Withdean Park Sprint - 9 July 2022Preview

As the informal controller for the Withdean Park Sprint, I’ve had the pleasure of looking at Rob Leathley’s courses as he has developed the event. This morning we had a joint visit and it was great to be back in the park for the first time in 10 years.

Rob has used the IOF Sprint Guidance for inspiration and as a result, competitors can look forward to a race that has plenty of route choice and a requirement for fine navigation. Assembly and the start boxes are out of sight of the competition area and as such there will be no early clues to the nature of the first legs.

Summer Season price reduction on Park O’s and Free Trial for newcomers

We have just reduced our prices for the Park O series of events to encourage more participation. Adult members £2.50 (£3.50 for non-members). Junior members free (£1 for non-members). Why not invite some friends along who haven’t tried it before for a FREE trial. Either come along on the day or contact our secretary to guarantee a map. Park-O’s are fun events where you can get a feeling for the sport – you can walk or run, go as a group or on your own or challenge your navigation at high speed against some of our top competitive orienteers.

Summer Trail Runs 2022

Thursday evening trail runs are taking place again. These are social training events where you can run on your own or as a group. We meet at 6:30pm each week although you can run at any other time. A Doodle poll has been set up to allow you to sign up - particularly if you can't print your own map. It is intended that all runs will also be MapRun enabled. Runs will be added a few days before the Thursday each week - see below for list.

Oaklands Park features Uni of Chichester campus Orienteering

For those that like some technical challenges - this weekend's event is going to be fun packed, featuring complex navigation around University campus buildings as well as visiting two separate parks.

The two shorter courses will just stick to Oaklands Park and it will be a great opportunity to view juniors from afar. Newcomers welcome.

British Sprint Championship Medal for Sue

Sue Crickmore triumphed at Leeds University, with a cracking run to take the bronze medal in the W60 British Sprint Championship Final on Sunday 12th June 2022. Well done Sue.

SO AGM & Prizegiving 2022

The 2022 AGM was successfully held at Worth School on 4th June.

The club trophies and prizes were awarded and new officers elected. We still have two outstanding roles of Social Secretary and POC coordinator.

SO Juniors Qualify for Yvette Baker Trophy Final

Our team of 16 juniors put in a great performance at Worthlodge to qualify for the Yvette Baker Trophy final, the annual junior inter-club competition. Our 9 highest placed runners scored 897 points.

For many of our juniors this was their first time competing for the club and for four of our younger juniors they paired up to complete a yellow course without shadowing for the first time.

Mole Valley and Dartford Orienteering Club were also competing, but they took part in the Yvette Baker Shield event as they have smaller junior teams and the best 5 scores count towards the final result. Mole Valley scored 498 points and DFOK scored 300 points.