News 2004

Last Updated: 15/12/04

Club AGM

Thanks were given to Roger Smith who retired as Chairman after 3 years service. He was, however, elected onto the new committee along with existing members: Barrie Speake, Sue Adams, Dennis Hooton and Keith McDermott and new boy: Bill Griffiths. Jim Harrison and Peter Watson were reelected as Treasurer and Auditor, respectively.

The Betty Roberts award for dedicated service to the club was awarded to Vic Roberts.

The club had a successful year financially, although this was mainly due to a special deal with BOF over levy from the White Rose. Consequently the proposed increase in Membership Fees was postponed for a year.

There was considerable discussion over ways to encourage more volunteers to organise events. The most immediate problem is a lack of organiser and planner for the April Regional event at Barnescliff - any volunteers?

Successes in British Schools Champs

There were 2nd place podium places for 3 EBOR competitors in the British Schools Championships held on 21st Nov at Sandringham:

• Year  8 girls - Charlotte Myers
• Year  9 girls - Alice Leake
• Year 13 boys - Oystein Langberg

and York College won first place in the tertiary team competition. See here for more details and the Photo Gallery for pictures.

Matt in GB Squad for 2005

The GB squad for 2005 has just been announced and, not surprisingly considering his tremendous recent form, Matt Speake is in the senior men's team. Former club member Jenny Whitehead is again in the senior women's squad.

Great Start for Matt in Relays

In the final relay international of the season in Germany Matt Speake got the British Men's team off to a great start leaving the team in 2nd place after the 1st leg. Unfortunately the team could only manage to finish in10th place leaving them disappointed in =7th position overall for the season. The women's team finished the season on the podium in 6th.

Matt in WOC Sprint Final

Matt Speake finished 33rd in his first senior international - the World Orienteering Championships Sprint distance. Speake finished just 1 and a half minutes down on home favourite Niclas Jonasson who won the tight race by just 2.5 seconds from his Swedish team-mate Hakan Eriksson and Ukrainian Yuri Omeltchenko in equal 2nd. Speake should be pleased with his result, taking just 14 minutes for the 3.5km course through tough, technical terrain, and it certainly gives him something to build on in the coming years.

The more experienced members of the British were disappointed with no top-20 results Sarah Rollins (British Army) finishing 21st and Jon Duncan (Aberdeen) 26th. Reigning World Champion Simone Niggli-Luder of Switzerland defended her title in some style winning by an amazing 30-second margin.

In the Middle Distance event Heather Monro gained a top-10 place (9th.)

However, the best results were achieved in the relays, where the British men's team came 5th and the women's team came 6th.

For full results see: http://www.woc2004online.com/

JK Relay Entries

Compass Sport Cup Entries

This is an annual interclub competition and we have rarely done particularly well in it because, while we have always had good juniors and oldies, we have regularly lost our 21s to other clubs when they have gone to university or elsewhere for jobs. However, the new rules give more weighting to oldies like me so we're in with a chance this year. I think it's best if as many people as possible go, so don't worry if you think you're not good enough - there is no limit to the numbers we can have and it's our best ones on the day who count (and it's good to have back up in case the superstars mispunch).

The event is at Cawthorne near Barnsley (about 1 hour drive from York) on Sunday March 14th. Send/give/phone your entries to me by 20th February please in the following format:
Name BOF class SI no. Course Phone no.
Courses are: Orange, Light Green, Green (men), Green (women), Blue (men), Blue (women), Brown so unfortunately there's nothing for the very young members. Below are the rules on which courses you can run competitively (any one can run a longer course than the one suggested):

M/W14 or younger: Orange
M/W18 or 16: Light Green
W20: Green (women)
M20: Blue (men)
M21, 35, 40: Brown
W21, 35, 40: Blue (women)
M45, 50, 55: Blue (men)
W45+: Green (women)
M60+: Green (men)

We need at least 3 in all classes, 4 in Green (women) and Brown, 5 in Blue (men). There are various other rules that generally mean we need as many people as possible to enter (e.g. at least 1 of the Brown scorers can not be M21).

Looking forward to hearing from you as soon as possible (tell me if you want to run in the JK relays at the same time!).

Steve Whitehead
01904 634138
teteblanche@hotmail.com
7, Almery Terrace, York YO30 7DL