Depleted OD juniors reach national final

OCTAVIAN Droobers’ junior team made light of half-term absentees to seal their place in the National Final of the Yvette Baker Trophy.

The preliminary round was played out at the East Midlands event at Cademan Woods, Thringstone, Leicestershire and OD scored 890 points to progress to the July 1 to be held at Arrow Valley, Redditch.

Top scorers achieving 100 points were Oliver Flippance and Nathan Chapple, and scoring 99 were Finn WilliamsStein, Lewis Oxtoby, Florence Lunn and Felix Lunn.

Alongside this competition several OD club members had some great results on the courses planned by Leicestershire Orienteering Club.

Nathan Lawson (M21) was second in 58.25mins and Alistair Landels (M50) fifth in 65.18mins on the longest course, Brown 7.9km with 220 metres of climb. Rob Bambrook (M45) was sixth, top OD, on the 5.2km blue course in 61.35mins.

Harrison McCartney (M20) was the fastest runner at the Egypt Wood and Burnham Beeches event on the Chiltern Hills, organised by Herts Orienteering Club.

His time of 73.26mins was over five minutes ahead of the second placed runner on the 12.82km course. Kin Kwan Kwok (M21) was second in 7.45mins and Alfie Bullus (M18) third in 60.09mins on the Blue 7.45km course.

Competing in the British Night Championships at Merthyr Mawr in Wales, Felix Lunn was fourth on the M16 class course, Anne Straube was second on the W45 course, Sheila Carey second on the W70 course, Liz Phillips fourth on the W50 course, Mykyta Chubynsky first on the M40 Short course and Heather Phipps second on the W45 Short course.

There will be a local event at the Memorial Park, Coventry on Saturday, March 10, between 10am and noon. Courses from 1.5km up to 5km will be suitable for beginners as well as experienced orienteers. Families are especially welcome to try out this outdoor adventure sport. See www.octavian-droobers.org or call 01926 632189.