what have we got for you in this ﬁrst issue of...

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Issue 1 2018

January/February

Featuring members, events and ac�vi�es

Editor: Sheralee Bailey

Prepared by: Phil Basford

What have we got for you in this first issue of 2018?

New

Know your . . . Series

Starts with a look at the

‘O’ Map

DVLPS Update on Exercise

“School Run”

Family success in the

South East Night Champs

Rachel Collins, 1st in W21 and

Mark Collins, 2nd in M55

See Rachel’s report inside Photo Julie Collins

Colin Merry at the

SE Score Champs Photo philb

Antoine Pesen, at the

SE Score Champs Photo philb

And now with interac,ve links to ‘The Niche’ and other useful places.

www.dfok.co.uk

From your EDITOR

Hi members and here is our first edi,on of Dartbord for 2018. Amazingly, we’ve been preparing Dartbord for 2 years – how ,me

flies! Lots of great pics from Phil Basford in this edi,on, and please remember to keep sending your photo’s in for future edi,ons

– [email protected]. We’re always looking for a great cover shot like Antoine’s!

There is a lot to read in this edi,on, including a call for someone to take on the London Marathon marshalling role previously held

by Andrew Pitcher – If pounding the streets is not for you, are you willing to volunteer to coordinate our marshalling at John

Wilson Street Woolwich? The role involves securing other volunteers and briefing them at the start, together with ad hoc liaison

with London Marathon staff in the run up to the race. London Marathon staff are sourcing the barriers to separate the routes

from the Red and Blue starts. So NO CONCRETE BLOCKS this year! Please let our Chairman, Andrew Evans, know if you would like

to put something back into the Marathon in this way and are interested in this role.

Also, a reminder that we are organising a South East League event on 14 January at Limpsfield Chart. This is the opposite (far

western) side of the Westerham map from Chartwell where we last held this event, and has some intricate contour areas which

Mark Collins (planner) is incorpora,ng into his courses. I am organising and if you are available to help on the day, or to put

controls out, please let me know. There is a helper code available for a half price entry for those willing to help on the day -

please email me at [email protected]. Entries are open on www.fabian4.co.uk, with a selec,on of courses from Brown to Yellow.

I’m sure you all remember that we had an early episode of snow during December. This always makes orienteering events a liBle

more complicated, for both the compe,tors and organisers! The South East Veterans champs were organised by Mole Valley on

10 December, when heavy snow & ice was forecast. Warnings were sent by Mole Valley to compe,tors the night before, asking

compe,tors to check the website before seEng off for the event on the Sunday in case it had to be cancelled. The snow did

indeed happen overnight & on the morning of the event, but Mole Valley didn’t update their website! Dave & I eventually

concluded that the event was s,ll “on”, and fortunately it was on when we arrived, so we both ran the Blue course. It was tough

as the area was wet and very muddy – no snow on the ground though. Only 3 DFOK members competed on the day. When

looking through the results aIerwards, I saw that 6 very experienced orienteers from other clubs missed control #10 on the Blue

course. How did this happen? It would seem that the planner and/or controller had a) cut the control circle for #10 so much that

it was difficult to see on the map; and b) placed the wriBen #11 in an out-of-bounds sec,on of the map so that it was also hard to

see. This most likely meant that those 6 compe,tors only saw the wriBen #10, and mistook it to apply to the circle for #11, and so

went straight to #11 thereby missing #10. (Note, I didn’t do this!! Why? Because, and let’s all say it together, I was doing my usual

plod, and therefore could read the map properly! Proving yet again, that….. slower is faster!) Alterna,vely, the 6 compe,tors

were all in a pack & collec,vely missed the control due to race condi,ons! (Hmmm, I don’t think so). I think this confusion could

have been avoided had the planner drawn the full circle for #10 (even

though it would cover up some of the pits in the area – but given there

were so many pits, would that have maBered? I don’t think so). The

planner also should have drawn the wriBen #11 further leI so it was fully

outside of the out-of-bounds area and therefore more visible. I also think

the Controller should have iden,fied this during map checking before the

event. It’s not enough that the maps are drawn, and controls are all in the

right place – considera,on also needs to be given to whether the course is

drawn in such a way as not to be overly confusing to compe,tors. I think

in this instance, it was overly confusing. So please keep this in mind if you

are to be a Planner or Controller – don’t forget that how the course is

drawn on the map is just as important as the controls being in the right

place!! Here is a snapshot of controls 10 & 11 so you can make your own

assessment – what do you think?

Chair Andrew Evans [email protected]

Secretary David Dawson [email protected]

Webmaster/IT Philip Craven [email protected]

Membership Secretary Geoff Goodwin [email protected]

Treasurer Keith Parkes [email protected]

Klubb Coach Allison Page [email protected]

Mapping Neil Speers [email protected]

Equipment Dave Cave-Ayland [email protected]

SEOA Fixtures Louise Sylva [email protected]

Dartbord Editor - Sheralee Bailey [email protected]

Prepared by Phil Basford

From the CHAIR

I hope that all club members enjoyed the fes,ve season and that any excesses will be able to be shed quickly!

You’ll see that the editorial and produc,on team have taken Dartbord to the next higher level in this issue, with several

links to other material for those interested in delving a liBle deeper into some of the ar,cles. More photos too. I hope you

like what you see, albeit feedback of any type is always beBer than no feedback at all.

Another New Year is upon us. I don’t normally make New Year resolu,ons since I never seem to manage to keep them

more than a few days. But seeing all the ,ps in this and the last issue of Dartbord, surely I can make a determined effort

and implement at least a few of these to improve my orienteering skills. Another factor is seeing myself gradually

dropping down the rankings by club, DFOK, on the Bri,sh Orienteering website. I am now in 8th place, my lowest posi,on

for many years.

There are so many ways in which we can get enjoyment out of the sport. You can set yourself any goals you like. This is

one of the advantages I see in orienteering. Many orienteers just like to look at how they fared in a race rela,ve to a few

other compe,tors who they know well and who they some,mes do beBer than, but not always so. For them, this

provides a measure of how good their run was. Some orienteers prefer to have no goals at all. For them, the pleasure is

in being outdoors, usually in beau,ful countryside, geEng some physical exercise and being challenged mentally at the

same ,me. Why spoil this with too much of the compe,,ve element?

Then there is the variety of event type that we have. For some there’s nothing beBer than challenging the planner in a

forest event with intricate contours and with varying terrain and vegeta,on. For some it is the Urban races that are the

most enjoyable. Fast running and liBle likelihood of coming across brambles. And then there’s the Park Races, usually one

is able to run in shorts and stretch the legs with simple naviga,on and a good chance to chat aIerwards in a local

hostelry. There’s niches to suit everyone and also plenty of op,ons for those for whom variety is the spice of life.

So will this year be different from the rest for my resolu,ons? Watch out those of you ahead of me in the rankings! Oops,

I have just given away my goal for 2018.

Andrew Evans

Chair

Your Committee Contacts

www.dfok.co.uk

Nicoise salad

12 baby potatoes, halved

150g spinach

1 cup halved cherry or plum tomatoes

200g baby green beans, trimmed and blanched

400g can tuna in brine, drained

8 piBed black olives, halved

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered

1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise

1 tbs Dijon mustard

2 tsp lemon juice

freshly ground black pepper

4 large or 6 small bread rolls

Boil potatoes in a saucepan for 8-10 minutes or un,l cooked. Drain. Combine

spinach, tomatoes, beans and potatoes in a large serving bowl. Flake tuna over

the top and scaBer with olives, basil and eggs. Combine mayonnaise, mustard

and lemon juice and drizzle over salad. Season with pepper. Serve with bread

rolls.

Serves: 4-6

11/1/18 Kent Night Cup, Gravesend West DFOK

14/1/18 SE League, Limpsfield Chart DFOK

20/1/18 KOL5, Shooters Hill DFOK

21/1/18 SWELL, Hartswood HAVOC

31/1/18 Klubb Activity Evening DFOK

10-13/2/18 Portugal ”O” Meet Evora Portugal

11/3/18 CompassSport Cup Heat, Balcombe DFOK



28/1/18 Klubb Training Day, Limpsfield Chart DFOK

3/2/18 SE Middle Champs, Liphook, S of Guildford GO

8/2/18 Kent Night Cup, Plumstead and Woolwich DFOK

10/2/18 KOL6, Challock SAXONS

11/2/18 SE League 4, South Ashdown MV

25/2/18 SE League 5, Burnham Beeches HHY

3/3/18 KOL7, Hosey Common, Westerham DFOK

4/3/18 SWELL, Epping South CHIG

15/3/18 Kent Night Cup, High Chart, Westerham DFOK

25/3/18 SWELL, Writtle Forest SOS

30/3/18 JK Starts, West Midlands WMOA

19/5/18 British Long Champs, Balmoral, Deeside SOA

29/7/18 Lakes 5 Days starts, Lake District NWOA

As you will see, DFOK is organising 2 significant

events over the next two months. If you would

like to help as well as run, there will be a half

price entry to the event. Please contact the Event

Organiser listed on the Events page of our website

to obtain the helper code before making your en-

try to the event. I am sure that the

Organiser would be delighted to hear from you!

Events 2018 Events 2018

ANALYSIS High Fuel 4

Low Fuel 6

Energy (kJ) 2863 1672

Protein (g) 49 31

Fat (g) 15 9

Carbohydrate (g) 81 44

Iron, Vitamin C

www.dfok.co.uk

Michael Brandon’ MITRE Wormley Results

There was a good turnout (18) for this event from DFOK members with some excellent

performances.

Brown Antoine Pesen, 3rd 64.41

(10.3km)

S Brown Angus Harrington 1st 55.02

(8.6km) Ian Catchpole 21st 101.46

Blue Mark Collins 11th 55.52

(6.8km) Andrew Evans 36th 72.06

Philip Craven 40th 76.23

Naomi DrewiB 41st 79.20

Neill Waites 44th 83.00

S Blue David Dorling 2nd 40.19

(5.1km) Sheralee Bailey 4th 41.08

Rod Harrington 10th 45.19

Rachel Collins 11th 45.31

Geoff Goodwin 15th 53.55

Green Keith Parkes 16th 50.43

(4.5km) David LeFevre 27th 56.00

Julie Collins 28th 56.36

Yellow Vadim Pesen, 1st 15.13

(2.3km)

White Jake BenneB 1st 14.41

(1.6km)

Antoine’s reasons for a good run:

1. It was a fast race and not too technical.

2. Visibility was good and controls not too

hidden.

3. I slowed down when reaching the tough

controls (S of map with ‘green’ sec,ons)

4. I have been trying to push myself to be less

lazy and keep my mind focussed on the

map and control. It is working beBer.

Seems simplis,c but mental effort is the

key.

5. In par,cular I paid aBen,on to rivers,

valleys, gullies and now they become

almost as visible as paths to me (finally).

The map had plenty of them so that

helped.

6. I went to the SEJS Training Day with

Maxine the day before. Training helps.

7. Luck (I doubt that by looking at his route

around the course. Philb) This is Antoine’s route.

If you would like to see his route compared

to the winner of his class then go to

youTube:

https://youtu.be/JzssTB1xDJk

www.dfok.co.uk

"Southern Navigators held the SEOA night championships at Alice Holt on a

rainy Saturday evening, having not par,cipated in night orienteering in some

,me, I was wary of how my performance would be. With this in mind I told

myself prior to the race to keep solely focused on the naviga,on and let the

running take care of itself.

When I picked up the map I was shocked to see the amount of green

vegeta,on and had the thought that path running may be the quicker and safer

op,on. I was clean from number 1-4 making sure I kept very close contact with

the map at all ,mes. However, my route choice to number 5 was poor but as it

turned out a lot of people struggled with this. Numbers 6 -8 were clean, apart

from accidentally pulling my lead out of my baBery pack and suddenly thinking

my light had run out!! With this mishap dealt with I knew I had to refocus.

Number 9 I could see was a tricky control and I was very careful making sure I

entered the woods early so I could find the ride. This proves the theory that

slower is some,mes beBer as although, I made a fine naviga,on mistake once

in the circle, I saved around 5mins worth of mistakes compared to some of the

big names on other courses! Number 10 and 11 were smooth and then it was a

case of concentra,ng on the control pick sec,on at the end.

I managed to keep my focus in check and tried to push the last part of the race.

I had great fun out on this course and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of

night orienteering, winning was a fantas,c bonus. Made even beBer by the fact

that Dad achieved a well deserved 2nd place on M55 and so an obligatory

photo in the car park had to follow, so photo credits to Mum. Dad and I said we

felt like we had gone back in ,me to when the KNC league began - the

enthusiasm for night orienteering is s,ll the same now, 10 years on!"

Rachel Collins

SEOA Night Championships 2017

www.dfok.co.uk

A Lesson in Course Planning, wri:en by Sheralee Bailey

The Bri,sh Army Orienteering Club (BAOC) hold orienteering events

most Wednesdays in the Farnborough/Aldershot region. The events are

oIen held on the same areas/maps as weekend regional level events,

and so offer an addi,onal bush orienteering race on good areas during

the week for those who aren’t at work on a Wednesday (for more info,

visit the BAOC website here: hBp://www.baoc.info/).

Recently one of these Wednesday “Army O” events was held on a map

barely larger than a postcard – Pyestock North. There was a 2 sided

Brown course, and single sided Blue, Lt Green & easier courses.

Dave & I ran the 6.4km Blue course and when I spied the map over at

the map box, I was somewhat dubious that it would be challenging or

interes,ng given how ,ny the area was. I could not have been more

wrong! For starters, I struggled to find the start & first control on the

map aIer I picked it up – eventually finding #2 on the map & working

backwards to #1 & the start triangle. And from that moment on, the

en,re course was non-stop concentra,on, route-choice, direc,on

changes & number checking. If you switched off for a few seconds, you

lost ,me making a mistake. I had a reasonable run, but the interes,ng

story was happening in front of me (well, some of the ,me ;-).

Dave started 3 minutes in front of me. I was surprised to see him

leaving #6 as I approached it. The next ,me I saw Dave was when I was

trying to locate #16 – I was in the circle, however I just couldn’t see the

control in the pit surrounded by chest high bracken. Dave ran in to the

control just aIer I punched it. It turns out, Dave had lost ,me back on

#6, misreading the control descrip,on to be an earth wall rather than

veg boundary. He then lost ,me on #7 which is where I must have

passed him without seeing him. Apparently he then followed me into

#9, but he hadn’t found #8 yet! So back to #8 he went, then back to #9.

What was happening to Dave was exactly what the course planner (the

Great Colin Dickson) I’m sure had hoped – the changes in direc,on,

including coming back on yourself, paired with the mix of short and long

legs with plenty of route choice, was confusing. What happened next to

Dave was possibly what Colin suspected someone might also do – he

went straight from #11 to #15, finally catching me at #16 but

completely missing #12,13 &14. I think Dave was running so hard to

catch me aIer #9 that he made this mistake – easy to do when you’re

,red and distracted!

Me on the other hand, as I said, I had a reasonable run, plodding around

like I always do. I lost a bit of ,me here & there if I couldn’t spot the

control, and made a parallel 1min error on #17 as I ran down the wrong

path & into the wrong pocket of white. Luckily I realised without losing

too much ,me. A quick check of my compass on the path would have

told me I was on the wrong one, but I suspect I was star,ng to fa,gue at

that stage, so not checking the compass as oIen as I should have been.

I finished 5th on the Blue course, and was fastest woman. Thereby

proving yet again that slower is faster.

However the point of this ar,cle is to show you, as future course

planners, what you can do to challenge compe,tors, whether you have

a large or a small area to use. Colin achieved so much with a ,ny area,

and I thanked him aIerwards (he told me he plans about 25 events a year, and loves providing the challenge to compe,tors, always looking at new methods to

push them further – a great philosophy!). So if you want to set courses that people will remember for all the right reasons, here are some ,ps:

1. Each of your legs should be different lengths – a course where most of the legs are about 300m long is just boring. Use long legs, use short legs, use

middle length legs. Just use variety!

2. Control sites should be on different features (there were 11 different features over the 22 controls on this Blue course for instance).

3. Make compe,tors change direc,on – oIen! Running a big circle course is also just boring. It makes it even more tricky when compe,tors have to turn

back on themselves aIer punching – they need good control flow (ie, planning ahead) to manage this! Have a look at #20, 21 & 22 on this course – just

when you think the course is over, you have to turn back on yourself, twice! It certainly made a challenging finish to the course.

4. Route choice is important, but if the op,on is always only ever “leI or right”, then is this really much of a choice? Some,mes you need to make your legs

a bit longer to add variety to the route choice, rather than just a simple “leI/right” op,on.

5. Don’t just “bring your compe,tors home” at the end. Make them navigate and challenge them right to the finish control. Find a part of the map that

provides the most challenge for the final sec,on of your course – don’t just give up aIer seEng a few tricky early legs.

6. Most importantly, challenge yourself! Think outside what you have always done. Come up with something new, something different. Set something that

you will be proud of and that compe,tors will finish thinking, “wow, that was great!”.

To finish, the “World Of O” 2017 Course of the Year was the World Champs Middle Distance course, held in Estonia (link here: hBp://

news.worldofo.com/2017/11/29/course-of-the-year-2017-world-champs-middle/ This course was deemed the most technical and challenging of 2017. When

interviewed, the course planner summed it up perfectly, “I think it is the aim of every course planner to make the best possible courses, so the compe�tors

leave sa�sfied and spectators at home or in the arena also can wonder “how they would pass the course””.

www.dfok.co.uk

Klubb Members

caught on camera Photos philb

I was pleased to organise the SE Score Champs event in Joyden's Wood as I know the area fairly well

from having organised a KNC event there and recently visi�ng to locate and update the Permanent

Orienteering Course. It is a great area with lots of varied and unusual features. It makes a good

venue for an event although not very large. For this reason and because it had to be a Score Course

for the championships, that Geoff (planner) had the idea of punching controls in sets, as we do for

the North West Kent Series. It made for a complicated scoring system, with penal�es for lateness,

but Phil Craven did some excellent work on the computer in coping with the rules and ge@ng the

results out so quickly.

Geoff's course was challenging but fair and called out for some quick thinking under pressure of best

route choice. Although no one managed to get all 30 controls in an hour, some were very close and

the winner managed 29.

As the championship was a club team event comprising of the best 12 individual scores from

different age classes, this also created quite complicated calcula�ons, but again Phil came up with

some quick results and overall winners were SLOW, with Saxons second and DFOK third.

Deciding to locate the registra�on and download in the lobby of the Golf Clubhouse was ideal and

far nicer than a cold and damp tent somewhere, so thanks to Phil Basford for organising that. Some

runners even enjoyed the use of the showers and café aFerwards.

With over 80 runners taking part, the event went well with the only moans from some were that

they said they s�ll ached from the Southern Night Champs they a:ended the evening before!

Thanks especially to the club members who helped out, especially David Lefevre who organised the

start even though on crutches, and other helpers that we couldn't have done without to make the

event run so smoothly.

Keith Parkes Photo

Mark Cheesman

www.dfok.co.uk

DARENT VALLEY

LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP

Exercise ‘School Run’

Gets moving aFer the

fes�ve season

Model School

Horton Kirby Primary

Early in the New Year the school

will have more training input and

acquire the first issue of SI.

There will be mee,ngs with staff

to ascertain the best way forward

for the school and the part they

might play in encouraging other

schools to take up orienteering

within their school.

Start to develop interac,ve

orienteering programs based

upon the school orienteering

ac,vi,es.

Lullingstone Country Park

And

Adjacent Woodlands

Recce the iden,fied areas of the

park that will have enlarged scale

maps for use by the park staff

and local schools.

Close by there is a small piece of

woodland owned by the

Woodland Trust, Nine Hole

Wood. To be recced with a view

to small POC for school usage.

Recce the Shoreham Woods map

(Saxons) with a view to

establishing a small POC above

the village.

The 3 months from January will see further work

undertaken with Horton Kirby Primary School, our

‘Model’ school.

Local woodlands will be recced to ascertain the

establishing of further small POC’s for schools.

www.dfok.co.uk

Look out for O-track! 1 March 2018

Coming to a forest near you

O-Track, commissioned by the Danish Orienteering

Federa,on, supported by the Nordea Founda,on and

developed by TracTrac, will soon hit the forest roads. O-

track is a revolu,onary new app based service, which

makes orienteering easy and fun for both beginners and

professionals. Apart from allowing the seasoned

orienteer to see and analyse his track it offers unique

support for new comers to orienteering in revealing the

user's posi,on in rela,on to the map and course and

thus providing invaluable safety and assurance for the

beginner that takes to the forest with map and compass

for the first ,me. The service is already in beta and is set

to launch 1st of March 2018.

Above report arrived by email from TracTrac. Been on to

the 2 links above but not really been able to get a great

deal more informa,on at this stage. Anyone else out

there been watching the development of TracTrac in

orienteering events?

The World is awash with new technology coming our way!

DFOK Member Age Class

Wormley Woods

SEL Race 1 Points

Vadim Pesen, M10 117.3

Antoine Pesen, M45 113.4

Sheralee Bailey W45 112.8

Mark Collins M55 97.3

Keith Parkes M70 92.7

Geoff Goodwin M65 88.7

Julie Collins W55 80.2

Andrew Evans M60 78.8

Philip Craven M60 71.6

Naomi DrewiB W40 66.7

Jake BenneB M10 64

Luke BenneB M10 58

David Dorling M45 45.5

Rod Harrington M50 40.8

Rachel Collins W21 40.5

David LeFevre M60 28.9

Ian Catchpole M35 13.5

Keith BenneB M45 12.4

South East League Results

2 explanatory videos here http://sporteering.com/sporteering/

www.dfok.co.uk

The Demise of the London Marathon

Stones and Poles!!

The London Marathon is a long-distance running event held in

London, part of the World Marathon Majors. The event was

first run on 29th March 1981 and has been held in the spring of

every year since. This year it is on the 22nd April.

The race was founded by the former Olympic champion and

journalist Chris Brasher and athlete John Disley. Both were also

keen orienteers and so it was natural for them to call upon

many orienteering clubs and individuals they knew to help in a

variety of ways.

DFOK has helped with marshalling the stretch from the Royal

Ar,llery Barracks, down John Wilson Street, around the Ferry

roundabout and a liBle way along Church Street towards Green-

wich, since the second LM in 1982.

The first Klubb Co-ordinator was John Kelly ably assisted by his

business colleague, Ian (surname now escapes me). Phil Basford

took over when the Kellys re,red to Devon and then Andrew

Pitcher next. The main issue for DFOK was that the 2 groups

from the start on Blackheath Common came together on a

common route along John Wilson Street, dual carriageway

down to the Ferry roundabout. AIer that they could link up as

one.

Few resources in those days so John and Ian devised a

method of stopping groups crossing over the carriageway to

mix with the other group. They collected a large number of

ornamental bricks, hollow plas,c tubes with metal feet and

rubber tops. The metal feet kept them anchored under the

brick and rubber tops to fasten the plas,c tape. These were

all kept at Johns (somewhere!) and reappeared every year

in the back of a van driven by Ian. A system that has worked

to this year.

New nego,a,ons with LM staff has enabled this system to

cease and they will supply metal barriers down the middle

of the road instead. This means far less work for DFOK and,

presumably far fewer volunteers. However, as a volunteer,

you get a great view of the event at that point. For the

Klubb co-ordinator, just the need to co-ordinate the

volunteers, and make sure the central reserva,on is

uncrossable.

Andrew Pitcher, like those of us before him, has done a fair

s,nt as the Klubb Co-ordinator, and so will step down.

There is now a need for a new Co-ordinator to step forward

to take on what is, rela,vely speaking, a straight forward

job for a day a year. ARE YOU OUT THERE SOMEWHERE? If

so then the chair would love you to contact him.

(philb)

From May 2004 DFOK News

DFOKs Marathon Marathon Runner!! One Klubb member who was running, again, was Martyn

Bull. Whilst he now lives in Devon he s,ll remains a mem-

ber having first joined in 1976 when he worked in Belve-

dere. This year was his 23rd London Marathon!! Well done

Martyn. He says that though he was smiling at 3 miles,

where the picture was taken this year, he was not smiling

at the end where it was very wet and cold. And if the

weather wasn’t enough to put up with, he had exchanged

contracts 3 days before the event, to finally move house

three days aIer the event - I won’t repeat how he said he

felt aIer the move!!. Martyn says he was very much a

sprinter at school though he also enjoyed x-country. He

took up marathon running aIer watching it on TV in 1981

and said, “I think I can do that”. (I wish I had a pound for

every ,me I have thought that - but never managed it .Ed).

So he did the 1982 race and every one since. I wonder if he

will make the 2005 marathon which is the 25th? If you do-

Martyn we can definitely give you priority for one of our

Klubb guaranteed entries. His ,mes have varied from 3:43

to 7.00 + and this year his ,me was just over 6hrs and so

not his worst he said. In his younger days he would do

some 12 or 13 marathons a year around the country from

Windermere to Guernsey (I think that is places not running

distance!). He says that he only does 1 a year now and, of

course, that is the London Marathon. Martyn asks if any

DFOK klubb members remember queuing all night outside

the post office in Sidcup to get an entry for the Sidcup Ma

athon in 1983 or 1984?

This is your editor signing off from Tower Bridge!!!

www.dfok.co.uk

Look back to CompassSport of the 80’s

Reproduced by kind permission of CompassSport Magazine. www.CompassSport.co.uk

Peter Kelly, ex member of

DFOK, and one of three young

members of the Kelly family

running in those days with

parents

Lesley and John Kelly

Barry Young writes about the

‘”Tne hundred and eighty

degree error.”

www.dfok.co.uk

The Orienteering Map

An orienteering map is a map specially prepared

for use in orienteering compe,,ons. It is a

topographic map with extra details to help the

compe,tor navigate through the compe,,on area.

These maps are much more detailed than general-

purpose topographic maps, and incorporate a

standard symbology that is designed to be useful

to anyone, regardless of na,ve language. In

addi,on to indica,ng the topography of the terrain

with contour lines, orienteering maps also show

forest density, water features, clearings, trails and

roads, earthen banks and rock walls, ditches, wells

and pits, fences and power lines, buildings,

boulders, and other features of the terrain.

The map is specially prepared through a detailed

ground survey which is drawn up with the use of

increasingly sophis,cated computer programs.

OCAD is the most well known and the one used by

Dar[ord Orienteering Klubb.

The ground survey can now be done much more

quickly and accurately through the use of the OS

base map supported by lidar plots, hill shading and

orthophotos as well Google Earth.

When the cartography is complete the map can be

used as the base for planning the event in OCAD

offering seamless planning. However, OCAD is now

rela,vely expensive, so planning can be

undertaken within Purple Pen and other similar

programs using a base map in jpeg/pdf format

exported from OCAD.

Every orienteering klubb needs its mappers and

cartographers otherwise there would be no

orienteering!

Orienteering maps are drawn to a large scale, most

commonly 1:15000 (1cm=150m) or 1:10000

(1cm=100m) but for orienteering in parks you use a

map drawn in a scale of 1:5000. All maps use an

interna,onally agreed set of symbols and these are

logical and easy to learn. You should absorb much

of the informa,on simply by aBending your first

few events. Most orienteering maps will also

provide a detailed legend to help you understand

the map.

Orienteering maps are drawn using magne,c north

rather than ‘grid’ or ‘true’ north, and are printed in

up to five standard colours. The colours are an

integral part of the map symbols:

• Black is used for most man-made features such

as buildings and rock features such as cliffs,

crags and boulders.

• Brown is used to show landform, including

contour lines, gullies, pits and knolls (small

hills).

• Blue is used for water features such as lakes,

ponds, marshes and streams

• White and Green are used to depict the density

of woodland and the extent to which it impedes

progress. Open ‘runnable’ woodland is leI

white with progressively darker shades of green

mean increased density, ranging from ‘slow run’

to ‘difficult’ (or walk) through to

‘impenetrable’(or fight).

• Yellow is used for unwooded areas with a solid

yellow for grassy spaces such as playing fields

and a paler yellow for rougher terrain (‘rough

open’) such as heather.

•

Combina,ons of yellow and green show other

types of terrain which will be explained in the

legend.

So how well do you think you know

your orienteering map? Click below

where you will find a short quiz to test your knowledge!

http://www.dfok.co.uk/TheNiche/html/know_your_-o-_map.html

what have we got for you in this ﬁrst issue of...

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