Good luck to all PFO members travelling to Wharncliffe for the British champs this weekend. 

We may be just a small club but we will probably have the furthest travelled competitor at the event.  All the way home from Australia our very own Jon Sutcliffe competing on M21E.  Very impressive, as he is at least an M45!!

Crazy man or super fit man?  Either one, have a good 'un Jon.

Maybe we will be as successful as at the JK and come home with some very impressive results. 
Sincere congratulations must go to Chris Mitchell who won M21 long with a very comfortable margin.  I am very pleased for you Chris, a well deserved result.

Other notable results - finishing in the top 10 positions - came from: John Ashton on M60 short, finishing in runner up spot, he was quite relieved not to have to go to any prize giving ceremony.

Kate Willis, finished 8th on W50 short, again, very impressive out of 23 finishers, and Cath Wilson was 7th on W21 long, despite suffering nasty blisters to both heels on day 1.

Gillian also had a cracking run on Day 2 to finish in 7th position on an area which suited her.  Not like the sand dunes!

I didn't attempt to run, but did my bit taking Daniel and Anna around the string course, and then became the chief cheerleader for the club at the finish. Unfortunately, because of the early start times for some, I didn't see everyone come in.  I did spot Hamish though and was very impressed by his final sprint.  He did admit that this was the bit he knew where he was!!

We were lucky enough to make a weeks' holiday of the trip to Ireland and had some brilliant days walking in the Mourne Mountains and some easier days playing on the beach.  If you have never been to that part of Ireland it is well worth a visit. 

 The Mourne Mountain Marathon is held every year in September and is another excellent event. 
I could write another article on the year PFO ladies won there too.  Some other time maybe?


Beacon Fell, Sunday 8th May

What a lovely day out at Beacon Fell, and such a popular event.  I realised it must have been the Scout and Guides championships, seeing so many youngsters running about the place, and that was before their event.

The beauty of Beacon Fell yesterday was having the cafe facilities to socialise in after the run and to shelter in when the rain came down. The longest course on offer was the Blue and our star on the day was David Wallis who finished 15th out of 51 finishers. Well done David. 

Other competitors on the same course were, Paul Wright, just 8 minutes down on David and a minute ahead of Steve Wilson followed by Tony Peacock who was so pleased not to be last.  Tony, you were way off being last, you must count all those who have mp after their name.  You beat at least four people, and some of them are experienced orienteers.  So don't give up.

On the shorter Green course we had John Ashton finishing in 6th place, followed by Helen Smethurst just five minutes down, quickly followed by Jim Mitchell and then Gillian.  Well done to you all.

I am not sure if there were any other PFO members out on the day; apart from young Daniel Wilson on the White course. Unfortunately, he used his mum's dibber, so her rankings will be well down by now. 

I can vouch it was Daniel though as I walked around the course with him along with Cath carrying Anna.  We would have been much quicker if Daniel hadn't visited every puddle he could find along the way and collected every stick on the path, but at least he checked the number of each control box before he dibbed.  So that was a lesson well taught by Cath.

 All in all, a great day out!

Maureen Ashton