Wykeham & Broxa MBO Organiser’s Comments

2014 Wykeham and Broxa 30000 Working Drawing with Controls 31st July

Thanks to Dave Evans for an excellent course which tested our navigation as well as our fitness. It is very different terrain to Malham but the weather stayed dry for both events – unlike the rest of the country. Thanks to Wykeham Estate and Hackness Village Hall for an excellent event centre.

I was disappointed to overhear a few experienced riders moaning about ‘hunt the thimble’ and ‘******* ridiculous’ without thinking about the effort that goes into planning and organising these events or considering that they might actually have made a mistake. If you have got some constructive criticism, please think about it and have a quiet word with me after the event. If you have only got negative comments, then keep them to yourself or ride somewhere else. I had difficulty heading up the right track out of Wrench Green, finding 53 due to a fallen tree, 58 as I read the wrong description and 45 which was further down than I expected but they were all my fault.

All of the controls were exactly as marked on the map and as described on the description list except for #58 which caused a problem because it just read ‘100m north of …..’ with the word ‘junction’ missing. I have credited 3 riders with this control so please let me know if you couldn’t find it and I will adjust your score. Unfortunately, Dave forgot to put out any tape which would have helped some riders find some controls more quickly so I will remind all future planners!

I thoroughly enjoyed my ride, despite those 4 mistakes, having decided to head clockwise into Wykeham then across the valley through Broxa onto the northern escarpment so that I finished down Whisperdale. Everything went according to plan and some of the views were fantastic. These are working forests so there have been a few changes which Dave hadn’t spotted such as the new track between #47 and #42 and the new forest road between #45 and #51. Jens will add these and others to the map before next time – but thanks for another excellent map. Thanks also to the helpers especially Geoff Moorhouse who stepped in at the last minute so that I could have a ride.

Rik Thompson (M21) took advantage of Andy & Andrew’s absence to record the highest score of the day for the first time this year with 463. Graham Fielding (M50) came 2^nd with 435 and Martin & Max Vesty tied for 3^rd place with John Galway on 400 (2^nd M50) who was riding for the first time this year and used his local knowledge to good effect. Conrad Ellison won M40 with 395 and Geoff Moorhouse won M60 with 376 – – funny how the person in charge of download always seems to do well!!!!

In the Women’s section, Jill Ellison won W40 with 280 followed by Karen Blackburn W60-260, Ceri Williams W50-240 then Brittany Scowcroft W21-235. Andrea & Steve Foster won X50 with 358 well ahead of Ralph & Chris Defty (293), X21 Simon Walker & Katy Cawthorn (310) and X60 Karen Clark & Steve Roberts (275). Finally, Brendan & Evan Smurthwaite won the Generation class with 205 points thanks to Max & Martin riding M21.

John Dixon will add these (and Malham) results to the league which will be posted in the next couple of days. We have decided to ignore Kevin Smith’s brilliant score at Malham for the NYMBO League so your percentage will be based on Graham Fielding’s score of 697.

I am planning the Westmorland OMM Bike event from Orton (near Tebay) on Saturday & Sunday 6/7^th September and Jens has drawn the map. It’s a great area that is rarely visited but online entries for the main courses have now closed. However, there is a Non-Competitive 3 hour course available each day and you can still enter online at www.bmbo.org.uk.

If you don’t want to compete but fancy riding in this area I still need a couple of volunteers to help me put out or collect controls from Friday to Monday. Please email me at stevewillis3@btinternet.com if you would like to help. OMM will pay your travel expenses and provide a free evening meal each evening!!

Our next league event is at Dalby Forest on Saturday 20^th September

You can make it a full weekend if you ride in the Moors Marathon on Sunday and camping is available at the event centre at the Fox & Rabbit.

Hope to see you at another event soon..

Here is the updated League table after the Cropton weekend

NYMBO League 14 after 7 events

Here are both Score event maps

2014 Cropton and Newtondale 30000 Working Drawing with Controls 17th June

2014 Rosedale 50000 Working Drawing with Controls 6th July

Here are the combined Score events results

National Champs Combined Results

Here are the combined results for all 3 events

Cropton Weekend Combined Results

Splits for all 3 events are on the Results page

National Weekend Organiser’s Comments

The New Inn made an excellent event centre for a busy weekend of mountain bike orienteering which was blessed with beautiful weather until Saturday night followed by some of the wettest, muddiest riding this year on Sunday. Camping was idyllic and the planners had designed three very different but testing courses – and at least the sun returned for the prizegiving.

Thanks to Emily Benham and Jens for 3 excellent maps, the helpers and especially the control collectors who went out after their rides.

MTBO Saturday morning

It was a 3k ride to the start which warmed everybody up then a furious dash around the forest with Al Powell, Tim Evans and Euan Tebbitt leading the field on the 3 courses. There was some confusion as to what was legal riding as Andrew had planned some legs where riders had to cut through the forest. Unfortunately, we hadn’t realised that this isn’t allowed at IOF events but, as most of our riders didn’t know this and Andrew had said to some riders that it was ok, we have decided not to amend the results. Apologies to Charley who rode to IOF standard and lessons for Andrew and me for next time – if we’re asked!!

MBO Score – Cropton Forest

It was good warm up for the afternoon event planned by Michael Brough who had given us an excellent spread of controls across both forests. Andrew Windrum used his morning ride collecting controls to good effect only missing 4 controls. The forest is getting more overgrown each year – especially after the summer we have had – so some of the tracks weren’t as good as when Michael planned his course. I approached 41 from the north and regretted it – but the lovely bridleway down through 55 made up for it.

MBO Score – Rosedale

It’s a pity the weather changed for this event as Tony had planned an excellent and challenging course at his first attempt. Scores would have been slightly higher if the tracks had still been firm and dry but I must apologise for not realising that the competition area was far too large. It was intended to be a 5 hour event initially but I decided to change it to 4 hours to fit into the NYMBO league. I know that the low scores spoiled the event for many riders but at least we all get a proportion of Andrew’s winning score of only 339 points! I didn’t enjoy the first hour of my ride as I plodged across the field bridleways west of Appleton le Moor – except for the lovely descent into Hutton le Hole. Rudland Rigg was tough but the singletrack from West Gill Head through the heather and bracken tunnel was exhilarating. I knew it was going to be a tough climb out of Farndale to Blakey Rigg but the ride along the old railway line overlooking Rosedale then down across Spaunton Moor was brilliant.

Thanks to Spaunton & Rosedale estates for letting us use some private tracks and the permissive bridleway on the old railway free of charge. (Please remember that we only had permission to ride the private tracks on Sunday). We have been able to donate £1 per rider (so £53) to the Scarborough & Ryedale Search & Rescue Team.

Rosedale Planner’s Comments

What happened on Saturday night? Apart from some excessive vegetation growth the trails were hard and fast on Saturday. The transformation over night was remarkable and more like we would expect after a week of rain. Sorry but that was totally out of my hands. This was always going to be a tough course over a large area with some big climbs at the top of the map. The deluge at the start added to the conditions and I was very impressed with the smiley faces and patience of the competitors waiting to start.

This was my first attempt at planning and Steve gave me a challenging introduction with Rosedale and Farndale. I ride this area a lot but still found a few bridleways which were new to me during the early stages of the planning. I wanting to give riders an opportunity to visit many of the wonderful single tracks we have in this area. I kept the roadside controls to a minimum. There was some “easy” riding if you got onto the old railway and took the moorland top tracks south back towards Cropton.

There were two points of contention. Control 86 in the woods north of Gillamoor was about 100m from where it was marked on the map so my apologies and anyone who didn’t find it has been awarded the points. The only other point I know about was some riders had difficulty locating the start of the bridleway from the road to control 91. It is there. The first 30 metres were a little over grown and it starts about 10 meters south of the bridleway post but you can still make out the single track striking south west from the road. Is this something that I should have pointed out at the start? So a few things learnt should I have the opportunity to plan another one.

I hope those that managed to ride the single track off Rudland Rigg to Low Mill enjoyed it despite the Jurassic bracken growth. It’s got to be one of the top five single tracks on the moors and I do recommend coming back and riding in dry conditions.

As a natural worrier the control collection has been niggling me for months especially considering the size of the area. So a huge thanks to those who helped bring them in after a tough four hours beforehand.

Finally I should give James and Sam a mention who ride with my ‘muddybums’ group and stick with me for numerous trips into the area as well as helping putting the controls out, collection and planning parts of the course.

I think that’s it. Manchester airport is waiting for me.

Tony Harker

Combined BMBO Championship Results

Scores from both events counted for the overall Championships so congratulations to the winners although it’s a pity that only 32 riders rode in both events.

M40 & Overall Mens Champion – Andrew Windrum

W50 & Overall Women’s Champion – Charlotte Somers- Cocks

M21 Chris Dodd

M50 Graham Fielding

M60 John Dixon

W40 Sheila Pearce

W60 Karen Blackburn

X50 Andrea & Steve Foster

X60 Karen Clark & Steve Roberts

PS Does anyone know where the Men’s trophy is?

Combined NYMBO Weekend Results

I changed Saturday morning’s times into points and added them to the combined Score event points and was able to give prizes to 6 of the 10 riders who competed in all 3 events. So congratulations to Alan Hartley (M40-702), Charley Somers-Cocks (W50-681), John Rawden (M50-672), Ben Martin (M21-606), John Butler (M60-574), Mary Carrick (W60-315).

Our next 2 events are on the August Bank Holiday as usual.

Saturday 23^rd August – Malham Show– 4 hours

Monday 25^th August – Wykeham & Broxa Forest – 3 hours

Hope you can make it to them both.

Steve

Here is the full map of the forest for Saturday morning. Riders will be given a pre-marked extract at 1-16,000 when they Start. The Start is on the east edge of Spiers House Campsite

Cropton MTBO 2014

We have got 25 entries for Saturday morning, 70 entries for Saturday afternoon and 50 entries for Sunday. There will be spare maps as usual for entries on the day. Hope to see you there.

Le Tour at Ripon results

Thanks to David Day for planning and organising this event. It’s just a pity that there were only 14 riders but you can buy the maps and descriptions from Moonglu if you want to have a go

Le Tour, Ripon Treasure Hunt – 6 July 2014

A disappointing entry but perhaps people enjoyed the previous day’s visit by Le Tour so much that they went for more as it passed nearby.

M50 Simon Carr cleaned up & would not have been late back if a road sign at clue 9 had not been removed during the previous week, unknown to me! The majority of other entrants were Generation teams and it was a close run thing between father & son Chapman and mother & (younger) daughter Chapman – only 10 points in it so moral victory to girl powered team. Sam Hart’s excuse for being beaten by the Chapmans was that he had to keep waiting for his Dad, Joe who had refused to enter as an individual because he knew his (17 year old) son would beat him.

There were lots of cyclists about at the weekend so it was a shame that more of them did not give bike O a try. Many thanks to Moonglu cycle shop of Ripon & owner Neil Dunkley who provided the prizes. Well done to all who entered for the first time.

David Day Organiser & Planner

Maps without controls are now available for next weekend – click on the images below:

The venue for the weekend is New Inn, Cropton Village, YO18 8HH (GR 756 890), 2 miles north of the A170 at Wrelton = 4 miles NW of Pickering. Parking, Camping, Registration, refreshments and toilets at the New Inn.

Saturday – Cropton Forest MTBO
6-8km MEDIUM MBO EVENT with a 40-50 minute winning time

REGISTER 8.30 – 9.30
STARTS 9.00 – 10.00 2km ride from Registration
Online entry by Wednesday 9th July

Saturday – Cropton Forest – 3 hour SCORE event (with a 2 hour option for NOVICES)

REGISTER 11.30 – 12.45
STARTS 12.00 – 13.00
Online entry by Wednesday 9th July

Sunday – Rosedale and Farndale – 4 hour SCORE event (with a 2 hour option for NOVICES)

REGISTER 10.30 – 11.45
STARTS 11.00 – 12.00
Online entry by Wednesday 9th July

Here is the updated league table after Washburn. 6 events to go!

NYMBO League 14 after 5 events

Washburn Organiser’s Comments

It’s a pity the weather changed for this event – cool and damp wasn’t what I had in mind when I was packing the car – but at least the tracks were firm after the dry weather for the last month. Neil planned an excellent and challenging course at his first attempt which everyone seemed to enjoy and it was great to be riding a relatively unknown area.

There were 2 main choices – clockwise or anti-clockwise and work out when to visit the controls in the valley. Anti-clockwise seemed to be better as you could ride quickly across Askwith Moor and down to Denton. I’m glad I chose that way after visiting Timble and Beecroft as I hadn’t been there since I stopped orienteering in the 90’s. I wonder if it may be big enough for an MTBO event next year?

Congratulations to Graham Fielding (M50) who won overall with an impressive 427 points but I think he could have got even more if he had chosen similar routes to Ray Morriss and Martin & Max Vesty who were only 10 and 7 points behind for second overall and to win M60 and M21 respectively.

This was Ray’s 4^th consecutive win despite a nasty injury in Stainburn Forest which required 14 stitches at Otley Hospital before he could go home. It was great to see the Vesty’s back at NYMBO events after Max’s exams. They are riding in M21 now so look out Rik & Ben as they have enough events left to catch you up.

Phill Collings won M40 for the first time with 411, just 2 points more than Conrad, while Charlie Somers Cocks won W50 with the best women’s score of 371 points – 6 points ahead of Sue Booth who won W40. Adrian & Luke Parker won the Generation class with an impressive 370 points but 40 points behind Nathan who was the first and only Youth with 415 points and 5^th overall. Steve & Fionnuala won the Mixed category at their first attempt with 245 points

Thanks as ever to Jens for another excellent map and the helpers who made everything run smoothly as well as Norwood Village Hall for an excellent event centre. Thanks to the Forestry Commission and Yorkshire Water for letting us use lots of private tracks free of charge. We have been able to donate £1 per rider (so £83) to the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association.

Final thanks to everyone who stopped to help Roger Tyler, especially Jenny Sutton who took him to Harrogate Hospital and was with him all afternoon until his wife arrived. Unfortunately, he has a fractured hip so he is still in hospital so I am sure you will join me in wishing him a speedy recovery.

Someone left a pair of clear glasses so please contact me if they are yours

Our next event is a ‘treasure hunt’ MBO at Ripon on Sunday 6^th July as part of the Tour weekend. Then it’s over to Cropton the following weekend for 3 events. MTBO on Saturday morning (12^th July) then a 3 hour score event in the afternoon in Cropton Forest. Free camping overnight at the New Inn (no need to book) then a 4 hour Score event in Rosedale and Farndale on Sunday.

They are all part of the BMBO National Championship weekend as well as events 6 and 7 in the NYMBO League.

Hope you can make it one, two or all 3 events.

Steve

Here is the map for Saturday so that you can follow the routes from the split times on the Results page

Washburn Valley with Controls

Full report later but good luck to Roger Tyler who is still in Harrogate Hospital with a fractured hip. Thanks to the riders who stopped to help and Jenny Sutton who was with him all afternoon. Get well soon, Roger.