Harvester Relays

[Barny]

I was under the impression that the Harvester Relays were being held in the Malvern area but looking at BOF Fixtures they seem to have possibly moved up north with several question marks behind entry
Can anyone confirm what is happening before I organise my teams as 'up north' is quite a lot further than the Midlands
Thanks

[Soldja Boi]

This year's Harvester Relay is on; same weekend as has been in the BOF events calendar for some time, Sunday 30th June. British Army OC has stepped in (again) and will be holding the event at Longmoor in Hampshire; flyer will be up on the website in the next day or so.

For those of you who haven't sampled the delights of Longmoor previously, there are some old maps on Routegadget under both BAOC and South London. For those of you who attended last year's Harvester, Longmoor is more of a technical challenge than Bordon and is much more runnable (albeit with more hills).

Entries will be open in Fabian4 as soon as we can get the paperwork submitted.

[ifor]

I think some people found last year technical enough....

Thanks to BAOC for stepping in to make sure the event gose ahead again. Should be good.

[King Penguin]

Harlequins were originally going to run the event on the Malverns, but the venue for assembly, camping, start, finish was lost ("Big Chill" music festival, who can afford to pay much more than orienteering). This then got cancelled, but the weekend was sold to another event. We did explore other possibilities e.g. the venue was available on other weekends, but these would clash with other events in the O calendar which could not be moved. We also discussed other possible locations, but by the time this became a necessity time was against us and we reluctantly had to withdraw.
Many many thanks to BOAC for stepping in once again and saving the day (or rather, the night).

[graeme]

Still deciding whether to go: does anyone know if course/TD details available yet? (yes, I did also email). Main question is whether the TD3 course is in the dark.

The v2 flyer directs you to the BOF guideline, and the BOF guideline points you back to the organising club. Maybe they think going round in circles is good practice.

If we do come, is there anything good on nearby on Saturday afternoon?

[SeanC]

Not sure when on the Saturday, but there are a couple of local events listed on the BOF listings not that far away. One in Berkshire and one near Portsmouth. There's also the SO sprint series event at Hove. I know these events are always of a good standard. A bit of a drive, but a morning spent doing O, then the afternoon on Brighton beach sounds like a nice easy day before the Harvester.

[drobin]

The SOC event on 29th June is at West Walk, just north of Fareham. 3 courses, Yellow, Orange and Light Green. Starts 10:00 to 12:00.

http://www.southampton-orienteers.org.uk/event/2013/06/29/summer-series-portsmouth-3

An ideal chance to practice your Emit technique!

Edit: Currently wrongly advertised as 'parkland'.

[LostAgain]

Main question is whether the TD3 course is in the dark.

Assuming that they are planning to the same guidelines as previous years then the TD3 course will require a headlamp for the leading teams, who arguably do not need it when they finish.

My advice is plan to be out in the dark if you are planning to be a podium finish. This would be the leading Women, Junior and Handicap.

[graeme]

Well that all sounds good, all we need is a team. If you have space a W45 or M14, could you pm me?

[DavidJ]

The Berkshire Orienteers event on Saturday morning (29th) is using Lower Earley, a suburb to the south of Reading, with starts from 10.30-11.30. The area is a large 1980s estate with numerous small play areas, cul-de-sacs and connecting paths. It was used last year for a similar event and the map can be seen on the BKO Routegadget page. However this year the map has been shifted west a bit so as to provide some variation. Courses are being planned but expect something around 6km for Long, 4.5km for Medium (both out on the roads) and 1.5-2km for Short (park only). A few extra details are on the BKO site. All welcome!

[Soldja Boi]

Provisional lap details have been published on the BAOC website.

17 entries on the A course and 30 on the B course so far. Still a few 'local' clubs yet to enter teams; closing date is almost upon us. Come on Moles, SARUM, BKO!!!

[Spookster]

18 A teams and 33 B teams. Not quite as many as Jukola, but could still be exciting...

Who's going to win? Here's the entry list.

Defending champions from last year:
Men: FVO
Women: SYO
Men (A) Handicap: SO
Women (B) Handicap: SLOW
Juniors: SO

[NeilC]

SO are defending both trophies and are hoping that the SYO geriatrics mispunch again.

Some of last year's teams have lost strong competitors to JWOC but the entry is good enough for some tight racing hopefully.

Once again BAOC have been brilliant in stepping in and allowing the event to happen.

[JK]

Watch out for DEE as long as old man Hateley can keep up with all those young chaps.

[oo_wrong_way]

If all goes to plan live results will be posted to http://oevents.info/live at 10 minute intervals throughout the night. Something to mull over with your bowl of cornies on Sunday morning?

The page is currently showing last year's provisional results.