Lancaster University summer sprint event

This evening's fifth and last event in the summer sprint series was held at the Lancaster University campus, earmarked for the JK 2015 sprint venue. David Roome planned but was unable to be there for the event so Rowena Browne ably organised while Julian Lailey put out all the controls. One of the difficult things about using this campus for orienteering is that they will keep changing it by building or demolishing things! Some new building works meant that the recently updated map was incorrect in some places which made a difference to the relative speed of various route choices. Therefore the splits either side of controls 6 and 9 on the Prologue were omitted from the results. The Final was very little affected by new works so all the times stand. Gavin Smith nobly self-disqualified after using an apparently valid cut-through which was not shown on the map. Sometimes having local knowledge is not an advantage! Results are on the series webpage. RouteGadget and final series tables will follow later.

Quentin's double gold

We are indebted to Anthony Squire and Sarah Rollins for permission to use their photos of Quentin on the Long podium (left) and the Sprint podium at the World Masters OC.

Quentin wins Long Distance Gold at WMOC

Another fantastic performance from Quentin Harding in the M50 Long final today secured him a second world title at the World Masters O Champs. The Long is regarded by many as the purest form of orienteering, and is often called "classic" distance. Quentin has proved that the best orienteers can be good at all disciplines after his earlier Sprint win.

Clitheroe Sprint update

RouteGadgets for Tuesday's prologue and final at Clitheroe Castle are now available via the SROC RouteGadget page. Updated league tables with just one event left in the series my be viewed here.

The very first street event

Deep in the archives there are details of the first street event, held in Preston in 1967 as an antidote to Foot & Mouth Disease which was preventing access to terrain at that time. These details have been gathered into this pdf file. (Warning: this is a large file and may take some time to open on slow connections).

Clitheroe Castle sprint

Mike Ormerod planned a superb challenge on his Clitheroe Castle (& town) map for the fourth event in the summer sprint series yesterday. Yet again there were a few mispunches on the Prologue, which stayed in the castle grounds. The Final utilised the town centre, with multiple route choices on many legs after two butterflies round the castle. Mike laid on a junior final for those too young to run on streets. Results are on the series web page. Look out for revised league tables and RouteGadget later.

Quentin is World Champion!

SROC's top M50 Quentin Harding has won the M50 Sprint title at the World Masters Orienteering Champs in Germany today. Quentin was fastest in the qualifier and won the A final by 3 seconds. Follow the WMOC races on the official website.

Preston Guild final results

To my relief the weather stayed dry, if very humid, for the Cottam Mass Start event - the culmination of the Summer Series. The results for the event are now on the web - showing different results for different adjusting factors - interesting but far from conclusive. Pleasingly the feed back from the series was encouraging and seeing as we were very generously given a Series Trophy by the Preston Guild Committee it looks like there will need to be another series next year - hopefully extending it to areas outside of Preston. Any volunteers gratefully welcomed. In the meantime planning for the next Winter Series is well on with 11 organisers and the areas identified. Bob Nash.