The new weekly night orienteering fixture is proving to be a major hit with orienteers across the South East. Numbers at round 3 of the Kent Night Cup (KNC) were double the season’s average. The KNC is organised by Nick Barrable (SAX) and is a joint venture between clubs SAX, SO and DFOK. Click here for photos. If you have ever been tempted by the thought of night orienteering, read on…
So, why is the Kent Night Cup growing in popularity? Perhaps it’s because:
- It’s sociable, with runners often going round in pairs
- It’s a regular mid-week slot
- The weather is still warm
- There’s always a meal in a pub (or Little Chef!) afterwards
- Over-printed maps and SI
- Easy controls included for juniors
- Score event so that everyone starts and finishes together
- It’s currently free (though you might get badgered to buy some Christmas cards)
- Excellent courses
- SO now has headtorches which can be booked via ()
And best of all it’s informal and all very friendly.
At the time of writing, the head torches are still available for the forthcoming event at Hucking on 11 October 2007.
The report from 3 October 2007 follows.
Barrable writes,
‘We managed to set a splendid Kent Night Cup record with 27 participants – great stuff! Luckily it wasn’t raining unlike my recce on Monday Night – although the tracks were pretty wet in places.
Oaken Wood is pretty lush at this time of year and various chunks of felling has altered the forest greatly. I spent a good hour with Ocad updating the map and kept you out of most of the grot, although my lack of checking the pylon caused a surprise when I went to hang it! Well done to those who braved it.
Thanks – to Martin Brice SAX for map printing, although he did manage to do me 17 copies of last weeks area !! along with Oaken Wood. Somehow, we ended up with 1:15 maps instead of 1:10 and I hope it wasn’t too bad – 4 copies were done on an inkjet for the oldies and younguns.
Thanks to Ady Whitwam BAOC for control hanging and manning the finish. Luckily he didn’t loose my car keys like last week J Shame he has to go back to work in Germany. Thanks to Simon Maytum for hanging the 4 far end controls and to Ian Ditchfield and Sean Cronin who helped with collecting.
It was great to se 12 stay for the pub (The North Pole Inn) and prizes were duly dished out in the form of T-Shirts; courtesy of Tunbridge Wells Harriers (our hosts in 2 weeks time) and CompassSport (probably the best magazine in the world – have you subscribed yet ;-))
Results wise; despite getting them all, the Crickmores SO were docked 4 pts for being late so slide off the top spot and it was left to last weeks winner, Ian Ditchfield MV to take the victory. Great to see the juniors Rachel and Alex featuring in the top 10 too.
Even greater congrats were the Collins duo, Dave and Tom who turned up, new to O, to give it a crack and the Kendal family who were also pretty new to the sport. Welcome back!
Event pictures courtesy of Rob Lines available for viewing: Photos
Overall Scores and I have put the 3 x 45 minute scores into the 60 minute scores. I think we can dispense with the 45 min category and keep things simple. It is your best 50% or races to count with the races rounded down if there is an odd number of races, Jonathan Crickmore SO and Ian Ditchfield MV are early still in the lead but Iam has 2 wins under his belt. Leading lady remains Rachel Collins SO.
Next weeks event is at Hucking, NE of Maidstone (I think), back to our usual Thursday (11th), but the following week we are on the WEDNESDAY 17th October in Royal Tunbridge Wells. – see website for more details (when they are ready).’
Oaken Wood Results (1pt per control & 1 pt off per minute or part, off).
Pos. Name Club Age Time Controls KNC Points
1 Ian Ditchfield MV M50 56:43 18 30
2 Dave Moore SAX M40? 59:44 17 28
3 Jonathan Crickmore SO M14 63:32 16 (20-4) 26
4 Neil Crickmore SO M45 63:34 16 (20-4) 25
5 Sean Cronin DFOK M40 57:48 13 24
6 Alex Lines SO M12 56:51 12 23
7 Robert Lines SO M40 56:55 12 22
8 Mike Solomon SAX M60 59:38 12 21
9 Rachel Collins SO W16 55:47 11 20
10 Mark Collins DFOK M40 55:57 11 19
11 Dave Kingdon SAX M55 58:45 11 18
12 Jerry Purkis SAX M50 58:10 10 17
13 Phil Craven DFOK M50 59:55 10 16
14 Robin Kendal IND ? 60:28 10 (11-1) 15
15 Jim McAlpin SAX M60 60:53 10 (11-1) 14
16 Simon Greenwood SAX M50 63:05 10 (14-4) 13
17 Simon Holford SAX M35 59:48 8 12
18 Anita Kingdon SAX W50 60:21 8 (9-1) 11
19 Andy Bonnett IND M21 60:47 8 (9-1) 10
20 Jillian Holford SAX W35 60:42 7 (9-1) 9
21 Scott Kendal IND ? 60:34 6 (7-1) 8
22 Dave Collins IND M45? 65:03 2 (8-6) 7
23 Tom Collins IND M16? 65:25 2 (8-6) 6
24 Fiona Wilson SAX W40? 67:15 -2 (6-8) 5
25 Nick Hope SAX M50 74:31 -2 (13 – 15) 4
Overall:
Name Club Age KNC1 KNC2 KNC3 Best 50%
Jonathan Crickmore SO M14 30 26 30
Ian Ditchfield MV M50 30 30 30
Neil Crickmore SO M40 28 25 28
Simon Greenwood SAX M50 28 13 28
Dave Moore SAX M40? 28 28
Simon Maytum SAX M40 26 23 26
Rachel Collins SO W16 18 26 20 26
Laura Pearson SO W21 25 25
Mark Collins DFOK M40 17 25 19 25
Anita Kingdon SAX W50 24 11 24
Jim McAlpin SAX M60 24 14 24
Sean Cronin DFOK M40 24 24
Les Hooper SO M65 23 23
Alex Lines SO M12 23 23
Richard Purkis SAX M14 22 22
Andy Bonnett IND M21 22 10 22
Rob Lines SO M40 19 22 22
Jerry Purkis SAX M50 21 17 21
Mark Nugent SAX M40 21 21
Mike Solomon SAX M60 21 21
Nick Hope SAX M50 20 4 20
Edward Lines SO M9 20 20
Dave Kingdon SAX M55 15 18 18
Phil Craven DFOK M50 16 16
Simon Holford SAX M35 16 12 16
Robin Kendal IND ? 15 15
Martin Brice SAX M50 14 14
James Parker SO M60 13 13
Jillian Holford SAX W35 12 9 12
Scott Kendal IND ? 8 8
Dave Collins IND M45? 7 7
Tom Collins IND M16? 6 6
Fiona Wilson SAX W40? 4 4
Posted by Robert Lines on 04th Oct 07 Filed under: