43 hardy souls braved the elements of last Saturday to complete (or at least attempt to complete) the 3 courses of this Spring Cup event.Can’t fault the little ones, or indeed parents, for not turning up for the minor courses given the week of horrible weather that preceded the event and stayed for the day itself. Rewardingly though, 38 competitors tackled the Green course which was both technically and physically challenging.So take a big bow Lyle for that planning, the course described by one seasoned competitor as  “that was proper Orienteering” … something not easy to achieve in an area Read More …

Philip and Helen Baxter have kindly agreed to run this course on the evening of Thursday 19th March. It is primarily designed for WEE Course Planners, but anybody needing an update or revision is welcome. You will get help on installing the Condes course planning software (available to any club member, contact me for the licence info), but the primary aim is to gain an appreciation of what makes a decent course. The venue depends on numbers – ranging from the Baxters’ kitchen table to somewhere larger. If you’d like to join in, either email secretary@lvo.org.uk or leave a comment Read More …

This Wednesday (4th) Sporteering continues its travels, this time to Lisburn. Meeting at the Ground Coffee Shop on Lagan Bank Road, beside TK Max. Hopefully we’ll see some new faces come along to try it. I may even buy some buns if theres a good turn out. There is a carpark at Ground (free for up to 3 hrs) and a number of others along Lagan Bank Road. Sporteering is an excellent way to combine a training run with sharpening up your map reading and route choice on the move. The score format means that all abilities can decide on Read More …

Congratulations to those who braved Storm Jorge at Parkanaur, especially Planner Lyle Fleming and Controller Richard McCourt. Unfortunately a painful ankle stopped me being there as well. From the results the Colour Standards and Spring Cup tables have been updated and created respectively and can be found in the LVO Public Folders “Colour Standards” and “Club Colour Series” respectively. As Green was the top course on the day no-one could achieve better than Green as your current 2020 standard – you need to get to Castle Archdale next week to try to beat that. The relatively small turnout and the Read More …

I haven’t seen an announcement about the scoring for the Spring Cup series, so here’s how I intend to calculate the standings unless informed otherwise: Green – 4 classes – senior & junior men & women Orange – 4 classes – senior & junior men & women Yellow – 2 classes – junior men & women junior is taken to be age class 20 and younger Scoring is by place points amongst the LVO members taking part – for the slower amongst us this looks better than the NISeries which uses relative performance to assign points. Results from both events Read More …

This Wednesday (26th) Sporteering training ventures out of East Belfast to the Botanic / Gasworks area. Starting at the QUB McClay Library and finish at Clements Coffee Shop on Botanic Avenue for a brew and a chat. There is a carpark at the library and on street parking in the surrounding area. We’ll arrange a clothing and pocket money transfer to Clements so you don’t need to run back to the car before getting a cuppa. The following week we’ll head out to Lisburn, so lets see some new faces. Sporteering is an excellent way to combine a training run Read More …

Just a quick reminder about Spring Cup 1 at Parkanaur Forest this coming Saturday. As always, go to the Fixtures page on the LVO website for full details. https://lvo.org.uk/allfixtures/lvo-spring-cup-20-2/

With the upcoming NI Score and Night Champs as well as the starts of the NISeries and Spring Cup leagues you need to be aware that you won’t collect championship places, league points or colour standards if you are not a current member. You can check your membership status via the colour standards table (Resources>LVO Public Folders>Colour Standards>Colour Standards.pdf); if you are highlighted as green (New – welcome!) or clear you are ready to go; if you are pink or yellow your membership has lapsed and you don’t qualify. The table has been updated to show your best colour achieved Read More …

Could you please return any LVO Trophies you may hold to Gordon Stephens in readiness for this year’s prize-giving. Please help Gordon by delivering them to him at forthcoming events, ahead of the AGM (21st March). Also, congratulations to Billy Reed for completing over 100 miles on the One man standing event at Castleward this weekend! Incredible!

This Wednesday (19th) we’re slipping in an extra Sporteering event (sorry, training activity – gotta keep the BOF tally man happy !!). Running training doesn’t seem to be floating anyone’s boat post Xmas, so hopefully this will keep the regular Wednesday night club get-together going. Sporteering is an excellent way to combine a training run with sharpening up your map reading and route choice on the move. The score format means that all abilities can decide on how far and how long you want to stay out. To give us a break from Tim Hortons, we’re meeting at Slim’s Kitchen Read More …