10 participants were at the end of term coaching session where several competitions were experienced.  Using the 1 : 3000 map 3 Sprint Courses were planned.  Sam Offler's Course can be seen here.  Results are displayed here.  No one seems to be able to catch Level 2 Coach, Neil Harvatt who travels miles to events and coaching sessions to keep trim and 'on the ball'.

To finish people off, I presented a MAZE session with 4 courses each of approximately 500m in length, (example here).  Participants could practice for the challenge next week when we meet LOG at Lincoln University.  A maze will be incorporated in their course/s.  Neil appears to be victorious again with Sam and Helena snapping at his heals.  Most became more confident as they got used to the shape of the open-ended maze.  The maze was of the chevron/barrier type which enabled the planner to offer many route choices.  Results.

Those who completed all the courses on the night would have covered a distance of at least 8km.  A bit off serious training and having lots of fun. 

We will be back to Oasis Academy Grimsby on 8th of September 2010, 6pm.  I think we might start with some 'aiming off' techniques.

"HALOrienteers" - consisting of Brian and Charlotte Ward with Mary, ran a cunning series of races to emerge victorious in the City of Hull Athletic Club "Champagne League" Team Handicap competition. The Champagne League runs from the end of March through to the end of July, initially on a weekly basis then switching to fortnightly after the London Marathon. Races are held in the East Riding, taking in venues such as the Humber Bridge Country Park, Beverley Westwood and various rural locations including a hill race at Brantingham. The 10 race series includes numerous competitons including a Yellow Jersey, Green ( points ) Jersey, Team and Ladies.

Together with the Handicap Team prize, Charlotte also scooped the Ladies Yellow Jersey, in which you have to complete all 10 races. Charlotte finished 23rd overall, an outstanding result on it's own merit, 12 minutes 22 ahead of the 2nd place lady - an average of 1 minute 14 per race.

Races range from just short of 4 miles, up to the longest race of 8 miles, which just happens to be the toughest race as well, a handicap over the hills and dales around Brantingham, Elloughton and Raywell. Each race is classed as "multi-terrain", generally being a mix of road and off-road, however the Westwood race is entirely cross-country, whilst most of the others tend to include sections of public footpath and bridleway.

Next up for the terrible trio will more than likely be the City of Hull Winter League and The East Yorkshire Cross Country series, later in the year.

Fair weather rewarded those who turned up for training.  The first activity was to follow a line drawn on the map and then mark on the map the position of the controls found.  This meant that participants would need to pace count to get accurate positions.  The answers are here on the map.

Those doing well had mastered the pace counting technique in 3 sessions.

The second activity was to race head to head with a matched colleague (for speed) on a circles grid.  The circles grid had some barriers placed strategically to make the straight line route impossible on some legs.  There was an element of route choice a temptation to lose concentration with lots of other participants competing on the grid at the same time but on different courses.  Circles course results.

Photos of the Circle courses have been added (thanks to Malcolm for taking them).   See Gallery

Next week is the end of term session which will have some maze type courses in preparation for 5th August, and some sprint courses of approximately 2km each.  Afterwards we will be socializing in the Trawl.  Neil and I have already checked out the 'Curry and a Pint' @ £4.99.

The coaching sessions in Grimsby have averaged 10 participants so I am very pleased.  It makes all the hard work in preparation very worthwhile.  See you all in September (and tomorrow!).

Photo's from the Monday evening end-of-term event at Longcroft School, Beverley can be found here -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trailspirit/sets/72157624414499973/

Thanks to Charlotte and David in particular, for construction of the maze, Neil for providing the Si support and Brian S. for manipulating and printing the maps.

Thanks to Brian W for putting on a fantastic event (I toyed with using the word amazing, but didn't want to be responsible for inducing nausea).  Brian created three separate Prologue courses, all of which involved an initial section of three controls in the specially constructed Maze followed by three more conventional controls on the Longcroft site.  The Final Chase required navigating through 10 controls in the Maze (with a Butterfly for good measure!) and then finishing with nine conventional control locations.  There was an added pressure for the final.  We started in reverse order of our cumulative times for the three prologues which meant there were a lot of runners very close together, leading to some exciting head to head contests (not to mention head to head scratching in the maze).  I have run the Club Night at Longcroft practically every week since September and so I consider that I know the school map like the back of my hand.  I managed the Maze section reasonably well (only got stuck in a couple of dead-ends) and set off confidently for the first conventional control.  After about 50 metres, I knew intuitively that something was wrong, but it took me some time to discover I was heading for the wrong set of buildings in completely the wrong direction!  I was not on my own - the concentration required for the fast running, quick turning, micro navigating Maze didn't allow for any forward planning. (Neil Harvatt)

The results for the three prologues, the final chase and a combined table can be found here.  Note, if there was a mispunch on any of the four courses, there won't be a time for the combined table.

A new initiative - an annual club competition to find the champions of Lincolnshire between HALO and LOG.

The inaugural event takes place around the University of Lincoln on August 5th 2010

The final details of the event are now here together with the scoring rules.

25 people have already put their names down to take part.

If you can make it and haven't put your name down yet, then email Neil (neil@halo-orienteering.org.uk) or put your name down at the next Poacher event.

The event will be as much Social as it is Competitive (though obviously we intend to win), so don't feel that you have to be fast to take part.

The evening will consist of two races of about 2km each, there will be a short maze section on each race.

The second race will be a Chasing Start with a provisional start time of 7:00pm (plus time on first race)

First race start times from about 5:30pm onwards.

10 scorers will count with a selection from Juniors, Seniors and Vets (and M/F).

We had a very wet evening with heavy showers and gusting winds.  The first activity was to test each participant's pacing ability.  Follow a predetermind line on the map from a starting point and then pace accurately to a control site marked on the map.  Participants were issued with personal pacing scales (double paces per 100m on a 1:2500 scale).  We had a variety of results from 70% correct to (I think the 'coach's' legs must be getting shorter).

This was followed by 4 courses on the maze (attached) in the pouring rain.  Was I proud of our tough and resilient orienteers.  Thanks to you all for collecting in the equipment.  Once you had all left, the sun came out and I collapsed - the 'sun canopy' which kept me dry, and then trundled home for a hearty meal.

Neil was kind enough to lend his maze to us one of which you can see here in the results.  A more complex MAZE (apparently) awaits those who travel to Beverley on Monday for Brian Ward's end of term (Beverley Club Night) event.  Not to be missed.

Here are the results

Five juniors gained honours today at the 2010 Yorkshire and Humberside Schools Orienteering Event held at Sandall Beat Woods, Doncaster.

George Van Dam, Zac Field and Charlotte Ward achieved first place in the Boys Year 4, Boys Year 11 and Girls Year 13 respectively.

Yasmin Field was 2nd in the Girls Year 6 and Joe Field was 3rd in the Boys Year 4.

Photographs of the presentations.

Well done to all of them, but especially to George and Joe who were running against boys a year older than them.

Do you know what they all have in common?  Answers on a postcard to . . . . . . . . . . . .

Charlotte will represent England at the Ward Junior Home Internationals in Scotland. The event takes place in and around Perth and also gives the athletes chance

to compete in part of the Park World Tour taking place at the same time. September 10th, 11th and 12th are the dates to note in your O diary!

Running in the W18 age class with 3 other selected English girls she will run  against Scotland, Wales and Ireland. There will be an individual and a relay

with the other Junior classes being M/W 14, 16 and M18.

SYO held it's annual Ultrasprint competition at Millhouses Park, Sheffield on Saturday 3rd July, 2010.

The competition consisted of 3 prologues races, each lasting around 10 minutes and incorporating a maze, river-crossings and fast park / sprint racing.

After the 3 prologue races a chasing start was held. The final was more intense with racing times typically around 20 minutes.

HALO athlete Charlotte Ward emerged as the Junior Women's winner and was 2nd overall in the Open Women category.

Photo's can be found here -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trailspirit/sets/72157624414213760/

Charlotte finished 3rd and on the podium at the individual day in the W18 class. Representing the YHOA junior squad, who finished 3rd overall after the 2 day competition were also Zak, Jake and Yasmin Field who's first claim club are South Yorkshire Orienteers.

After thirteen years of organising the HALO Lincolnshire Poacher series, Pete Kullich announced at the awards presentation ceremony that he was standing down to make place for a new series organiser for 2011.

Pete has built Poacher up from small beginnings to the very successful event series it is today, with an average of just under seventy competitors this year. Part of the enjoyment of the events is the post race analysis at local hostelries, which is unusual for orienteering events.

Of course Pete doesn't do it all himself as these days there are planners, controllers, kite collectors, Brian on the computer, etc., but Pete has been the driving force throughout and his will be a hard act to follow.

Charlotte followed up an impressive Urban Race run at Winchester on Saturday 12th June by adding the British W18 Age Class Sprint title to her name at HMS Sultan in Gosport, Hampshire on Sunday 13th June.

Photo's here :-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trailspirit/sets/72157624267540428/

CONGRATULATIONS to Charlotte Ward (W18) and Zac Field (M16) who have been selected to attend the BOF Talent Coaching Camp from  24 to  31 July in the Cairngorms in Scotland.  The camp will focus on ‘Physical Excellence’ and ‘Technical Excellence’ at Level 2/ 3 as defined in the Elite Athlete Development Pathway and the main theme for the week will be ‘Consistent Performance’. All the 38 selected athletes have shown the potential to become future World Class performers and the coaching they receive will help them to develop the tools they need to reach that full potential.

AND to Jake Field (M14) who has been selected to attend the Junior Regional Squads Lagganlia Training Camp from 31 July to 7 August at Aviemore in Scotland.  There are 24 athletes, 5 from the YHOA region, who have been nominated by the regional squads.

All are regular attendees at the Beverley Club Night.  Clearly Neil's coaching is paying dividends!

Running for East Riding Schools, Charlotte took first place at Weelsby Woods to secure the Senior Girls Cross Country title in the Humberside Schools Cross Country Championships. Held over a tough, muddy course at Weelsby Woods in Grimsby, Charlotte finished 6th overall in her race but was the leading Senior Girl. The result qualifies Charlotte for the very prestigious English Schools National Cross Country Championships to be held on Saturday 20th March at Manchester.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trailspirit/4334875958/sizes/l/