News

Tommy selected for GB Talent South Squad

Congratulations to Tommy Heap M18 on his selection to join the Great Britain Talent South Squad.

Following good performances at selection races earlier in the year, and recent race results, he and 3 other juniors from the South East Junior Squad (SEJS) have been selected to join the Talent Squad this year. They will benefit from extra coaching sessions and a wide range of additional expert guidance through the winter season. This is part of the GB Programme.

Coaching at Washington Common

This weekend’s coaching session at Washington Common looked at the importance of using a process for orienteering. This method leads to a consistent approach to tackling each leg and more predictable and positive outcomes. During the session the athletes came up with a simple process which was to always fold the map, select an attack point and then tick off (or ‘collect’) features on the way to the attack point. In this video of a really hard leg in Sweden, this exact same process is used.

Simon Greenwood RIP

Sadly, Simon Greenwood passed away at the beginning of December. Simon was a very active and well-known orienteer who most of us will have seen regularly at local and major events.

Besides being an enthusiastic competitor, Simon contributed enormously to the sport. He was vice chairman and president of Saxons, our neighbouring club; chairman of SEOA for over 20 years; and planned many major events.

Autumn club nights 2022

The Autumn club nights return on Tuesday October 4th. Many thanks to Euan Marsh for getting these up and running.

We will meet as a group at 6:30pm each Tuesday although we hope to make many of the activities available online to attempt at your leisure. Courses will be saved in the Club Night folder on MapRun (UK/Sussex).

Please sign up using the Doodle Poll and indicate (when appropriate) whether you would like a map provided (cost £1) or are happy to print off your own.

Coaching at Inholmes Wood

This morning’s training session analysed video from this summer’s World Cup in Davos, Switzerland. Participants noted that Emil Svensk wasn’t running too fast, and was focused on navigation. His map was neatly folded and his thumb compass was used to ‘thumb the map’ to maintain map contact. In most of the video, Emil is either looking at his map or looking around the terrain. He spends very little time just running without actively navigating. Today’s training exercises encouraged participants to look closely at the map for large features and then match these to the terrain as they make progress towards each control.

Congratulations to Southern Night Champions

Five SO members came out top at the Southern Night Championship held at Broadstone Warren on 26th November, 2022.

Tommy Heap M18, Anna Chapman W45, Jill Blount W60, Roger Maher M80 and Ruth Rhodes W80 all received their trophies at the event hosted by SO and attended by around 120 people.

Photos from the event.

SO has three South East Night Champions

Congratulations to Anna Chapman (W45-50), Peter Chapman (M55-60) and Roger Maher (M80) who all became South East Night Champions at Wimbledon Common on Nov 19th, 2022.

Others also gained podium positions with Rob Lines (M55-60) getting a silver and Liam Marsh (M20-M40) getting a bronze.

Got the Orienteering bug?Try these other events over the next month

If you are a member of Southdowns Orienteers then you are also eligible to attend any other Orienteering events that are on.

During November many SO members will be running at the events which are run by other clubs in the South East and we would love to see you there.

We also run our Tuesday evening Club Night Activities which is another opportunity to get out to run and navigate in a fun atmosphere.

Read on for more info ...

Night orienteering November

It’s a month packed with night orienteering. On Saturday we have a training event at Chailey Common. The SE Night Champs takes place on Wimbledon Common on 19 Nov 2022. Southdowns Orienteers then hosts the Southern Night Champs a week later at Broadstone Warren, Ashdown Forest. Alongside the major events there is also Club Night on a Tuesday evening and the Kent Night Cup on Thursdays. Finally, into December it’s our biggest annual event, The Brighton City Race. It’s always a festive occasion and one not to be missed. A guide to buying a head torch is here.

Orienteering thumb compassesA buyer’s guide

A thumb compass is the standard navigation tool for orienteering. It’s elegantly simple, and less is more. It’s worth searching out those that have avoided clutter such as a rotating bezel or coloured markings, numbers or degrees. These extra features will obscure the map and prove distracting in race conditions. Your compass should have just two things: a wide needle to point north, and a direction pointer marked in centimetres. Most importantly, right-handed people wear a thumb compass on their left hand. Therefore, most people are likely to want a left-hand thumb compass.

Here are my top four recommendations:

Orienteering head torchesA buyer's guide

It’s the start of the night orienteering season, which makes it the best time of year for a proper adventure in the forest.

When it comes to head torches, it’s definitely not the case that you always get a brighter torch by spending more money. Over the last 10 years I have generally spent about £15 on a head torch set, though prices have increased recently and you may need to budget more like £20-£30. If you want to get something super posh, you could try Silva or Bright Bike Lights. My recommendation is to search ‘CREE bike light’ on Ebay and you will probably end up with a brighter unit. Here are some examples:

SO juniors compete at Junior Inter-Regional Champs in N Ireland

Over the weekend of 24th and 25th Sept, four of our SO junior squad travelled to Northern Ireland with the South East Junior Squad (SEJS) to take part in the Junior Inter-Regional Champs. Emils Ummers, Tommy Heap, Heather High and Ben Chapman all had the privilege of representing the South East at this great team event.

Coaching Report - Rewell

Today’s coaching session looked at Map Contact using Collecting and Catching Features. There was also a Control Pick exercise, though this was somewhat thwarted by impenetrable undergrowth in parts. We will find better terrain for future sessions! :). The younger group embarked on a Map Walk in the quarry and looked at how features on the ground are represented on the map. The coaching notes are here, and the maps are here: Collecting Features, Catching Features, and Control Pick. The Control Description symbols are here.

Junior Camp Weekend a Success!

Wow what a packed weekend! After the SOG at Knowlands on 1st October 2022, sixteen of us set out back into the woods with kit in wheelbarrows to set up camp in a clearing in the middle of the woods. What an amazing setting - we had a fire pit, composting toilets, running water and were right in the middle of the woods which was ideal for all our activities!

Club Conference 2022Advanced Skills and Safety

The final sessions were presented by Vince Joyce and Karen Ashworth. Vince discussed the tactic of doing the simple things really well in order to achieve success at the highest levels in orienteering. He talked through his approach at the British Nights in 1999 part1 and part2, and later his World Masters medal run in Canada 2005. The session plan for the activity is here, along with the slides which looked at the techniques of Route Choice, Traffic Lights, and Visualisation.

Ahead of the orienteering competition, Karen run a fun session to look at risks that can appear on the day of an event, and the opportunity (in the most part) to mitigate the potential hazard. Karen’s slides are here. The group formed teams and voted for each issue on the possibilities for appropriate mitigation.