Non - Celebrity Fit Club

[PorkyFatBoy]

Well, we did it last Saturday in glorious sunshine. There was a full centre page spread on the monring, including a positive report of the event, a write up about the club and our upcoming CATI, "Fast Facts: Orienteering" (which I think was sourced from the BOF website) and an interview with one of the punters about how much weight he's lost so far. All illustrated with some photos of the punters having fun.

Some quotes from the article:
"We set off to Bridge Wood on the outskirts of Ipswich, only to find Lycra-clad members of Suffolk Orienteering Club emerging from the trees. Their clothes bore tiny tears plucked by bracken and holly so we knew we were heading for the wilds."
"It was a strange combination of good fun and hard work. I think I especially enjoyed it becuase of the sunny weather.."
"when you are running up hills and through the trees it certainly feels like you're having a good workout"
"I've never really thought of myself as someone who would enjoy orienteering, but trying and liking new activities is the beauty of this campaign"

and from the editor who asked me to organise this-"Thanks for a brilliant fun event on Saturday. It was very well organised and there are lots of smiles on the pics which I've just been looking at for tomorrow's paper. It was definitely a highlight of the 12-week programme and I'm planning to come on September 25 with friends."

Mrs H would have loved it - there were bluebells too.

[Copepod]

Congratulations on a fun event. Thought you might like to know about our much smaller event, held juts after Easter. A mental health occupational therapist asked us to organise an afternoon orienteering session using our training course at Wandlebury Country Park, near Cambridge. Five mental health service users came, along with the OT and a council sports development officer - for all, it was their first experience of orienteering. Age range about 25 to 50, I think. We map-walked from the centre to illustrate map symbols. Then, in pairs, particpants set off to find initially one control and return, then two, then three. Finally, because not everyone had watches, we set a "score course" - find any 5 controls. Then, back to the centre to collect bags, coats and have a brew. We were asked if we could run a 6 week course, half a day per week, for more participants through the summer, when many sports courses at colleges close, and we hope this will go ahead. We also hope that some people will come orienteering again at local club events.

[Mrs H.]

Oh Porky - i wish i'd been there - it sounds fantastic ! and a nicely written article to boot. Well done.

Mind you - I'm a bit worried about this bit

to find Lycra-clad members of Suffolk Orienteering Club emerging from the trees.

sounds a bit scary - you weren't wearing lycra were you?

[PorkyFatBoy]

sounds a bit scary - you weren't wearing lycra were you?

Well it's better than pyjamas none of our team wore pyjamas as they know how much I hate them. It was only on my legs - I wore my Nopesport "I'm not who you think I am" t-shirt too.

I'll try and get a scan of the main report onto the SUFFOC website sometime this week, but can e-mail if you can't wait - PM me if you're interested.