Nopesport

A friend of mine says that orienteering in East Anglia is a different sport to that practiced elsewhere in the UK. A flat and a fast burn around the paths is the general perception of East Anglia and at Broomhill, day 2 of the Thetford Thrash, was no exception. The fastest routes, particularly on the long legs, were round the paths. For some sections, the heavy bracken, undergrowth and very closely planted young trees meant that it was better on even some of the short legs to hit the paths.

Day 1, Mildenhall Woods North, is one of the nicest areas in the Thetford Forest. A good mix of block forest and deciduous woodlands, with some rough open areas, the whole area was very runnable, allowing direct route choices for most legs. The area is quite small (A4 at 1:10,000) and the longer courses used two maps. It was very enjoyable despite the fine drizzle to start with. There was some discussion afterwards about whether tripods in the block forest are "bingo" controls, opinions, not surprisingly, seemed to correlate with whether the control had been found cleanly or not!

"Day 2 was also the 30th running of the Icenian event, CUOC's annual public event. The Icenian Trophy is awarded to the club with the lowest time behind the winner for the best ten age classes. In recent years it's been a three way battle between the larger local clubs and this year saw an emphatic victory for NOR beating last years winners SOS and 2003 winners WAOC. In years gone by, names like Walton Chasers and Southern Navigators appeared on the trophy as winners. The entry is predominantly local but there was a good selection of UK clubs represented and there were two Swedish clubs represented this year too."

Individual results are here.

PorkyFatBoy