Strensall Common is a fine orienteering area, though the event we hold every year certainly does not show it at it's best.
This event has become an institution in the orienteering calendar, an event has been held here around this time of year, most years, since the 1970's, though I am sure it has not been continuous and therefore not creating a record. The date chosen has always been as a result of the narrow access window to the common, as the shooting ranges close down for the Christmas break.
As I said, this date does not do the area justice, but I know many of you look forward to this annual fixture - perhaps as the start of a new orienteering year or simply a method of getting rid of the extra pounds put on over the festive season. Those members of Ebor who train on Strensall in the spring and summer months really enjoy running in the dryer heathland terrain, which is so different from most orienteering areas.
I tried really hard to steer the courses through the most interesting and drier (!) parts of the area and I hope you enjoyed the courses as a result. This was made easier through the use of electronic punching, but harder by the wetter than usual conditions and the awful weather on the day. I hope the marvellous figure of 279 entries on the day were not put off from returning to Strensall - our long term plans are to enable you to see it at it's best in a summer event next time.
My thanks to Barrie Speake for his understanding when controlling the event - his thorough knowledge of the area enabled the event to go ahead without a hitch when the timetable started to slip as personal circumstances threatened to overtake me.
Thank you all for turning out, it makes all our efforts worthwhile.
Happy New Year.
Nev Myers
Strensall is deceiving. It looks easy because it is flat, but is really quite technical and physical. At this time of the year it is always going to be wet, but this year was exceptional. I hope this did not spoil your visit and trust you will return at sometime in the future.
We all talk of numbers being down, but Strensall seems to buck the trend as numbers have increased over the past 3 years. Almost 300 turned out on this occasion.
Using electronic punching allowed Nev to take you into the best areas of the common, giving you plenty of direction change, challenging your navigation skills to the full. I hope most of you were able to rise to the challenge and enjoy your course despite the wet and rain on the day.
Barrie Speake
We were both pleased to see the good turn out to this event. It was difficult to gauge the expected numbers, with only two telephone enquiries before the event, checking details, it proved unusually quiet on the Saturday evening compared to previous events we have organised.
Ebor members proved themselves once again. All helpers offered to help, so no desperate phone calls had to be made to twist people’s arms to help, this does make a difference! Many thanks to them.
The weather did deteriorate during the morning, but many people did express their enjoyment of the event, dispite this and thanked us for our efforts.
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Jan & Graham Todd