to the SROC O-zone events. Details are here or see the LOC website.

Have you ever wondered what your committee finds to discuss when they meet? You can read the minutes of the meeting held on 13th March here. Minutes of earlier meetings are available from the Committee page, which is accessible from the About SROC link above.

Longsands planner John Denmark has produced an interesting graphical representation of the numbers of visits to each control site at the final league event. Your comments please on the message board.

Check out your final league positions (raw scores and age adjusted) via the street league results index. Remember that organisers are credited with a score equal to the average of their best four. If you fancy picking up some organiser's points next year, or would like to try your hand at producing a new map for use in the next season then contact Glenys.

More details on the Hampsfell event have now been added. Use the picture link on the right of the home page or click here. Please note in particular the notes about the routes to the start and from the finish.

The Club of the Year award will be presented to representatives of SROC at the British Orienteering Annual General Meeting, to be held at the JK village on Easter Saturday. We would like to have a strong club presence, so bring your BOF card and help receive the award!

A very successful street league season was finished in style at the final event in Preston on Wednesday evening. Trophy winners include Karen Nash (best female), Quentin Harding (best male and 1st on age adjusted scores), Matt & Chris Nash (1st pair) and Katrin & Zoe Harding (best newcomers). Winners and runners up were awarded cash prizes and certificates. Full results are here and final league tables will be posted soon. In the mean time, why not add your route to RouteGadget and re-run the event from the comfort of your home. All street leaguers will join us in thanking the individual event organisers and league co-ordinator Glenys Ferguson for their hard work.

A selection of photos from the recent O-zone event at Dalton Crags has been uploaded to the gallery.

Results for the fourth O-zone event in the current series may be viewed here. RouteGadget awaits your routes.

The finale of the street league season is nearly upon us. See how many points you need to gain to steal a trophy on the last lap by viewing the Latest League Table or the Latest Age Adjusted Table. Don't miss the last event and prizegiving at Longsands on 12th March!

The England team was victorious in the Interland international match held today in the Netherlands. SROC stars Katrin and Quentin Harding both won their classes (D18 and H40). Since both were effectively "running up" this is even more praiseworthy. Congratulations to them! Results.

Simple results and splits for the Tim Watkins Blodslitet are now available. RouteGadget is ready to receive your routes. Please note that the map file is quite large (600Kb) so will take a while to load, depending on your connection speed.

Results for the latest street league event are now available via the results index.

RouteGadget is ready to receive your routes from Wednesday's street event at Garstang. Results and league tables will follow in due course. If you have comments about the event, the new map, your route choice or whatever, why not share them via the message board?

The deadline for booking a place at the club dinner is approaching fast. Peter Knott needs you to contact him by 7th March. Details are on the fixture list.

Limited entry on Course E remaining. Please contact the entries secretary on 01772 783745 or by email before entering or travelling to the event if you wish to run this course.

If you haven't already ordered food for the final event and prizegiving at Fulwood see Glenys Ferguson at Event 9 (Garstang) this Wednesday. Otherwise, send an email to Glenys by Wednesday 5th March. Hot Pot supper (or vegetarian alternative) with Apple Pie priced 3 pounds.

British Orienteering announced today that SROC has been named Club of the Year, ahead of runners up MAROC, SYO and WCOC. The top three placed clubs will go into the CCPR Sports Club of the Year Competition. Well done to all the volunteers, committee members, coaches, organisers, planners, helpers and all club members whose actions have made this possible.

Despite only four events in the league this season (no events from DEE or MEROC), the NW Nights have seen an upturn in attendance and a good variety of areas to run on. The final league table is here. Well done to these SROC members: 1st M40+ Quentin Harding, 1st W19-39 Cath Wilson, 2nd W40+ Juliet Bentley & 2nd M19-39 Steve Wilson.

After missing last week's Northern Champs because of a Start squad training weekend Katrin Harding chalked up a win in her age class (W16) at the British Night Champs held in the Forest of Dean on Saturday. See how everyone else did here.

Final details for the Tim Watkins Blodslitet on Saturday 1st March are now available. There is still time to enter the event on-line, although you will now be charged the higher rate. Go to the Blodslitet home page without delay.

Sue (W45) and Quentin (M45) Harding have brought home Northern Championships trophies after winning their respective courses at today's event at Arncliffe. Results are here.

British Orienteering has announced that SROC are one of just 5 clubs chosen for the new Increasing Participation Project. more . .

Version 2 of the Organisers' and Planners' handbook, which fills in a few gaps and addresses the rapid changes that have taken place regarding SI equipment and software, has now been published. You may read or download it from the Organisers' Development page. All current and prospective event officials are asked to read or reread the handbook before embarking on an event project. A lot of work has gone into producing this document; it answers many questions and offers advice that is well worth heeding.

New league tables have now been uploaded, showing positions after the first eight events. With only two events to go Quentin has an unassailable position in the lead in both gross and age adjusted competitions, but there are some battles being fought further down the tables. View the latest scores from the league index page.

The fourth event in the current O-zone series will be held on the wooded limestone terrain of Dalton Crags, near Burton-in-Kendal. This will be a one hour score event, with a choice between technical or easier controls. Further details are here and more pictures from planner Mark Edwards may be viewed here.

Bookings are now being taken for the club dinner, which will be held at Ferrari's Country House Hotel in Longridge. Our guest speaker will be Quentin Harding, who will give an account of his meteoric rise (in orienteering terms!). Further details, including a menu, can be found via the fixture list. Peter Knott needs to know if you are coming to the dinner asap. Contact details on the fixture list or email him at this address.

Eaves Wood once more gave us superb weather and enjoyable courses today. Results are here and some photos are in the gallery. Please add your route to RouteGadget so we can all see where everyone went!

Fans of urban sprint O may be interested in the UMOC/MDOC chasing sprint races to be held early next month. Details here.

The latest NW Night League table has been uploaded here. With only one event remaining in the series (SELOC's event on 16th February) and the best 3 out of 4 to count there is still time for a lot of changes in the finishing order. Keen night orienteers can get their fix this weekend at the Northern Night Championships at High Rigg. See this page for details.

At last a dry night for the street league and an interesting scoring system to test the runners' brains more than usual! Results and Organiser's comments are now available, from the results index as usual. RouteGadget is also ready for you to add your routes.

A new supply of Trimtex club O tops is now in stock (as modelled here by Mark Saunders) - sizes small to XXL - at cost price of 32 pounds. If you are interested please contact Martyn and Sue Roome - 01995 603885.

Calling all club members!

Whether you are an old hand or have just joined the club we need you to help out at our Regional Event at Hampsfell on 13th April. If you volunteer to do a little work on the day, perhaps helping at registration, car parking or control collecting, you qualify for a half-price run, and gain the satisfaction of contributing to our sport. Without volunteers there would be no events! Don't worry if you don't know what to do as training will be given where necessary. Please contact Mary Ormerod if you want to be a part of the team.

By all accounts the Ceilidh was a great success, thanks to the organizers: Sue and Martyn Roome, Dawn Lock, Peter Knott and Rowena Browne and to all who came along and joined in with such gusto. You can view some pictures taken at the Ceilidh here.

Full details of relay classes at the JK and British, plus advance notice of the Harvester trophy can be found here. Members' entries will be subsidised by the club, meaning you get to run for only 3 pounds (seniors) or 1 pound (juniors). JK relays entry deadline is 15th February.

Our Club Captain Sarah Watkins needs to know who will be at the JK (asap) and/or British Champs and would like a place on a SROC relay team. We have several titles to defend and there are opportunities for everyone to get a run, so contact Sarah soon!

Some users may have encountered problems with some parts of the site over the past few days. Our host server is being upgraded which may be influencing this. We apologise for this bout of mild turbulence and hopefully it will be resolved shortly. Do not adjust your PC!

Club Statistician Bob Nash has released the final tables for 2007 covering the Club League and Galoppen, also the colour and badge standard awards. These are all accessible from the Results Index. We have also uploaded a list of all trophy winners for 2007.

No tickets left for the Ceilidh next Saturday! It's shaping up to be a great evening with excellent music, good food and some enjoyable exercise to boot. Check out fixtures for details.

Congratulations to Julian Lailey and the Harding trio of Quentin, Katrin and Zoe. They have been selected to represent England in the Interland International Event to be held near Eindhoven, Netherlands on 2nd March 2008. Selections are here.

Street league competitors were no doubt impressed by Quentin Harding's high score on Wednesday night, 110 points clear on the 75 minute course despite finishing with over three minutes to spare. How many realized that he had already completed an arduous 8.1 Km course at White Coppice in the afternoon? This was part of the Army League event which SROC's Bob Nash had planned, with instructions to make the courses tough for the fit army lads. Quentin was well clear on the A course, with Julian Lailey in second place just ahead of the best army runner. Results are here.

Another wet and windy night out for street stalwarts plus a few newcomers. Results are accessible from the index page, and RouteGadget is ready for you to upload your routes. Some pictures of apres O have been added to the gallery.

All night leaguers owe a debt of thanks to Steve McLean for overcoming technical problems to produce results for this event. Thanks also of course to PFO for putting on such a testing event in an area which many of us thought we knew well! Results are now available from the SROC results index.

Come and enjoy the CEILIDH, Hot Pot and Bar social event on Saturday 2nd February 7.30 to 11pm at the Kirkland & Catterall Memorial Hall, Churchtown near Garstang (see fixtures for location details). Tickets are 10 pounds adults and 5 pounds juniors and will be on sale at the Morecambe street event. Tickets can also be obtained by post from Dawn Lock at 7 Sefton Court, 44 North Promenade, Lytham St. Annes, FY8 2NQ, with a SAE and cheque made out to "SROC". For further information email Peter Knott or call 01772 683072 or Dawn 01253 721514. Club members will have priority but please invite friends and family as well.

The last day for the cheaper entries to BOC at Culbin on 19th April is 20th January, after which prices increase. You may enter here. If looking for accomodation you may like to try the Parkdean caravan park at Nairn Lochloy, a few miles from the event area. Costs for 4-8 berth vans for 3 nights are between 116 and 152 pounds.

On-line entries for SROC's Regional event of 2008 are now live on Oentries. We are using this entry system for the first time; any problems or feedback to entries@sroc.org.

Some new rules have been formulated for the Club League in an effort to remove various anomalies from recent years. View a summary here.

The overall tables for the street league have been brought up to date after six events. As only your best five scores count you will start to drop your worst scores now. League statistician John Ashton comments: "Quentin has moved up ominously and will probably take the lead in both categories the next time he competes." To see the tables go to the street league index.

A strong team from SROC has qualified for the final of this prestigious Inter-Club competition for the first time in many years (ever?). There were many remarkable indivdual performances, especially from the club's juniors who all ran very well. Full results are now available on the DEE website, and the club scores have been confirmed. They were: SROC 2327, LOC 2266, DEE 2233, MDOC 2223. Pictured are most of the SROC team, alongside the team minibus. Thanks to Sarah Watkins, Club Captain, for whipping the team into shape, Steve Wilson for working out the optimum runner/course combination and Quentin Harding for driving the bus. More details including individual placings here.

Some minor changes to the results have been made to give credit for barely readable answers. Paul Turner has also provided a detailed analysis of who went to which controls - fascinating!

Our staff photographers were out and about today and have brought us a selection of pictures from the Handicap race and the quiz and prizegiving at the village hall.

This year's Club Handicap used an ingenious single course with butterfly loops that allowed runners to begin at different controls along the same course, but of course all starting at the same time in the same place (as is usual for this annual race). Planner Jon Carberry got the best out of a small area, although some of the junior handicaps appear to heve been unduly lenient! Results for this race and the associated O-zone course can be seen here. Please add your route to RouteGadget but note that, in order to get it to work with this unusual event, only your first visit to a butterfly control will show on the map. You need to make sure that you draw your route back through any control visited more than once.

The results for the latest street league are now available from the Street League results index. Paul Turner has added some very comprehensive comments which are well worth reading.

Planner Jon Carberry has taken some pictures in Barrowfield Wood, which is the venue for this year's Club Handicap. Full details of the event are on the fixture list and there are more pictures in the Gallery.

One of the best events in the season so far, despite the constant rain. We even had waterproof maps and answer sheets, although some found problems in recording answers on wet paper. RouteGadget is now set up for this event. Results and league scores will follow in due course.

All club members are invited to attend as guests of 5 General Support Medical Regiment at their Army Orienteering League event at White Coppice on Wednesday 23rd January. Start times are in the middle of the day (10.15-14.15) and there are three courses to choose from. EMIT electronic punching will be used and the Planner is our very own Bob Nash. More details here.

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