Munster Barracks, Catterick, Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Blue course
If you can get the day of work, or not work at all, the Military League army orienteering events are great for the runner. I usually do not too badly in them, and over the years I’ve seen myself creep up the placings. The navigation is usually not too difficult and nowadays, more often than … Continue reading Military League North Orienteering Event
Ian Butler … “Don’t what ever you do lose the dibber” WOT, NO CROSS COUNTRY? LETS GO ORIENTEERING! The excitement had been building all week and my preparation was spot on. I was in peak condition and ready to go and face the onslaught known as the Harrier League Cross Country. I had even restricted … Continue reading October Odyssey Orienteering event
OK, strap yourself in. I’m turning the Nostalgia dial up to 11. Back in the day, when I was a lad, we’d often go to visit my grandparents in Peebles. My brother and I would spend weekends playing in Hay Lodge Park, jumpers for goalposts, and exploring the woods along the River Tweed. My grandparents … Continue reading Tweed Valley Tunnel Trail Run
It’s getting hard to be first-timer at any race in Striders nowadays. There are so many far-travelled adventurers competing in so many events that there’s often nothing new under the sun. I’d intended to do the Club La Santa Duathlon/Half-Marathon/Triathlon triple back in 2016 but I’m pretty sure even then that Neil Sleeman had already … Continue reading Club La Santa Triple
I’m a big fan of parkrun. Not that you’d know it given how infrequently I do them nowadays. Especially in the North East where we’re spoilt for choice. Probably something about Saturday mornings and 9AM, and running something short and fast and early. But whenever I’m away on holiday or for a short break, it’s … Continue reading Hay Lodge parkrun
Durban to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Sunday, June 9, 2019
86.83 km [UP run]
I’d not intended running Comrades again. Twice is a nice number. You can run Comrades to the end of your days, but you can only get the back-to-back medal once. As a novice, by successfully finishing your first two Comrades. I got that last year, but at a cost. It had been a bad race. … Continue reading Comrades Marathon
I woke to perfect conditions for this fast race. A 6km jog brought me to the school and a packed but well organised event. I think it’s hit its capacity now. I checked my bib to see what my starting pen was. Dalmation. A dalmation’s quite fast I think. I hope I didn’t put anything … Continue reading Mad Dog 9 – Bark to the Future
Orienteering isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and I hadn’t expected much of a response when I lobbed one of my periodical e-mails onto the list promoting a local event. It just made it all the nicer when first Nigel, Jan and then Shaun and Ros turned up at Cong Burn on a sparkly sunny cold … Continue reading Military League North (MLN)
Pietermaritzburg to Durban, South Africa, Sunday, June 10, 2018
90 kms [DOWN run]
Three days before Comrades I nipped into the Expo to collect my number. They make you feel special as an international runner with a special fasttrack queue that takes out much of the stress, and quite possibly, some of the fun. This left me plenty time to search for the Ethembeni School amongst the maze … Continue reading Comrades Marathon 2018
To say I was over-prepared for this race would be an understatement. After last year’s (frankly embarrassing) DNF I was determined to finish this year. On time and on budget. So I had done a lot of homework. I’m an IT tech and if there’s anything a tech hates, it’s a Single Point of Failure … Continue reading Calderdale Hike 2018