VV WEB FINAL Feb18 184

Photographs: Andy Johnson
SOUTHERN NIGHT
ORIENTEERING
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Strange goings on in Penn and Common
Woods...
Penn Wood and Common Wood were the scene
of this year’s Southern Night Orienteering
Championships. Some 300 orienteers took part,
on the evening of Saturday 2nd December. The
race was part of a two day orienteering festival,
being put on by Thames Valley Orienteering
Club.
Sarah Rollins, an ex-British International who
now runs for club Southern Navigators, won the
Womens Open class by a country mile. She
commented “I always wonder what on Earth
I’m doing on a Saturday night in the dark,
especially in some light misty drizzle... and then
I get out in the forest and realise why. And
yesterday was no different but in
particular, apart from having one of
those runs you only have once every
few years (completely concentrated and
no mistakes and felt great), it was made
particularly good by the quality of the
terrain, map and planning. And having
the car park just next to a pub was a
particular planning success!”
The Men’s Open class was much
more closely contested. Jegor Kostylev,
a Russian ex-International and who is a
lecturer at Oxford University, won the
class but, being a member of a scottish
club, was not eligible to be Southern
Champion. Alex Lines of Southdown
Orienteers therefore took the honours this year.
He said “The course and terrain were pleasantly
challenging with nice variation between the
woodland and the open areas. Limited visibility
caused by the rain, mist and denser woods
meant accurate bearings were a necessity and
allowed decent room for error when attacking
www.pennandtylersgreen.org.uk
Village Voice February/March 2018
one of the many depressions. I found utilising
the twisty path network useful for reaching
attack points and found the map reliable for
doing this. A thoroughly enjoyable and
memorable race.”
Local orienteer Alun Jones, who organised
the events, commented that the weekend had
gone extremely well. He expressed his thanks
to the Woodland Trust and to the Penn & Tylers
Green Residents Society for granting
permission for the events to be held in their
woods.
Alun also mentioned that orienteering is a
great sport for all - it requires navigating to
various checkpoints as quickly as you can, or as
slowly as you want! With courses of different
length and difficulty available, it is suitable for
people of all ages and abilities. VV readers are
invited to go along to to our next event, at RAF
Brill on the morning of Saturday 10th
February– details on our website at www.tvoc.
org.uk’. Help and advice will be available.
Alun Jones
17