Letter from America

Tom Elgood’s report on his orienteering in Silicon Valley, Sunday 14th September

On a recent family visit to the USA the dates aligned and I was pleased to discover a local orienteering fixture in the area famously known as Silicon Valley close to the South of San Francisco. A great opportunity to visit this iconic tech neighbourhood and enjoy some orienteering in a different country, something I have enjoyed doing in the past in Europe but previously I had never attended an event in the USA.  

I signed up to enter as did my older brother Mark who also has good experience of the sport and the event details stated to gather and assemble at Huddart County Park.

The park is named in honour of James Huddart who was a wealthy San Francisco lumberman and long-time resident of Woodside. Before his death in 1935, he deeded 900 acres of his property to the County of San Francisco with the provision that it would be accepted and developed into a public park.

The park was beautiful with an abundance of meadows, hiking and riding trails, 'Huddart Park makes a great place to have a picnic or explore a redwood forest'.

The event was quite similar in set up to events back home, I guess there’s an established procedure the world over for all orienteering. It was well attended and facilities were superb with all of the park facilities available, shelters, picnic tables and an abundance of information on hand. 

Both my brother and I entered the Green course (4km on a 1:5000 map) which used a good section of the park with notable features including contour features, winding roadways, a ravine and numerous changes in vegetation. 

We were warned to ‘cover up’ with full length trousers and shirts although this did not really catch on with the local orienteers. The reason for this requirement was the potential for exposure to poison oak!

I guess the competitor numbers were in the low hundreds and we saw a wide range of abilities with scout groups (who seemed to be going around together whilst singing scouting songs!), school groups and athletics clubs made for a wide range of ages and all were welcomed. 

The course was definitely tricky but great fun and it was very special to be orienteering in the California sunshine surrounded by this great landscape. At the end of the races there was a stash of welcome refreshments.. waters, snack bars, nuts and protein!

We each finished our courses separately and then we had some time to chat to a few of the officials then it was off to catch a flight from the nearby San Jose Airport. 

CHIG at the races

Five CHIG members competed in the recent London City Race weekend, based in Canada Water. This is the largest urban event in the country, with over 900 competitors taking part.

Jacob Stevens came 14th and Adam Dent 42nd in the Mens Veterans race (out of 103 competitors).

In the Mens Elite race Donatas Tumaitis came 40th (out of 96). Harold Wyber (pictured) got off to a good start , but control 24 proved elusive.

Joanna Qui was 15th on the Adventurers race (out of 18).

Well done to everyone!

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

We have not one but two orienteering courses in London’s most iconic Park. Use them to explore the hundreds of acres of tranquil green spaces - a botanical oasis packed with 10,000 woodland shrubs and 120,000 flowers & plants. Every waterway, meadow, wetland and pond has been designed to create a haven for plants, animals and insects.

Go orienteering and discover all this amazing flora and fauna in the heart of London!

Our North and South courses have routes for all ages and abilities. Free maps can be downloaded from the Go Orienteering website, and you can also use both the MapRun and Mobo apps on your phone to navigate around the park.

Sprint finish

There was a strong turnout and some great results for CHIG at this weekend’s British Sprint Championships.

We had two teams in Saturday’s relay sprints. The members of our Adhoc team “Epping and Blinding” were Iain Ambler, Tom Elgood & Jacob Stevens, and our Elite team “CHIGs might fly” comprised Heather Muir, Philippa Allen, Donatas Tumaitis and Harold Wyber. “Epping & Blinding” finished 11th out of 28 (non-competitive) and “CHIGs might fly” mispunched but finished 7th out of 15 based on time.

We had four runners in Sunday’s individual sprints. In the Mens Open B Event, Harold excelled himself with first place and Donatas came twelth. Jacob was eighth in the M50A Event and Iain was third in the M50B Event.

A brilliant set of results for CHIG - very well done to all those who took part!

Iain, Jacob and Tom

Philippa

Heather

Donatas

Harold

Harold, Donatas, Iain and Jacob

International success

Congratulations to Jacob Stevens for his podium finish in the Carpathian Orienteering Trophy held in Romania 21st to 24th August. The Trophy covered three events - Sprint, Middle distance and Long distance - and Jacob was second in the M50 Class. A great achievement - well done Jacob!

Training/coaching programme

The programme for this Autumn is as follows:

• 3rd September 17:30: Epping Forest East

• 25th October 10:15: Harlow Town Park

• 22nd November 10:15: Epping Forest

• 13th December 10:15: Epping Forest

These sessions will last between 90 and 120 minutes. They are designed to cover all capabilities and experience.

Details of each session will be emailed to club members nearer the time

This summer, get outside & try orienteering!

Now is the perfect time to get yourself, your family and your friends outside and explore the great outdoors through orienteering.

Orienteerting is a fun and exciting sport that exercises both your mind and your body. All you need to take part is some comfortable clothing and footwear, and an orienteering map - which you can get at the Go Orienteering website.

Your aim is to reach the various control points on the map - either your own pace, or challenge yourself and your group to go round as quickly as you can!

Orienteering takes place in both green and urban spaces - and there are thousands of courses to choose from. See our Club’s courses here.

Our sport is truly for everyone - no matter what your age or ability.

You don’t need to be a member of an orienteering club - just get out there now and enjoy the summer!

Gooseberry Fool

The annual club Score & BBQ event took place in Sawbridgeworth yesterday. Competitors could choose a Town map, a Park map or both and were challenged to visit as many controls as possible within 60 minutes.

Afterwards we all enjoyed a BBQ in the Pribul’s garden, and tucked into the classic Gooseberry Fool pudding. Many thanks to Tim and Sally for hosting

GLOSS over

GLOSS for 2025 concluded with the Harmonsworth Moor event on Sunday. CHIG came seventh out of 12 clubs - a creditable performance given our relatively small size. Well done to all club members who took part in the series, and a special shout out to Harold Wyber who came either first or second in all six events. Full details can be found here.

Training together

Yesterday CHIG and DFOK held a joint training session in Epping Forest to practice the use of contour features in navigation - gullies, slopes, knolls, depressions, saddles, re-entrants and spurs.

We used a “brown-only” version of the Epping Forest East map, from which paths and most other map features had been removed. Twenty five CHIG and DFOK members tackled either the Short or the Long course and honed our navigational skills in the forest. Afterwards we retired to the Victoria Tavern in Loughton to share our experiences over a refreshing drink.

It was a very successful evening and plans are afoot to repeat the event at another location which can offer similar contour features and a nearby pub!

A big “thank you” to Tony Maycraft, Harols Wyber and Alison Page for all their hard work in planning and delivering the event.

GLOSS finish

Congratulations to Harold Wyber for finishing second out of 111 runners on the Long Course in Tuesday’s GLOSS event at Cannizaro Park - just 20 seconds behind the winner! Well done also to Jacob Stevens and Adam Dent for finishing 19th and 49th respectively.

The series standings on the Long course after 6 events are: Harold 8th, Jacob 41st, Iain Ambler 60th and Adam 80th - out of 273 competitors.

CHIG are hosting their GLOSS event at Fairlop Waters on 6th July - register your entry here!

Inter-school Orienteering Event

Last month thirty one Year 7 and 8 students from Beal and Oaks Park High Schools took part in an inter-school orienteering event at Fairlop Waters. 

The aim was to give students from the after-school clubs CHIG has been running, the chance to try out their orienteering skills in a more challenging area - and to have some fun. 

After some refresher navigation exercises, all students successfully completed a Yellow course of 15 controls, with the fastest  students finishing in sub 25 minutes, a commendable performance (in warm sun too). Students and teachers said they had enjoyed the event, and the clubs. 

That concludes the orienteering after-school clubs for this year. We hope to be able to offer and run something similar with more schools next year; and that these activities encourage students and families to continue exploring the adventure and opportunity that orienteering offers. 

Our thanks go to: the PE departments and teachers from both Oaks Park and Beal schools; Charlotte Moore, for the design and running of the clubs; Ray Weekes, for course planning; Tony Maycraft for mapping school grounds; CHIG committee and volunteers for funding and supporting the clubs; and last but not least, Redbridge Vision for kind permission to use Valentines Park and Fairlop Waters for orienteering. 

The finishing line

Today was the final session in our new “Introduction to Orienteering” course. Over the last six weeks 11 participants with no previous experience of orienteering learnt all the essential navigation skills in a series of hands-on exercises in Hainault Forest, Fairlop Waters and Epping Forest, under the guidance of British Orienteering coach Josh Jenner. In this final session the participants put their new-found skills to the test in a short competition in Epping Forest.

Everyone said they enjoyed the course, learnt a lot and were keen to progress further in the sport.

Overall it was a great success and well done everyone who took part!

London Park Orienteering

Come and orienteer in London’s Parks on Tuesday evenings this summer. A series of 10 weekly events across London begins on Tuesday 20 May at Waterflow Park, Camden. Start times are usually 6:30pm to 7:30pm, with two courses to choose from (about 3km and 5km) and the cost is roughly £6 to £9. Full details can be found here.

Olympic Orienteering

We are delighted to announce that our new South Permanent Course in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is now open. This complements our existing North Course, and is suitable for beginners, families with young children and those familiar with map reading.

The South Course can be run either with a paper map or with a smartphone app which automatically measures your time. Full details can be found on the GoOrienteering website.

Congratulations to Tim Pribul for his olympic efforts in setting up this course for everyone to enjoy.

News Ightham

Four CHIG members journeyed down to the SAXONs event at Ightham in Kent at the weekend. Dominique finished 26th on Green and Iain 13th on Blue, whilst Jacob came 27th and Harold 13th on Brown.

Join our club for just £23

The Adult part-year membership for 2025 is now just £23.

For Young Adults (aged 21 to 25) it’s £15.50, Juniors £6 and Families £54.

Click here to join.

GLOSS 2025

The Greater London Orienteering Summer Series (‘GLOSS’) is an annual Summer competition between SLOW, HAVOC, Happy Herts, CHIG, MV and LOK, with the prize being the prestigious London Bus trophy.

There are two courses: the GLOSS course which is about 3½ to 4½ km (with optional extension to around 6 km) and is of moderate navigational difficulty, and a ‘Yellow’ course which is about 2km with easier navigation. Navigate between control points – you decide the best route to complete the course in the quickest time. Beginners welcome!

The first event in the series is on 22 June at Northala Fields, hosted by SLOW.
CHIG’s event is on 6 July at Fairlop Waters.

JK 2025 report by Iain Ambler

Who went?

CHIG! 5 club members - Joanna, Jacob, Dominique, Tom and I - competed.

Club results?

CHIGnition (Jacob, Tom, Iain) placed 22/26 of clubs in the Senior Men’s Relay, with 3 clean rounds.

Our individual results:

Jacob put in the club’s best individual, and a highly consistent, performance. In M50 he placed 17/62 on the Sprint, 32/57 on the Middle, 33/52 on the Long, and 26/62 overall. Really well done Jacob.

Dominique in her first JK placed 10/17 in the W50(S) in the Middle - not a bad result even with one major mistake - and then 42/84 on Light Green on the Wharncliffe area, a super result.

Joanna placed 43/56 on the Novice Adult sprint. Nice one Joanna!

Tom competed on all days. Good effort Tom. In M60 he placed 101/117 on the Sprint and 105/122 on the Middle and 28/33 on the Long (Short).

In M50 I placed 48/57 on the Middle, 41/52 on the Long. I survived Wharncliffe! A great learning experience.

Best moments?

Standing on top of Wharncliffe Chase in the start grid in anticipation of what was to come. Curlew and skylark singing, spring sun on our backs, competitors as petrified as the slopes below.

Shouting encouragement alongside our friends from DFOK at the Relays, who kindly stayed to cheer on my worst solo run on the last leg.

Worst moments?

Unfortunately Joanna fractured her ankle at Tankersley in the latter stages of the Middle. After a trip to A and E she recovered sufficiently to cheer on everyone at Middleton Park in the Monday. Great recovery powers and team spirit! Best wishes for it healing swiftly Joanna.

Discovering to my horror on my descent to control 1 on the Long, that an individual black dot on the map did not mean an isolated large boulder; but a slightly bigger rock in a boulder field.

Overall?

A super experience taking in some of the UK’s best orienteering areas, in mostly very good weather. Planning and organising was excellent, and the JK2025 website very well constructed. Thanks to everyone from the Yorkshire and Humberside region involved.

Here’s to JK2026!

Jacob & Joanna - far left

Last one home

Training in Epping Forest

This Saturday’s training session was all about improving our use of Attack Points.

With a series of mini-courses based on our recent Mitre event, we practiced how to use a distinct feature near a control as a stepping stone to locating the control itself. If you missed the session and want to find out more, watch this four minute video from Team GB’s Megan Carter-Davies (you can find the rest of this video series at the foot of our home page).

Many thanks to Tim, Tony and Sally for putting on a very instructive and enjoyable event