Well, after last times bumper issue I thought I wouldn't have much to say this time. However, the hectic junior calendar proved me wrong! First off were the Peter Palmer relays, attended by SOS, WAOC and NOR. Blanka Sengerova (WAOC) reports:
Well, it was the last weekend in September, which meant that the Peter Palmer Relays were upon us again. This time, the venue was to be Beverley Westwood, an area just by Beverley racecourse. Considering this, and the fact that Beverley is about five-hours' drive form East Anglia, the East Anglian clubs did pretty well this year, managing to enter five teams in all. NOR had one team in the open competition, WAOC managed to get sixteen (!) juniors in all coming to the competition this year, managing to enter two teams in the open competition. SOS, having had to cope with the loss of one of their runners, David West, shortly before the competition due to a broken leg, finally had two teams in the 'small clubs' competition, with Suzy Robertson running a second (green) run for the second, non-competitive team.Next big junior item was the squad weekend in the New Forest, incorporating the November Classic national event. We took 18 juniors, including a lot from the younger age range. Mark Larwood from NOR was my victim for this report:After a long drive up to northern England on Saturday afternoon, we found ourselves putting out our things in different parts of the racecourse buildings - places you would never usually get to, because they are shut to the public. So SOS and NOR, for instance, slept in the "Members' and Owners' bar", and WAOC was right next door in the "Jubilee room". Traditionally, there was the five-a-side football in the evening, but although we managed to enter a couple of teams (one SOS member making up the NOR team, I believe), East Anglia did not have any particular success, and we anticipated the orienteering in the morning, which would hopefully be more successful.
The area we were to run was surprisingly open, with only two pieces of wood to worry the runners in the dark (especially those starting on one of the first few legs, when it was still pitch-dark). In the end, looking at the final results, we had some very good performances, especially SOS1, who managed to win the Small Clubs Competition, with Nicola Robertson and Chris Sellens winning their legs of the competition, and many others had very good runs on this occasion (especially considering that for many of us it was the first night event we had done). Even the youngsters on the yellow courses (which everyone agreed were much harder than the usual yellow standard) came back with smiles on their faces, although they had spent quite long times 'out'. Needless to say also, that on the Sunday morning there was a downpour from just after midnight, with the sun coming out at about ten o' clock when everyone had already started heading for home and the orienteering was over for the day... (that's life, isn't it).
Saturday morning started early leaving home at 8.30 on a cold windy day for the long journey down to the New Forest. A trouble free journey got us there well on time.The British Schools Champs were another junior high point. The EA juniors (and their schools) did us proud. Nicola and Suzy Robertson and Louise Pointer, of Colchester County High School, SOS and the EA Junior Squad took first prize in year 11 girls. Simon Gardner and Helen Gardner, both of WAOC and I don't know which schools, each took second in their respective classes. Myself, my sister (Joanne West) and our able school team (Ipswich School) took third place in the small secondary category with Joanne's result being an excellent 5th in her class.The training on Saturday was taken by Martin Sellens and we did two exercises. The first was a relocation exercise in which we worked in pairs. We used two maps, one map had controls 1,3,5 etc. on it and the other controls 2,4,6 etc. The first person had to navigate to the first control and when it was reached the second person would relocate and then navigate to the second control and so on. The exercise was hard to understand but I think I got it right. The second exercise was a relay but instead of the normal procedure of running round a course and coming back and then the next person going off, the first person goes out with a control and plants it at the team's first control and then comes back, the next person then goes out picks up the control and moves it on to the next control. No control positions are marked and so you have to get it spot on so the next person can find it.
The scout hut at Lyndhurst was good and everybody was able to get a good night's sleep before making the short journey to Fritham for the November Classic event.
The event was well organised and the start was just a short ten minutes bus journey away. Everybody was able to enjoy good runs at the event with outstanding performances from Helen Gardner (3rd W14A), Eleanor West (3rd W18A), Simon Gardner (3rd M12A), Jonathan Pye (5th M12A), Edmund Kelleher (1st M14A) and Chris Sellens (2nd M16A).
Overall a great squad weekend, thank you to all the people who helped organise it.
Finally, hot off the press news of the M/W16s weekend trip to Lakeside. I am still recovering as I write. I say this every year but for those not in the know it is probably necessary to explain that Lakeside is not a shopping weekend to Thurrock but is in fact a weekend of hard work on the shores of Windermere. This year 7 EA juniors went, and I was lucky enough to be one of them. This was my third trip to the annual training and each one has proved to be very different. This year we had persuaded the responsible adults in charge of organising us to allow us to skip an afternoon of school so that we could get stuck in traffic on the A1 at 4.00 rather than 9.00. This gave the added bonus of arriving before everyone was in bed!
Saturday morning saw us bouncing out of bed nice and early ready for a stimulating day (anyone who spots the deliberate mistake in that sentence will not receive a prize). After breakfast and the mandatory meetings to inform us about what to do in case of fire (get to the lake - it's fairly fireproof) etc. we set off for Simpson Ground. Lead coach Heather Sears (of NOR but living in Doncaster) was joined by Graham Watson (of WAOC and Loughborough and one of the region's claims to fame), Steve Robertson (our expert minibus driver), Julie Whittaker (friend of Graham's) and Dave someone who claimed to be Vice Chairman of BOF, or something equally important. The training proved fun, stimulating and useful, if a little cold.
Saturday evening gave us the chance to chat to a World Champion. Yvette Baker gave us a talk on winning a gold medal and was then available for general conversation. Just listening to her inspired me to great heights! The evening also saw us socialising with the other squads - although the boys' idea of socialising seemed to be having loo roll fights with the Scottish lads. Well, it takes all sorts I suppose.
On Sunday it rained. And rained. And then just for variety it rained a little bit more! We did train, and learnt some things but I have to say that the "pretend this is the British Champs" idea did not help very much with the water dripping down my neck.
The minibus journey back saw deep discussion on all aspects of life, ranging from sweets and our lives (don't go there!) to the future EAJS business (selling confectionery - we all had various roles to play!). Also some very out of tune singing to our designated song of the weekend! I'd just like to thank all those who organised the weekend - Lakeside is always an inspiring spot in the middle of gloomy training runs when it's too dark! I think that's all for now but Happy Christmas everyone and see you next century.