The West Midlands Championhips (incorporating a WML event) on 12th May are now definitely postponed, due to changes to the access.
Fortunately, POTOC has now managed to secure the area for Sunday 15th September, with Whitfield Valley identified as a fall back if necessary.
Harlequins Orienteering hosted the 2024 West Midlands relays on a sunny day in Baggeridge. The results by relay class are here, and a pdf file of the results by course is here. Scroll down for a gallery of images collated from the clubs’ social media, and some backgound on the mapping of Baggeridge.
Many thanks to all the volunteers, particularly Adrian and Kerstin for planning and organising, and congratulations to the winning teams:
| Class | Club | Runners |
| A – Mini | (trophy with Mel Elkington) | |
| B – Junior women | WRE | Harriet Allinson, Grace Allinson, Annie Lewis |
| C – Intermediate Women | (trophy with Mel Elkington) | |
| D – OpenWomen | OD | Juliette Soulard, Harriet Lawson, Anne Straube |
| E – Senior Women | POTOC | Eden Pigott, Ianka Evans, Elizabeth Bales |
| F – Veteran Women | WRE | Sarah Bayliss, Marian White, Diane Jacks |
| G – Super Veteran Women | (trophy with Mel Elkington) | |
| H – Junior Men | (trophy with Mel Elkington) | |
| I – Intermediate Men | OD | Adam Landels, Rupert Powell, Max Straube-Roth |
| J – Open Men | HOC | Kin Wai Lee, Steve Blackmore, Dave Aldridge |
| K – Senior Men | OD | Alistair Powell, Alistair Landels, Tom Jeffries |
| L – Veteran Men | HOC | Simon Thompson, David Williams, Ian Chafer |
| M – Super Veteran Men | WRE | Andy Clough, Rod Postlethwaite, Andy White |
| N – Mixed Ad Hoc | HOC | Barry McGowan, Karen Thompson, Ka Man Leung |
From Rod Postlethwaite’s archives:
Did you know that WRE were the first club to map Baggeridge Country Park way back in 1985? Back in those days there was no computer mapping and training maps were drawn with pen and ink and photocopied in black and white.
The map was surveyed by the late Ken Posnett (Wrekin’s one time Chairman) and drawn by Dave Gittus and was used for a couple of Tuesday evening training events before HOC mapped it in colour.
Running on the map was quite tricky!
Calling all trophy holders! Please remember to return these to Baggeridge on the 21st April 2024. If you can’t be there the please arrange for someone else to return it.
Previous winning teams are here and images of all the trophies are here.
After the second event at Coombe Abbey, Wrekin have a very narrow lead over Harlequins with Octavian Droobers not far behind:
| Club | Points |
|---|---|
| WRE | 5668 |
| HOC | 5480 |
| OD | 4420 |
| WCH | 3522 |
| POTOC | 2795 |
More detail, and links to the club counters and individual scores, can be found on the WM League page.
Details of this event are here.
Richard Lewis (Wrekin) has agreed to be co-opted on to the WMOA committee as Vice Chair, and this has been approved by the existing committee members.
Richard will also be taking on the role of Chair until someone else steps forward. He is happy to mentor someone to take up this position, so if you are able to volunteer then you can be confident that there is plenty of support available.
After the first event at Bodenham Arboretum & Shatterford Woods on Sunday, the standings are:
| Club | Points |
|---|---|
| WRE | 5668 |
| HOC | 5480 |
| OD | 4420 |
| WCH | 3522 |
| POTOC | 2795 |
For a breakdown of these scores, take a look at the Club and Individual tables.
Congratulations to Octavian Droobers on their victory in Monday’s event at Pooley Fields. Summary individual results are available on here.
In the club competition, the 2023 top two positions were reversed again this year with Wrekin runners up:
Not content with winning the Laurie Bradley Score at the start of the year, Wrekin have now won the West Midlands League by over 200 points from Harlequins and Octavian Droobers. Despite being a much smaller club than their rivals, a great turnout on Saturday secured the vistory.
Is this the first time that they have won the league?
Can they repeat this feat in 2024?
| Club | Points |
|---|---|
| WRE | 5750 |
| HOC | 5511 |
| OD | 5411 |
| WCH | 4535 |
| POTOC | 4032 |
Here are details of the club counters and individual scores.
Octavian Droobers are hosting the final West Midlands League event for 2023 in Sutton Park on Sunday 10th December. Full details can be found here.
For discounted Pre-entry, and to guarantee a map for the course of your choice, pre-enter by midnight on Sunday 3rd December; here is a link to Fabian4.
A reminder of which course to enter to gain the maximum West Midlands League points for your age can be found on the WM League Rules page.