I am going to the Purbeck, but only for the Sunday SW League event, not the Saturday middle race. As things stand I will be driving solo from Taunton, if anyone wants to share travel please reply to this post. Cheers. Richard
We are going but will be in the van so hope to see you there
Going but going onward to Maidenhead (grandchildren sitting duties!)
So a reasonable weekend for me- second place and championship time on Saturday in the heathery dunes at Studland. Apart from one silly mistake leaving #17 on a bearing to #18 and struggling to match the map to the ground I was crossing realised about half way after crossing ‘unmapped’ marsh I was actually only at #16 not #17 
. Fortunately a short leg so error easily rectified and otherwise clean run- only missing m60 champ by about a minute on the winner
Overnight camp with lots of other orienteering friends just outside Corfe marred by one small and one major problems: no hot water in showers and England losing to RSA in the rugby semifinal ( reader can decide which was which)
Day2 was on the Agglestone heathland based from the same Studland NT parking as day1 which today was heaving with all and sundry enjoying the Autumnal sunshine. What should have been otherwise another good run was blown by my ( only 2 weeks old) glasses being snagged off my head whilst traversing some green terrain just after the first control- just retrieve them and be on your way I said to myself as I felt them go so knew they were where I stopped- ten minutes later and no glasses I had to abandon them until after the run( now with 10 mins wasted time included). A reasonable clean run around the rest of the course (remembered after last time here I swore never to return- too gorsey and boggy) having to stop dead on the path run down to finish to avoid being trampled by small herd of (large) panicking deer stampeding the other way
From the finish without the time pressures I resolved to have one more try to locate the glasses…. and of course found them almost straight away in the area I had searched fruitlessly earlier
Now home looking forward to a (hot) shower and Sunday roast😋
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I ran on Sunday only. Just back from a week in Wales meant I could not do the full weekend. But I was keen to do the Sunday as I’ve made a target for this year. After years of organising it I’ve decided to have a proper go at the SW league, before I start thinking that brown is too long for my age.
Chose to use train and bike to get there which was possible but it meant cutting it fine and not arriving fresh. I was one of the last to start and finish. Enjoyed my day out on the sunny heath, but made lots of mistakes. Right from the start I went wrong and nearly had the embarassment of returning to the start flag after a few minutes, but I don’t think anyone saw me. Then 2 to 3 wasn’t good either. Lesser people might have quit at this stage but having made a huge effort to get there I ploughed on and fortunately things got much better. There was some good running in between the gorse and the marsh. Lost more time 11 to 12 and again 21 to 22 - nothing terrible, but it was all adding up.
Bit disappointed with my time, should have been about 12 minutes faster. My attempt at a decent SW League placing hasn’t started well!
A few other QO joined me at the foot of the table. Mark Stodgell was 10 minutes ahead. However the standout result is a great performance by Hamish. The splits suggest he made a cautious start but then was flying with no major errors. Well done for a sustained pace.
I know how you feel Richard. However - only 5 best scores count so plenty of opportunity for improvement.
Summary of QO results:
Saturday SW Middle Champs. The following achieved Championships standard:
Finley Goddard 1st M14, Sheila Braine 1st W55
Steve Robertson 2nd M70, Andy Rimes 2nd M60
Brian Pearson 3rd M60, Jeff Pakes 3rd M50
Mark Stodgell (QO) came first on the Brown course, but his first club is not in SW!
Sunday SWOL event. The following acheived Badge standard:
Brown: Hamish Braine-Clarke M18,
Blue: Andy Rimes (M60), Brian Fletcher (M50), Sheila Braine (W55)
Green: Ray Toomer (M65), Steve Robertson (M70), Rosie Wych (W65)
Short Green: Roger Craddock (M80), Sue Toomer (W65)
Light Green: Finley Goddard (M14)
Orange: Annabelle Lewis (W16)
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