OCTAVIAN Droobers go into this weekend’s event as current leaders of the West Midlands League with a 122 point advantage over Wrekin Orienteers.
Hartshill Hayes Country Park in Nuneaton hosts the third league event on Sunday (3rd February), Nathan Chapple (M16) currently standing as the individual club leader with 200 points.
The club sit on 2632 points for the season, having finished seventh in the national 2018 UK Orienteering League (5537 points), with Wrekin sitting on 2510 points.
Anne Straube (W40), Juliette Soulard (W45), Mike Snell (M60), Trevor Simpson (M75), Hilary Simpson (W75), Lesley Ross (W50), Alistair Powell (M40), Liz Phillips (W50), Oliver Lunn (M16), Felix Lunn (M16), Nathan Lawson (M21), Jill Emmerson (W50), Barry Elkington (M60), Sheila Carey (W70) and Bruce Bryant (M60) provided the club with the 12 best scores from 24 major national events.
Straube came out top of the rankings for the club with 544 points individually, and ranked first in the national W40 category.
Belton and Londonthorpe Woods was the venue for the last weekend’s event at the Lincoln Orienteering Club, which saw plenty of fast running by competitors through the open areas and clear woods on site.
Chris McCartney (M50) was the fastest club member on the 6.99km course, with a time of 48:43 putting him in sixth place, Straube (W40) being the fastest woman (55:19).
The 5.7km blue course saw Elkington (M60) finish inside 42:05 in fourth, whilst Janet Richardson (W70) came inside the top ten on the 3.49km Short Green course (40:38) in eighth.
Max Straube-Roth M10 would finish fourth on the orange 3.18km course.
Bristol Orienteering Club organised the Stockhill Woods event along the Mendips, bringing in over 300 competitors.
The Droobers’ Bruce Bryant was the club’s fastest finisher in fourth on the green 3.9km course (44:35).
Octavian Droobers invite participants to turn up anytime between 10am and 12 noon to the event, for participation on different length courses ranging from 2km up to 8km.
The challenge of the event is to find specific numbered controls placed around the park, being suitable for families of all ages.
Timers and a large-scale map are provided to newcomers, people are advised to visit www.octavian-droobers.org for more information, or to call the club on 01926 632189.
