Finally its wednesday the 11th of May, meaning today is the first orienteering event of the EBOR Orienteering summer competition. For the last three/four years I've competed in this competition, going there with my teacher and other pupils from my school, and because we came as a school team, and due to our ages we had to enter the schools league of the competition, however this year I'll be running in the normal adult league with everyone else. In the schools league, because it was divided into year groups and by gender, to is fair to say there usually wasnt too many other competitors, however now being in the adult league it should only be divided by gender meaning I'm going to be going up against everyone, no matter what age, as long as they are male.
The best thing about orienteering whilst I did it at school, was that it was basiclly a great afternoon out with friends. We'd finish school at normal time, go get changed then drive out in the school minibus to where the event was being held. Due to it being an open competition to anyone, there were kids ranging from year 7 to sixth form going from our school, usually making about 16 pupils in total. I would like to add here quickly, that the person that got me into going originally, and the person who each year I battle to beat is my best mate Matty. Since the two of us started going, my other friends, Danielle, Roz and Chris also joined in, bringing a bit of healthy rivalry with them. As well as these friends, I also got to know some of the younger kids who came too, some who got on my bus and I kinda knew to begin with, others who went each year and I grew to know, so everyone who went got on well and made it an even better time out from school. This was increased by the fact that the teacher who took us was called Mr Bircumshaw, who everyone got on with, and was the kind of teacher you could chat with and have a laugh with. Even more brilliantly, (yes it gets better) was the fact that after every event we stopped off at McDonalds on the way back, as a kind of treat. Like I said, really looked forward to going each year, and was an awesome afternoon everytime.
Now as I mentioned, each year there usually wasnt that many competitors in our age group, and due to there being a few of us going from school, who were friends and also in the same year group, a small amount of rivalry occured each year, to see who could beat who. resulting in a few tricks, sometimes sending people the wrong way, however this just spurred us on and made it even more enjoyable. One of the other reasons I enjoyed orienteering is because its not as simple a sport as it may seem, and its not always about whos the fastest runner. Having to use the map at each event to find out where you are and where you should be heading added that extra level to the sport, it made it less of a running race, and more of a challenge, which I think made it fairer. Also the events being in loads of different places from open fields to dense forests, just added to the amount of fun we've had trying to take shortcuts and ending up in places like fields of bush's or nettle patches.
This year I am again off with Matty, however because neither of us are at our old school, we are making our own way to the event, hoping though to run into a few old friends, and our old teacher when we get there. Also this year because we now work, we might not both be able to make all of the events which is sad, but am still really looking forward to going to which ever ones I can. Will see how things go this afternoon then, and hopefully will find I'm not too out of shape, either way will be fun.
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