Ski Trip - French Alps

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2008 - SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2008



Had a weeks skiing in the French Alps with FVO club mates Steve Nicholson and Dave Coustick. Stayed with Steve's parents in Villaroger, near Bourg St Maurice and skied at Les Arcs on the first 2 days, before spending a snowy day skiing at Megeve en route to Argentiere, near Chamonix. Whilst there, we had a day at the Grands Montet, a day at Le Tour and a day (on the other side of Mont Blanc) at Courmayeur in Italy. The weather was generally good - clear and sunny; with new snow mid-week to give some powder skiing. Steve's knowledge of Les Arcs and Dave's of the Chamonix area meant we did a few off piste runs, some requiring skinning; which, given I had a cold for the entire trip, I found hard going.

Links to piste maps:
- Les Arcs
- Megeve
- Grands Montets
- Le Tour
- Courmayeur

STAG Winter Score Event - Cathkin Braes Country Park

St Andrew's Orienteering Club, Glasgow organised a 60 minute score event at Cathkin Braes Country Park to the south of the city and advertised as "Glasgow's most technical area for orienteering." This was the second of a series of 5 such events taking place during January and February 2008! Controls 31-39 were worth 100 points, controls 41-49 were worth 200 points and controls 51-59 were worth 300 points. I got all controls except number 53 (- which I tried to, but couldn't find!) in 49 minutes.

Results.

Map with course.



Map with my route.

FVO Night Event - University of Stirling

Steve Barrett of Stirling Surveys planned a really good 6.0k course with 21 controls, which gave lots of variety and plenty of route choice. Fraser Purves recorded the fastest time - 43 minutes.

Results.

Map with course.



Map with my route.

INVOC Festive Frolic Score Event - Ord Hill

Inverness Orienteering Club organised a 60 minute Score Event (- advertised as a "Festive Frolic") at Ord Hill - on the north side of the Kessock Bridge, next to the Beauly Firth.

I have never run on Ord Hill before and greatly enjoyed my visit - save for one or two patches of dense forest. I got 18 of the 21 controls in 65 minutes - had intended to get all the controls and with more time would have visited 16, 18 and 2 after control 17!

Results.

Map with course.



Map with my route.

Merry Christmas - FVO run - Dumyat

There's a tradition of FVO members running up Dumyat on Christmas Day, a small hill 418m high at the west end of the Ochils, close to Stirling; and this year was no exception! There was a good turn out with a celebratory drink (- thanks to Jason!) on the summit.

FVO Night Street O - Dunblane

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007





Jason Inman (above) planned a fun night street O - with a surprisingly large number of Santas turning up to race. The 4.2k course with 25 controls ended-up being a surprise 8.4k with 23 controls, with the FVO Christmas Party at the Sheriffmuir Inn later in the evening being an incentive to run hard!

Map with course.



Map with my route.

FV0 Night Event - Mine Woods

I organised and planned tonights event. The course was 5.3k with 17 controls, with a short cut of ca 4k with 12 controls. It was great to see that both courses were won by FVO juniors - the long by Jamie Stevenson (who is fast and talented - like his namesake!) and the short by Abi Longhurst (who showed a number of very capable seniors a clean pair of studs!).

Results.

Map with course.

FVO Night Event - Barr Wood

Gary Longhurst planned a challenging and fun course. I was anxious not to over exert myself after a recent virus and opted for the short option, which was ca 4k with 14 controls.

Results.

Map with course.



Map with my route.

FVO Club Championships - Sauchie Crags

Sauchie Crags is located to the south west of Stirling and has not been used for orienteering before. Olympian (steeplechase in Mexico) and FVO stalwart, Gareth Bryan-Jones, made the map and planned and organised the event; whilst wife Jan laid on much appreciated post-race soup.

I didn't run because of a viral infection, but went along to spectate, take photos and enjoy the soup! Had I been running, I would have done the Blue (Veteran Men and Senior Womens) course which was 4.1k with 165m of climb and 14 controls.

Results.

Map with Blue course.

Park-O and MOV XXVIII - Venice

Video on orienteering in Venice by unknown person(s) and which, as epocian comments on Nopesport, gives a "good impression of what it's like!"

Orienteering in Venice
Uploaded by djege75

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2007 - Park-O


This was my first time in Venice and it was obvious from the difficulty I had trying to find my hotel, that this was going to be unlike any street orienteering event I had done before.

Saturday was the Park-O. I ran the Mens Medium (the longest) course which was 3.8k with 14 controls. I had a pleasing, clean run; took 25:42 and finished in 21st place.

Results.
Splits.

Map with my course.



Map with my route.





SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2007 - MOV XXVIII

This was the main event of the weekend and attracted 3163 runners from 32 countries. It promised to take runners into the centre of Venice where the maze of alleys is most confusing - and also where the alleys are most congested with tourists!

I ran M50 which had 89 entrants and which was 6.1k with 16 controls. I took 48 minutes and finished in 3rd place behind Massimo Balboni of Italy and James Crawford of England.

Results.
Splits.

Map with my course.



Map with my route - dashed line is where I can't remember exactly which way I went!

Tinto Twin Day Event and SOL 7 - Altarstone

Altarstone is close to Stobo Castle near Peebles and is larch woodland planted on reasonably steep ground. The courses were planned by Gerry Thomson and Jason Simpson - the duo creating enjoyable, but challenging, courses which tested a range of orienteering techniques. In their determination to produce good courses, they dug the depression at number 2 and moved a boulder (- a significant distance!) to number 6 because the reentrant they'd intended to use was indistinct - well done and thanks guys!

I ran M50L which was 5.9k with 260m of climb and 27 controls.

Results.
WinSplits.
RouteGadget.

Map with my course.



Map with my route.

Tinto Twin Night Event and Scottish Night Championships - Firpark

I ran M50L which was 6.7k with 75m of climb and 21 controls.

Results.
WinSplits.
RouteGadget.

Map with my course.



Map with my route.