Author: Alan Gartside

Rather belatedly, the hCALF tables have been updated with the Stormont results, and include a slight resetting of previous table scores due to a late membership renewal generating retrospective recalculations. Apologies for the delay, but the last 2 weeks have seen a LOT of course map preparation and printing, with 2 NI Champs, 2 WEE, 1 NISeries, 1 Urban and 3 TempO all needing attention. As soon as the Crawfordsburn results become available I shall get the tables up-to-date as Crawfordsburn marks the point where regulars will reach their fourth event and can start to discard poor results thereafter.

On Saturday, in addition to the 2 NIChamps events, there will be the first instalment of the 2024 LVO TrailO Champs. It will take the form of a TempO cluster, in which the competitor, from a static position, has to decide (against the clock) which of the visible kites (or perhaps none of them) matches the given control site info (circle & description). There will be 5 kites on view and 6 decisions to be made. The venue will be in Slemish College, in the quadrangle to the side of the main building. There will be direction signs from the Read More …

It’s welcome to new members Jamie Allsop and Sophia Wang, who dipped their toes in the O-water at Lady Dixon. Unfortunately Sophia failed to finish, but Jamie’s result has been put into the hCALF calculations. As this was his first event his time is used to calculate his handicap going forward so the points are not affected in either of the hCOW or Regatta tables but the Handicap table shows Jamie what he’ll be working to improve.

On the website home page, go to “STANDINGS” and click on “hCALF 2024”. Of the handicap holders there are 28 getting points, only 18 missing out and 14 first-timers getting their handicap – WEE is getting popular! Both hCOW and Regatta tables are place-point based so the lower your score, the better (but with 7 events in the series you’ll need 4 to count). Think of Regatta (improvement) as your reward for climbing the handicap mountain and hCOW (regularity) for not falling off the plateau.

You can access the tables from the “STANDINGS” section of the website, then go to “hCOW>hCOW2024”. The event results reveal a large fluctuation in handicaps (variance), both up and down – looks like some folk went well and others had problems. The hCOW Table (that’s points for regularity) won’t start showiing the true picture until after Moydamlaght, when those with 5 results (the required number) will be at the head of the list. At the moment, amongst those with three scores to date, Ric Gamble has a substantial lead over Moire O’Sullivan – does a stint as club Chairman make Read More …

The usual tables are available at “STANDINGS>hCALF2024”. The hCOW table shows the points (place points so the lower the better) for being closest to your handicap (once the allowance for the terrain speed has been factored in), the Handicap table shows your history of handicap variation and the Regatta table shows your points (again place points) for beating your handicap. This week saw almost a doubling of participants and congratulations to Sharon Dickenson – it’s not often a handicap can be improved by more than a minute!. The UUJ terrain – urban – raises the issue of measuring course length. Read More …

With the first WEE event of the summer taking place last Wednesday, the hCOW spreadsheets have been dusted down to cover the 8-event WEE series. The “hCALF2024” tables will be available via the “STANDINGS” section of the website. At the moment the only entry shows the intial handicap settings for those members who finished the Long course at Ormeau. Nice to see James Ewart celebrating his selection for Lagganlia by beating all the bad guys round Ormeau! With 7 scoring events in the series it will be the best 4 results to count in both the hCOW (handicap regularity) and Read More …

After a slight delay, the various performance tables have been updated with the Drum Manor results. The official NI Series tables can be downloaded from the NIOA website, but a copy can be viewed at “OneDrive Public>NI Series>NISeries20024.pdf”. The colour standards table can be viewed at “STANDINGS>Colour Standards>Colour Standards.pdf” As was warned after Drumkeeragh 4 events would drop out of the 12-month window before Drum Manor so quite a few folk have lost their current colour status. The hCOW tables can be viewed at “STANDINGS>hCOW>hCOW2024”. The Event2… table shows that only 2 out of the 38 results showed an event Read More …

I’m planning to set up a TrailO exercise at our top-grade events this year. It will take the form of a TempO cluster near assembly or on the way to the start. It is the intention (assuming all the stars align!) to have one at each of: Carnearney 1st June Slieve Martin 22nd June Tollymore campsite 22nd June Whitespots 7th September Glenarriff 19th October and, if re-arranged, Castlewellan. The results will be combined to form the Club TrailO Championship 2024. This was last contested in 2018, won by Lyle Fleming. It’s time an attempt was made to wrest his crown Read More …

The various tables can now be seen . Being the first colour event of the year there’s not much meat on the bones but they can help guide your preparation for what’s to come. The official NISeries tables are available for download from the NIOA website but can be viewed (without downloading) at “Resources>OneDrive Public>NISeries>NISeries2024.pdf”. They show that Planner Olivia and the weather conspired to make it a tough day out. The Colour Standards can be viewed at “STANDINGS Colour Standards>Colour Standards.pdf”. With three events dropping off the 12 month window there are several examples of standards being lost (not Read More …