This weekend, 4 CUOCers decided to leave behind exam revision to take on the premier national mixed sprint relay of the year, and 1 went to Ireland.
An early train journey was the only option for travel to #boc2019, but the morning flew by as Helen and Luke embarked on a compelling earth-sciences commentary on triangles - presumably a devastating blow to the few remaining globularists.
At Leeds, we were ambushed by a LUOCer, but reassured by his choice of McDonalds as a pre-race snack. Safe in the knowledge that the country's finest sporting university has no better nutrionist support than CUOC, the team arrived at the official #boc2019 arena in Bradford University in high spirits.
Fiona was on first leg, and coped well with the abrupt routechoice start. By virtue of guessing correctly on the world's most questionable control description, and also by virtue of being very very good at orienteering, she returned with what can only be described as a formidable lead.
James, fearing this lead, skillfully avoided taking it on by losing loads of time, and returning just ahead of the pack.
Luke was third, and in what he claimed was his 'first sprint race, unless you count that time at the science park' pulled off a frankly outrageous run to hold on to the pack in a stacked field.
Helen is very good at running in areas where you can't, so opinion was divided as to how she would fare in a technical sprint. EUOC came in to win by miles, but noone cared much because behind them was unfolding a spectacular race for second and third. FVO looked a shoo-in for silver, until GB athlete and soon to be OUOCer Grace Molloy - in the words of her brother - 'totally bottled it', failing to see the end of the run-in. Hilarity followed, closely trailed by Cecilie and Helen, who finished fourth, after coming in to take second out of two in the sprint finish for third at #boc2019
The next day was a long at Kilnsey, famous for being the site of 'that' JK Long. Fortunately, there wasn't a hailstorm to be seen, and the open fell provided fast and relatively easy orienteering. Fiona won W20E, Helen came in for 9th on W21E and James was 5th on M20E. In Alumni news, Ben Windsor finished 5th on M21E, beating Scott Fraser, Peter Hodkinson, and a variety of other Very Big Names.
Meanwhile, this way that way forwards and backwards, Paul O'Pruzina took the win at the Irish champs (#ioc2019?) middle, which we assume he is very happy with, but all we really know is that the weather is better there than it was at Friday circuits.
(all CUOC communications regarding #boc2019 will be in line with the official #boc2019 social media policy)
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