Swiss 5-day

[Jene]

and kath broatch on the D40 2nd today as well...

[King Penguin]

Overall Poitions so Far

With us Brits being the 4th biggest contingent (219 / approx. 3,500), forgive me for not posting everyone's position. Those in the top 20, plus assorted penguins, after 3 days are (based on UK club, with apologies to anyone I have missed) :

HE (113)
Nick Barrable 14th
Iain Embrey 55th

H20 (35)
Dave Scorah 11th
Ben Stevens 12th

H10 (61)
Barney Broatch 20th

H14 (84)
Robin Tett 9th
Robert Kelly 20th

H16 (70)
Peter Hodkinson 1st
George Stevens 16th

H18 (54)
Rhodri Buffett 1st

HAK (190)
Alex Rothman 14th

H40 (146)
Clive Hallett 3rd

H45 (177)
Tim Tett 3rd
Andy Hyslop 9th
Mark Saunders 21st
John Embrey 67th

H50 (159)
Jonathon Lagoe 5th

H60 (128)
David May 15th

H70 (34)
John Spence 13th
Guy Goodair 16th

Ferierien Middle (98)
Rosalind Shepherd 9th

Ferierien Long (58)
Iain Shepherd 7th

Ferierien Marathon (15)
Karen Jones 12th

Wanderen Short (26)
Emma Jones 4th

D20 (26)
Rose Hodkinson 3rd
Ekaterina Orekhara 13th

D18 (39)
Anne Edwards 4th

D40(77)
Kath Broatch 1st

D45 (80)
Christine Brown 14th
Jackie Hallett 17th

D50 (103)
Diane Leakey 15th
Sue Stevens 20th
Inara Gipsle 21st

D60 (43)
Monika Cooper 4th
Irene Crawshaw 18th

D65 (35)
Judith Powell 1st
Frances Heron 7th
Gill Hardy 12th
Linda Moore 13th
Catherine Odell 20th
Sue Birkinshaw 21st

D70 (11)
Audrey Geere 10th

[Pingu]

Wow, what a week. Superb scenery, with the Matterhorn always centre-stage, and hot sunny days (sometimes too hot).
The five days on the mountains only dropped below the tree line twice, so most of the competition was open terrain navigation on contour and rock features. Even the day in Zermatt itself had some steep off-road legs. My favourite was day 3, half of which was on bare rock slabs only revealed by receding glaciers in the last few decades. At the other end of this course Iain actually ran part of one leg on the glacier, which he reckoned was quicker and easier than the glacial debris alongside.

In the end there was only one British overall winner - Judith Powell on D65, who was in the first 3 on every day. Other podium placings were 2nds for Rhodri Buffett (H18), Tim Tett (H45), Kath Broatch (D40) and 3rd for Clive Hallett (H40).

Top 25 placings, plus a couple of extras, are as follows (apologies if I have missed anyone) :

HE (118)
Nick Barrable 22
Iain Embrey 62

H20 (35)
Ben Stevens 10
David Scorah 13

HA Short (190)
Alex Rothman 7

H10 (61)
Barney Broatch 10

H14 (84)
Robin Tett 10
Robert Kelly 22

H16 (70)
Peter Hodkinson 5
George Stevens 19

H18 (54)
Rhodri Buffett 2

H40 (146)
Clive Hallett 3

H45 (179)
Tim Tett 2
Andy Hyslop 13
Mark Saunders 14
John Embrey 65

H50 (159)
Jonathon Lagoe 10

H60 (128)
David May 11
Brian Shaw 19
David Palmer 24

H70 (34)
John Spence 16
Guy Goodair 17
Alan Heron 24

H75 (20)
Geoffrey Geere 19

Ferierien Long (79)
Rob Patterson 16
Sarah-Jane Gaffney 22

Ferierien Marathon (16)
Karen Jones 10

Wanderung Short (34)
Emma Jones 4
Adrienne Barrable 14

D20 (28)
Rose Hodkinson 4
Ekaterina Orekhova 14

DA Long (99)
Fiona Forrest 23

D18 (40)
Anne Edwards 20

D40 (78)
Kath Broatch 2

D45 (80)
Jackie Hallett 9

D50 (104)
Inara Gipsle 13
Diane Leakey 20
Sue Stevens 23

D55 (90)
Miriam Rosen 26

D60 (43)
Monika Cooper 6
Irena Crawshaw 17
Charlotte Duncan 23

D65 (35)
Judith Powell 1
Frances Heron 14
Judith Goodair 15
Gill Hardy 16
Sue Birkinshaw 21

D70 (12)
Audrey Geere 11

[Rockaldo]

Rhodri you legend!

[Angry Haggis]

My Swiss O Week photos are here.

[HOCOLITE]

Super photos get the wish I were there vote.

[Rach]

my photos from the week are up here

[Gross]

That first one that's all joined up is great

[awk]

I know the SOW is old news, and people have probably moved on now, but we've just got back having stayed on in Zermatt for a few days walking, dirt-scootering etc., and just wanted to add....

I've been orienteering for just over 35 years now (ouch!) and have done quite a few multidays round Europe. I've never taken part in an event quite like this one. It was (to use a horribly cliched but totally appropriate word) awesome!! Day after day of superb terrain, very varied, in the most amazing settings: on Day 1 I looked up from taking a bearing to be able to say "b*gger the bearing, just aim at the Matterhorn!", and that set the scene for the week.

As mentioned earlier on this thread, Day 3 was probably the highlight: that terrain was fantastic, but the downhill slaloming from almost 3000m on Day 1, the alpine variety of Day 2, the moraine of Day 4 right under the Matterhorn's North Face (and the slog at the end!), the maze of shoulder width alleyways of Day 5 and the rockfall and intricate forest of Day 6 were all up there amongst the very best. It was also great to be able to travel to all the races by such interesting public transport, and to have reasonably short walks to and from everything. And the weather.....

It was interesting to see how the event featured in the town: I was particularly impressed with the daily video that featured in various bars in the evenings with some great shots of that day's orienteering (quite a few Brits featured!). It'll all be part of a souvenir DVD that is coming out, but was great publicity.

All in all, an incredible week's orienteering, and a huge thank you to whoever cooked this one up: it took some major creative thinking, and was a gamble (the weather was critical) that paid off in style.

[Duxxer]

The only thing wrong with SOW as far as I can tell is that it was in term time. It looked wonderful and I wish I could have been there.

[awk]

Yes - a problem. I'm lucky that I teach in an independent school, so broke up in time (just!). I took offspring out of school a week early, with the strong approbation of the school who said that it was an excellent idea educationally - it wasn't put down as 'authorised absence', but as 'extra-curricular activity', which meant that it was listed as being effectively the same as a school visit, and therefore didn't count as days off school. Some visit!

[johnloguk]

Having done SOW a few years ago I've been looking very enviously at this year's photos. I remember the amazing public transport to every event, cable cars, chairlifts, funicular railways and a lake steamer. The army trucks weren't quite so pleasant but are equally well remembered! I also remember the hilarious video presentations of each day in the event centre that evening. Cows eating kites, runners careering downhill into controls and wiping out the cameraman, insanely brilliant stuff.

The areas were very technical and physical, including one that was entirely downhill from a mountain top start (tough on the knees), I guess you had at least one of those this year? I don't suppose that any venue could match Zermatt, and I agree that the weather was a huge gamble, but I would recommend SOW to anyone.

[P2B]

Just want to reiterate what the others have said. The week was AMAZING. I'm just too in awe of it to be able to describe it any better! I think my mouth must have been hanging open for the whole week - the views and the terrain were one-off! Every time I look at my photos I wonder how the nope we managed to run on that inhospitable terrain.

There were grumbles with the transport on days 1 and 2 up the Gornergrat railway - but hey, we were all on holiday guys

I don't think I'll every forget it and I certainly preferred jumping on the bubble to my daily commute back home!

I didn't want to leave - lucky Awk being able to stay on for a few more days - we didn't get to try to dirt scooters, but they looked like great fun!

A big to the organisers - an amazing idea and an amazing event. Bring on the next one!

[Paulo]

Without doubt the best multi-day event I've ever been to, and almost everyone was saying the same thing - a truly wonderful unique event, with glorious scenery, weather, terrain...

I've put a large selection of SLOW photos up on the club website for all who want to see:

http://www.sloweb.org.uk/Photos/200607-SOW/Swiss06.htm