Varsity Match 1990 Individual Results Course A: 7.90km, 365m Men's A, Men's B, Guests A -------------------------------------------------- Men's A: 1. Simon Bourne (Sidney Sussex, Cambridge) 62:01 2. Paul Warren (Oxford) 65:59 3. Richard Baxter (Churchill, Cambridge) 67:15 4. Ben Hartman (Robinson, Cambridge) 69:25 5. Simon Hunt (Oxford) 70:08 6. Dave Philips (Oxford) 75:20 7. Chris Beecham (Christ's, Cambridge) 78:16 8. Dave Davidson (Oxford) 80:40 9. Rob Hart (Oxford) 81:46 10. Paul Curzon (Christ's, Cambridge) 82:17 11. Colin Smith (St John's, Cambridge) 83:19 12. Rik Pearson (Oxford) 89:46 Men's B: 1. David Spencer (Jesus, Cambridge) 72:35 2. Jo Scott (Oxford) 81:52 3. Tim Wiegand (Churchill, Cambridge) 86:25 4. David Craig (St John's, Cambridge) 86:37 5. Dave McIntyre (Oxford) 86:50 6. Phil Morant (Oxford) 94:09 7. Mark Walmsley (Queens', Cambridge) 96:05 8. Andy Batchelor (?, Cambridge) 97:34 9. Nigel Wright (Oxford) 111:04 10. Mark Gilbertson (Oxford) 114:42 David Cummins (?, Cambridge) wrong no. 8 non-competitive: Neil Conway (SNOG) M 56:58 Bill Edwards (SN) M 62:46 Ben Stansfield (TVOC/JOK) M 63:31 Mark Hayman (ShUOC) M 64:41 Graeme Ackland (JOK) M 73:45 Roger Thetford (JOK) M 74:10 Dan Parker (MDOC/DrongO) M 74:29 Mark Chapman (SPOOK) M 76:31 Jon Cross (TVOC/JOK) M 76:38 Tim Griffin (DrongO) M 82:41 Paul Dickens (CUOC) M 93:10 Pete Huzan (JOK) M 98:50 Donald Reay M missing 12, 17 Jon Taylor (DrongO) M retd Jon Forster (DrongO) M retd Alistair Cory-Wright (SYO) M retd Pat Bartlett (JOK) M retd -------------------------------------------------- Total Men's A: Cambridge 276:57 Oxford 292:07 Total Men's B: Cambridge 341:42 Oxford 373:55 Course B: 5.48km, 265m Women's A, Men's C, Guests B -------------------------------------------------- Women's A: 1. Jenny James (Sidney Sussex, Cambridge) 56:32 2. Hilary Birkinshaw (Robinson, Cambridge) 70:47 3. Jen Leonard (Oxford) 71:41 4. Lucy Allen (Gonville & Caius, Cambridge) 79:14 5. Lucy Partridge (Girton, Cambridge) 85:55 6. Josie Evans (Oxford) 87:53 7. Moira Hadwen (Oxford) 91:08 8. Liz Cross (Oxford) 94:18 9. Kate Hampshire (Oxford) 104:07 Men's C: 1. Andy Davice (Oxford) 162:33 non-competitive: Killian Lomas M 48:56 Wendy Lightfoot W 61:18 Karen Parker (MDOC) W 61:38 Rachel Lomas (SYO) W 63:09 Ian Birkinshaw (MDOC) M 81:04 Araba Hunt (JOK) W 86:12 Pete Thompson (EPOC/JOK) M 106:45 Caroline Mayes (JOK) W 107:17 Jackie Butcher (DrongO) W 109:19 Jane Barrance (DrongO) W 167:05 -------------------------------------------------- Total Women's A: Cambridge 292:28 Oxford 345:00 Course C: 4.18km, 170m Women's B, Guests C -------------------------------------------------- 1. Annemieke van Gulik (Oxford) 61:25 2. Jenny Young (Oxford) 87:34 3. Karen Hansen (Oxford) 127:00 non-competitive: Jean Ramsden W 49:58 Sue Birkinshaw (MDOC/DrongO) W 62:00 -------------------------------------------------- Planners' Comments: ------------------- When Steve first asked me to plan for the Varsity Match I didn't quite realise what I was letting myself in for. Planning on an area almost 200 miles away, which neither of us had ever seen before, let alone run on, did not make for an easy life. However, after a cold wet February weekend spent on Strines we reckoned we had the area 'sussed'. Needless to say, we reckoned without a good dollop of 'Murphy's Law' which resulted in the leventh hour discovery that the small moorland area was out of bounds and that there was a distinct possibility of a 'brush' with the paint-gun toting wargamers! Fortunately the last minute course revisions were coped with admirably by Steve, whilst I kept my head down! Hopefully the resulting courses lived up to the quality of the terrain. We had a good few laughs planning and I hope you had an equal amount of fun competing. -- Justin Williams -- Strines is a good area to plan on, but linking together the best legs into a reasonable course is harder than it looks. In particular, we were restricted by the extensive areas of brashings on the western side of the area, a large block of felling in the north western corner, the discovery that he moorland was out of bounds and the shortage of good control sites in the eastern part of the area. We first visited Strines in February and taped the prospective control sites, but when Justin went back and ran the A course at the beginning of April he soon decided it was just too long and physical, and so went home and completely replanned it. I was left to do a little fine tuning, and the task of altering the B course in a similar way. I particularly liked the long leg 2-3 on the A course which offered a variety of over-or-round options (one runner reckoned he'd lost two or three minutes going right round to the south) and the succession of tricky short legs between controls 2 and 6 on the B course. The winning times were slower than we expected, probably because we underestimated the cumulative strength-sapping nature of the terrain, but not as slow as I feared when, almost an hour after he started, the first Oxford man still hadn't reached the map exchange! -- Steve Wilson -- Organisers' Comments: --------------------- Organising the Varsity Match was harder work that we first thought, especially since we wanted to take part in planning the courses as well as making all the domestic arrangements. In the end everything seemed to go to the plan, and the terrors of the Tuesday before, when we thought that the presence of the paint-gun wargamers might mean cancelling or moving the event, are now just a bad dream! Hand drawing 140 maps took longer than we expected too! An event like this would be impossible without lots of help. We'd like to thanks Ian Pyrah and Brian Shaw of South Yorkshire Orienteers for helping us find a suitable area and for then arranging access to Strines, and, also SYO, and particularly Robin Stansfield, for providing most of the equipment. Dave and Juliet Morgan (EPOC) were invaluable early contactas who very kindly also planner, pre-marked and bagged the courses for the relay. Thanks too to Gareth Williams (EPOC) for letting us hijack his Newmillerdam event for the relays. Thanks are due to Fitzwilliam (Wentworth) Estates for allowing us to use Strines, and especially to the gamekeeper Derek Bladen, who kindly allowed us access before the event for planning and control hanging. Thanks also to EPOC for the loan of their start clock and club tent. Justin Williams did a fine job planning the courses, which provided a tough race but avoided unreasonably physical legs through the thickest parts of the forest. Lots of people helped on the day including Heather Walton (registration), Pat Bartlett, Araba Hunt, Ben Stansfield and Pete Huzan (finish) to name just a few. A special word of thanks to the two manned controls who 'volunteered' for the coldest jobs of the day - John Emeleus (Course A) and Ant Walker (Course B) kept everyone in touch with the events in the forest throughout the race. Many thanks to Kenneth Wilson for checking, sticking control descriptions onto and bagging all the maps and to Ruth Wilson for helping to run the start. Finally, we'd like to acknowledge the generous sponsorship provided by British Aerospace Dynamics Ltd. -- Steve Wilson & Rachel Hunt -- Manned Controls' Comments: -------------------------- I can't really think of anything interesting to say about lying in a wet ditch for four hours, except that the time passed quickly! The prize for the longest time spent in the circle goes to Graeme Ackland who got within 10m of the flag and then spent another two or three minutes looking for it. I hope the split times added to everyone's enjoyment of the event! -- John Emeleus -- The Varsity Match was a big event for me, as it marked the giant leap up the organisational hierarchy from Manned Road Crossing to Manned Control. Someday soon I hope to achieve my ambition fo suplying the orange juice. However, I can think of better things to do on a damp Saturday morning in South Yorkshire than crouching under a dripping crag, trying to keep out of sight and hearing, whilst maintaining radio contact with the organiser. Not many things, I grant you, but there are some. I suppose, though, I shouldn't complain about having to sit and wait whilst a succession of healthy young women run by, some of them more than once. The control was well hidden and more than one person walked past without looking up the hill at the crucial point where the flag (and myself) were in clear view. The hill also slowed people down - the fastest person up th hill and into the control was Jo Scott of Oxford. Unfortunately, that control wasn't on his course and so he ran off again with an expression that I recognise from my own orienteering. There was a minor sensation at one point when Jen Leonard came in before Jenny James and appeared from my start list to have taken eightminutes off her. However, a quick call to the Finish informed me that Jenny had started late and sure enough, she arrived not long after with the fastest split time, despite a minor hiccup at my control. Soon after that it was time for me to pack up my things and to convince my legs that they really did belong to the rest of my body. I marched back to the car, cheered by the thought of a hot bath, with food and BEER to follow. I hope the competitors enjoyedthe day as much as I did. -- Ant Walker --