NOY2 – West Wallsend
Event: NOY2
Location: West Wallsend – The Range
Entries: 90
Weather: Fine, warm
Round 2 of the “Newcastle Orienteer of the Year” series was contested on the northern sections of “The Range” map at West Wallsend yesterday morning with competitors gaining a good feel for track conditions during the 400 metre muddy walk in to the assembly area. The area is still quite wet and a fair portion of the mid eastern section was deemed unusable by the course setter Geoff Peel restricting the middle of the map to a narrow band. Fortunately the North Eastern section of the map had detail added to it recently, allowing all of the red courses to traverse an early loop of that section.
We had a good roll up with the “easier” courses being dominated by a large group of young local “Pathfinders” than bolstered our numbers. These guys were very enthusiastic some of them completing three courses through the day. We think they might be back for more, later in our calendar of events. Rob Vincent only managed a second placing in the Long red but the narrow margin between he and first placed Steven Todkill should ensure he maintains the series lead. The Medium Red course was the most fiercely contested with the top three places all within 2 minutes over the 5km course with Ian Rigby coming out on top. Andrew Haigh may have taken the top placing but his route choice through the green rather than the longer (but ultimately quicker) track run cost him some time. Jenny Enderby backed up her great Easter result with another top performance placing third.
The real stars of the day were the control collection volunteers that converted a 4-hour placement to a 45-minute collection. Thanks to those people as it made this task very manageable.
Our next big event is the State Leagues at Abernethy in a fortnight. This is pre-enter for the competition proper so get your entry in NOW, but does offer some enter on the day (EOD) courses. Don’t miss it, especially the Sunday event that is being run on a new map.
Credits
Geoff Peel: course setting, control placement, set-up, control collection
Margaret Peel: control placement, set-up, registration, pack-up, control collection
Bob Gilbert: finish and control collection.
Cheryl Todkill: registration
Carolyn Matthews: control collection
Robert Preston: control collection
Denis Lyons: mapping, finish and control collection