It seems a long time since we had any news to warrant producing our weekly newsletter, with virtually no conventional events taking place since mid-March. But that doesn’t mean there’s been no activity whatsoever and after a committee meeting this week we wanted to update everyone.
SELOC Events Our Spring Saturday Series had to be cancelled when lockdown kicked in, but the plan was to stage them in late July/August and we registered dates accordingly in the hope that peak pandemic might have passed by then. Things were indeed looking up, but we were unable to confirm permissions from the local authorities in time. Positive noises were, however, emerging from some so we felt reasonably confident and re-scheduled the events for September.But as you’ll know, things have deteriorated somewhat recently and the relevant local authorities have reverted to saying “no” again. We’re keeping in touch with them and have a couple of events we can take off the shelf to stage quite quickly when conditions improve. Winter undergrowth will be much nicer than July’s! We’re also considering the possibilities in our areas away from parks, but hard to gauge the likely response from landowners at this stage.
Other Events Following BOF’s decision in August to allow some low-key activity together with the relaxation of restrictions in Rossendale, PFO are managing to put on a few conventional events. Their first is in Whittaker Park, Rawtenstall on Saturday 19 September. While it’s a bit steep (clue: parking is in the adjacent ski slope) it will be a nice run out for anyone keen to get their orienteering fix and excellent training. PFO have another event the following weekend at Spring Woods, Whalley. Details of both are on their website, but note that pre-entry and allocated start times are now essential for all events to ensure they are COVID-safe so don’t just turn up on the day.MDOC are also advertising an event on 19 September, at Chorlton Water Park, but there are no details on their website at present so they may be awaiting permissions, or could have just forgotten to cancel a longstanding plan! Keep an eye on their website if interested, where you’ll also find details of a MapRun Summer Series they are staging.MapRun is a system that uses mobile ‘phones and GPS in place of kites and dibbers. Some will recall it from our last Christmas event in Queen’s Park, Bolton. Competitors download the MapRun app to their ‘phone, then sign on, add the course of their choice which installs both the map and control GPS references. It is usually possible to print off a paper map too rather than rely on a small extract of map on the ‘phone screen and there are no control markers so the course can be left open for days or weeks. For added value, the MapRun software can automatically upload a trace to RouteGadget and times to a results database. See the MDOC website for details.Just over the hills, EPOC have been running a similar MapRun series and now released details of the next, so take a look at their website. Steve Round has tried a few and reports that the system works well though he occasionally had to wave the phone around in the air to get the bleep that confirms a site visit. SELOC is about to investigate the possibilities so that we don’t keep all our eggs in the one basket marked “conventional events”. If you’re interested in getting involved with this new technology then contact Annmarie or any committee member.
SELOC Club League Like most other leagues, ours has been severely affected by cancelled events but we did manage to fit in two of the eligible ones before lockdown. Paul Turner compiled the latest table a while back and it should be published very shortly. But the prognosis for the events originally identified as counters looks poor so keep an eye on the website in case any replacements can be added at short notice.
Other Matters The club constitution requires us to hold our AGM by late October, so it is looking as though it will have to be an online affair using Zoom or similar. We’re finalising details and will communicate soon. Annmarie has already indicated that she will have to step down as Chair so if anyone is interested in stepping into her shoes, please contact her for a chat. We could also do with a few new faces to take on other roles in the club, many of which don’t require attendance at committee meetings, so if you’re interested again talk to Annmarie or any committee member. Help get orienteering moving again – all roles guaranteed to cure any feeling of purposelessness ennui lingering from lockdown!It also seems a bit unlikely that we’ll be able to stage our Christmas event and lunch in the usual format, which will be a great shame. We’re keeping an eye on the lockdown rules to see what scope they might leave us, but if anyone has bright ideas for a different format then please do get in touch.
And finally……SELOC Successes A couple of members have managed to do a bit of “proper” orienteering, with some success. Peter Brooke ran at the first event in CLARO’s summer series, finishing 5th on the long course, then took an excellent 3rd place on the Green course at SYO’s second post-lockdown event in Graves Park, Sheffield’s largest. Elsewhere, Michael Sharon Hood ran at EBOR’s first comeback event on Skipwith Common and achieved 18th spot on a crowded Blue course.and finally, finally. Congratulations to Josie Greenhalgh on completing the Lakes , Meres and Waters challenge and setting a new Ladies record. You are an inspiration!