Latest on the Compass Sport Trophy from George Crawford-Smith.Click here to read. Full details now available - please sort your own entries out via fabian. George should have e mailed you as well. If you haven't recieved an e mail from him please contact him with your details if you are a BOF + PFO member.

Jamie Hoyle has written the following about the quiz night on his blog - and allowed me to copy it for the website, Thanks Jamie!

On 8th July 2010, 32 people from PFO and SELOC took part in a Quiz Night to raise funds for their respective club nights. After a closely competed 60 questions, the PFO Yorkies won the quiz… However SELOC claimed the raffle!

The Winning Team was…
Jim Mitchell M65
Richard Catlow M60
John Ashton M21 (!)
Gillian Rowan-Wilde W21 (!)

The winning team said…"we were lucky! We were good guessers – right up to Cyprus at the winning end!"

Well done to the Yorkies , who beat the SELOC team on a tie-breaker after both teams finished on 52/60 points.

My team, “anything but the rap!” scored 49 points – not bad!

Thanks to Carole and Gillian who organised the event, Maureen who sold the raffle tickets and Anne in charge of the questions.

Jamie Hoyle.

Help wanted with Street Games in Burnley. These will involve orienteering type activities in our club area. Hamish is asking for volunteers to help him. Click here for more information.

The annual Compass Sport Trophy first round has been re-scheduled and will be held on Sunday 12th September 2010 at the MEROC Formby Sandunes regional event on the Lancashire coast. [The original first round was cancelled due to snow back in January.] The assembly and start location to the south of the area have yet to be confirmed, so please keep an eye on the MEROC website for details. www.meroc.co.uk

PFO have entered the club en masse so please put this date in your diary. Everyone scores points with the best counting towards the club total. This is a cracking area of challenging detail so do please run for your club. If we win through, then the final is at Burbage Moor, near Sheffield, on 17th October. Go on, put that in your diary too!

All entries must be made by the PFO CST co-ordinator, George Crawford-Smith, who is building the team list. Please let him know of your intention to run by e-mailing georgecrawfordsmith@gmail.com. Entry fees have not yet been set but will be paid to George or Carole Pilling on the day. Dibber hire will be organised nearer the day with monies (usually £1 each) being paid separately from entries.

For your score to count you MUST be a member of BOF & PFO on the competition date. Read more...

Maureen and Carole would like to thank all who came to the quiz and all who donated raffle prizes. It was an enjoyable evening and although SELOC won most of the raffle prizes, PFO teams won the quiz so honour was shared!
Negotiations are under way for an outdoor bowling challenge - no experience is necessary so watch out for any further news!

The North West Junior squad including Sophie Horrocks from PFO were victorious at a very hot JIRCS at the weekend in South Wales. Sophie came 9th in the W18s. Full results are on the SWOC website.

Congratulations to Jamie Hoyle

After school exams last week, followed by the Staghills event on Saturday, Club Night at Clowbridge on Wednesday, Jamie Hoyle then went on to the Finals of the Lancashire Schools Maths challenge on Thursday at Chorley. Phew! (Does he have time to eat or sleep?)

This annual competition is open to all pupils in year 7 in Lancashire. After several tense heats the final takes place with the very best competing under very strict conditions. Complete silence throughout the competition as the pupils battle it out to complete the tasks succuessfully in the fastest time. Not suitable for the fainthearted!
Suffice to say, Jamie was not flustered by any of it and came out champion.
A brilliant result Jamie and so very well deserved.

Best wishes, Maureen
P.S. Take a well earned rest now.

Staghills Woods Sat 12th. Congratulations to both Andy Ellis and Lee Trickett who were battling it out for the top spot on the orange course at Staghills on Saturday. It was good to see their results as both are regulars at Club night on Wednesday evenings. So well done to Andy who finished first in a time of 38.20, a good five minutes ahead of Lee. First lady home was Kate Willis in a time of 41.12. Excellent results from all three.

The yellow course had no competitors which is most unusual, but the White course was won by William Ellis, probably shadowed by mum, and sister Eleanor came third. I think Eleanor was helping her teacher, Averil around the course as she was keen to have a go at orienteering.

Second place went to Mia Trickett, shadowed by dad, after his own run.
Well done to you all and hope you can make it to Peel Park in a couple of weeks time.

Whilst all the children were having fun outdoors, I was helping Joe in the cafe. We had both been busy making a variety of cakes, buns and biscuits to sell and since we had the use of the kitchen it made sense to serve hot drinks too. Sincere thanks to all who supported the cake stall and we manged to raise over £50 on the day.

We were so grateful to the headteacher, Averil Culverhouse, for the generous use of the school for our event. It made registration and downlaod much easier and it was good to see competitors discussing their routes socially and enjoying a 'nice cup of tea'!

Maureen

Steve Vernon from British Orienteering recently presented PFO with their clubmark certificate at a Club Night in Whitaker Park Rawtenstall. To read the full Rossendale Free Press article click here.

Hamish has resigned as PFO Chairman. Bill (as Vice Chairman) will act as Chair until the AGM in September.

From the minutes of the committee meeting 22/04/10.
"Before the meeting began Bill gave a word of thanks and appreciation to Hamish from the PFO committee for all the hard work he has put into the club whilst being Chairman. Hamish was sorry that he had had to resign from the Chairmanship and said that it was due to a conflict of interest with his work within BOF that did not give him sufficient time as he would have wished to carry out his duties within PFO as Chairman."

Hamish's Statement:

"It is with regret that I had to resign as Chairman of PFO due to work commitments of working for British Orienteering and Club and Coach. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee for the support that they gave me as chairman."
Hamish.

Remember to check for ticks after orienteering! Many people will be aware that ticks can transmit Lyme disease - caused by bacteria called Borrelia. Early symptoms may include tiredness, chills, fever, headache, muscle and/or joint pain, swollen lymph glands and blurred vision. A characteristic skin rash may appear. It is generally a circular rash that may clear in the centre, resulting in a "Bull's eye" appearance.

Check yourself for ticks whenever you have visited a place where they may have been present. Do this both immediately and for up to three days after any outdoor visit. This may allow you to see any adult tick that has attached. Once it has started to feed, its blood-engorged body will make it very visible. If you find a tick, remove it as soon as possible. Your main aims are to remove all parts of the tick’s body and to prevent it releasing additional saliva or regurgitating its stomach contents into your bite wound.

Ideally use a proprietary tick removal tool - available from vets and pet shops! A lot more information is available on the Lyme Disease Association website (where this information came from) or BBC health and NHS direct websites.

 

There was a very good turnout of 51 entries for the Hameldon Woods Saturday morning event on 22nd May. Despite the very hot weather 25 people attempted the 4.6 km Light Green course. Mike + David Wallis made the most of the small area and gave us a good course with plenty of changes of direction to keep us on our toes. Eugenio Carvalho won with a time of just over 40 minutes. The registration + SI team were grateful for the partial shade provided by the new club tent. Thanks to Kath Wallis for organising the event and Mike + David for planning. Thanks also to all the other helpers without whom the Saturday morning events couldn't take place. Don't forget to put your routes on Routegadget.

Seven PFO members joined with SELOC members to attend the B.O. Training Day at Graythwaite on 15th May and some then stayed overnight to use their new skills at the LOC event. The training day was organised by B.O. but led by PFO coaches Cath + Steve Wilson and George Crawford-Smith. It was a useful day with several different exercises to try and ended with a clock relay to get everyone into "race mode" before Sunday.

The ones who stayed up in the Lake District were joined by other PFO members for the Pike O Blisco event on the Sunday. After a warm sunny Saturday the Sunday looked less promising with light rain and grey cloud. This cleared by the time most people had walked up to the start (40-60 mins) and the views were spectacular making it well worth the climb. Full results are here. They are in colour classes rather then age groups which makes it a bit more difficult to see people's "true" positions but Alex Willis won his M20(S) class (and the Short Blue as a whole) and Jamie Hoyle came 7th in the Orange with a time of 25.04 at what must be his first regional event.

Quiz Night - PFO are hoping to hold a quiz night with SELOC. The venue is likley to be Haslingden Cricket Club on Thursday July 8th.
If you are interested and want to take part on that night please email Carole to let her know by Tues 1st June.

Congratulations to Sophie Horrocks on selection for the North West team going to the Junior Inter-Regional Championships in Wales at the end of June.

'Welcome to the club' - Jack Cryer(M12) from Todmorden has recently joined PFO and seems to be enjoying the challenge of competing at as many courses as are on offer at the Saturday morning events. He never seems to run out of energy either! He is becoming a regular at the Wed. night training sessions too.
STOP PRESS.........
After his success at Sunnyhurst Woods on 8th May Jack travelled with Jim, Gillian and Helen to EPOC's event at Haw Park on Sunday. He should be extremely proud of his fantastic result - on the Orange course he came 2nd. just 3 seconds behind the winner. EPOC results here. WELL DONE JACK on a super weekend.

Sunnyhurst Wood, Darwen Sat. 8th May

Pendle Forest Orienteers had a very good turn out on Saturday at their event at Sunnyhurst Wood in Darwen.
The weather was very kind and having the Visitors Centre as the focal point for the start and finish made it a very sociable area.

The most popular course on the day was the 60 minute Score where competitors had to decide which controls sites to visit from the first half of the map before turning over to do the second half. There were time penalties for anyone coming in late.
The only person to achieve the maximum score of 600 points was Ben Smith from PFO who has just returned from New Zealand. Read more.......

Sunnyhurst Wood Event - organisers comments.
Many thanks to all the PFO members who willingly came along to help out on Saturday. it made my life easier as organiser knowing I had plenty of support. The event ran very smoothly indeed. I hope everyone enjoyed their day.

The 60 minute score course was the most popular, I encouraged lots of runners to come along and use it as a training run with a difference! Unfortuantely, the date clashed with a fell race on Pendle, but something to think about for future events?

Many thanks once again, Maureen

Well done at the British Champs.

A small group of 6 PFO members travelled to the British Champs at Cannock Chase today. None of them won but I am sure they enjoyed the challenge of running against the best!

Chris Mitchell mispunched unfortunately, but Jim, Mike, George, Gillian and Sophie all had good solid runs. Well done for flying the flag for PFO.

Apologies if I have missed anyone out. Maureen

Several PFO members travelled down to Devon for the JK 2010. Friday was the sprint event at Bicton attended by the earlier arrivals to Devon. The differing terrains of Cooksworthy Forest + the sand dunes of Braunton then followed on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately we didn't get a relay team together. We did however make an appearance at the prizegiving - to recieve our Clubmark Certificate. Some club members are pictured opposite with the certificate. Results from the event are available here.

North West Regional League new for 2010.
2010 will be the inaugural year for the North West Regional League. It will be based on standard 5 year age groups. For more information and the list of "counting events" click here.

PFO Helpers needed for British Schools Score Championships in Oct 2010. Read more here.

Young Orienteer - New Blog by Jamie Hoyle. Click here to read about his orienteering progress. Jamie started orienteering in Sept 2009 and already has progressed to do several orange courses and a night event.

Wycoller, the fundraising event for 'Help for Heroes' on 20th March made just over £80. To read more about the event + PFO members achievments on 21st March click here.

Jim Mitchell's A-Z of orienteering venues.

"Perhaps the most exciting part of Compass Sport DEC09 is 'CompassSport 99' - complete with Insert. It is like Munro bagging but done for Orienteering Areas on a County by County basis across the UK. Get the mag for the full details."

We now have our own (semi) local A-Z of orienteering venues compiled (with tongue firmly in cheek) by Jim Mitchell. How many have you been to. Do you agree with Jim's comments? How about the CompassSport 99. Any takers to claim the most visited? Comments and claims to the webmaster - a small prize could be available!

For news items from September 2009 - March 2010 click here.

For newpaper articles from 2008-09 click here.