Back and better than ever!!!

Well after popular demand (Ok really was just a email from Jamie) I thought I would start to write a bit more in the build up to World champs. So whats been going on in the UK for me, Well I got made redundant, then got asked to come back temporally, Got interview for a Gateline job (at train station checking tickets), got that job then had week doing that then got another interview for another job on the station and then got that too so was rather crazy month. So current job is still at train station but now I get to do far more exciting things like blowing a whistle at trains and watching them leave the station hmm ok well not that exciting but least I get paid a heap more than what I was on!!

So to the world of Orienteering, well after getting selected for Woc I decided I really needed to step up and do some good training so luckily Michael Adams came to the rescue and has written me up a programme which will take me through to WOC. I have never had a programme made for me so has been fun trying to follow it but I think im doing ok if only I could learn how to Orienteer aswell then would be alot better.



I have had quite a few races since I last posted but nothing really went very well. One run wasn’t too bad but it was all too little to late really. The UK Sprint champs which were being held at Nottingham Uni there was a qual and then a final a few hrs later, the Qual I blew out big time just so messy the whole course which then meant I was in B final. In the final the two courses were the same just meant we had to wait ages to start. I seemed to handle the final much better im not really sure why but just seemed to click, I won B final by over a min but my result would have put me 6th equal in A final only 2 sec behind 4th so was rather happy with that just would have been nice making the A final but still not to bad.



Anyway not much else to talk about since then except from two weekends ago we had the UK selection races which were around the same area as the UK champs. I knew the long was going to be rather hard but didn’t expect the others to be so steep but then again it was trying to be similar to Hungry so should have known better. My week leading up to it I was doing quite a bit of training as to me these events were all just training so didn’t really need to peak like the others so I didn’t feel completely fresh heading into the races. The sprint was in a forest and from warming up looked rather green so was getting a bit worried luckily once I started it was nice and open, the first one I got nice and clean I was taking it rather easy to start as I’m never really good a forest sprints. Once I decided on my Route to number to I tried speeding up but once I hit the hill my legs didn’t really want to move as fast as I was wanting them to but at least that was the main climb gone. As I got half way up hill I caught the guy a minute in front by control 5 I had then caught the next two guys. From 6 it was rather fast as it was all downhill which meant you had to keep in contact with the map the whole time. Number 10 I ended up going a bit to the right but relocated in time to only loose a few seconds. The rest I did ok but really seemed to slow up over the last 3 controls and then the finish sprint I lost 3 sec to Rob who I was 3rd equal with which was rather annoying considering it was only 40m so yeah think I really need to sort that out!!! The other stupid thing is I was 3rd Equal with the same person as the UK sprint champs so seems like I just cant beat him!!! Overall I was pretty happy with result but can see a bit of room for improvement but still good to finally have one good race. Talking with others after the race they all seemed to think thats going to be very similar to WOC sprint so that was good news.

The Map Below Is Pirets Final


The other races over the weekend didn’t go so well I just seemed to have nothing left in the tank at all and then just kept making so many stupid mistakes. I think the reason as to why I felt like I had nothing in the tank is because im now sick so could be the reason but who knows. I just hope if goes away soon so I can start to train again.

This weekend Piret and I did a event here in Sheffield called Cliffhanger which is an Ultra sprint, there were a number of top Orienteer’s there as the night before was Matt Crane and Grace Elson’s wedding so was a good field. We had 3 heats in which I miss-punched once and P miss-punched twice luckily we both went fast enough to still make it through to Semi (you got a 1min penalty for each miss-punched) In the semi I decided to miss-punched again so that instantly put me out but didn’t really matter as I had already lost so much time trying to figure out the map(I couldn’t find control 6 on the map). Piret made it through as 3rd fastest (4 go through) In the final she was involved in a sprint finish which there was alot of pushing and shoving but luckily P had the better of the two. So that was rather sweet considering she won a new Garmin 405 so yeah don’t know what we will do with it as she already has a flash Polar and I already have a Garmin but then again I can always upgrade to a nice new shiny one!!



This Wednesday im hoping to do a local Fell race which should be rather fun as Andy Mccarthy is over here so will be cool to run against him again. But will have to see how this cold goes as I think it wasn’t the best idea to run fast on the weekend as im now sooo tired from it all so will have to see if im still feeling crap as its over 1000ft in 4.5miles so it should be rather painful

Well hopefully this will be the first of many posts
There are also some new pics if u follow the link on the side bar

Maps from Portugal and all my mistakes

Thought i would upload some of my maps from Portugal with my route on. You can see all my lovely mistakes!!!

Whats been going on??

Well that is a very good question!! I have moved flat, im loosing my job, canceled a wedding and done a few random orienteering races!!! All in about a month. So first thing first, the wedding is off! Not cos I do not like Piret but more because of the lack of funds!!! This is from two reasons, one im loosing my job and then the other is because of the economy, it seems like UK is falling apart all these big business are just using this economic climate as a excuse to fire people and yeah im going to be one of them. I loose my job 1st May so still have a bit of time to find another one but yeah all a bit shit. But can’t really do much but hope to get another one soon!! Also another reason as to why we have decided to can it is because the exchange rate isn’t the best, Estonia is no longer cheap!!! No more 5-cent custard slices!!! The cheapest accommodation I have found is still around 80nz a night, so we have put the whole thing on hold until further notice. We are rather gutted not to have been having it as we have already sorted so many things out Pirets dress is getting made so that’s going to have to go into storage, but luckily that’s the only thing we will have to pay for as the rest of the places never asked for any money.

Anyway on a brighter side we have moved!! Finally we are back to having a place just for ourselves which is bloody good, so I can now walk around in my undies again oohhh baby yeah!!! Its just above Pirets work so it means that it only takes her 2min to get there, its also much better for me (well while im am working at the station) as it is a 15min walk so all up we are saving like 120pounds a month on not having to go on busses so its rather nice. The place is brand new and was furnished so we just had to get the basics like a toaster and a jug it did cost a bit to set up but we are sooooo much happier now!!! We also have an airbed so if anyone wants to come and stay feel free!!!



We went to Leeds the other day for a 5km running race which was quite fun we were only there for a few hours as I had to get back for work but was nice to get out of Sheffield, The 5km race was around some park which ended up to be a bit steeper than I thought it was going to be so meant our times were a little bit slower, I still did 16.42 which isn’t to far off a PB but if it was flat im sure I would have been low 16 so that is good news. Im entering the Sheffield half marathon on April 26th so that will be another good test hopefully can do something fast there.

We had an orienteering event on the weekend which was in Sherwood forest I didn’t see Robin hood so that was rather disappointing. It was a qualifier for the club champs which we won last year, but most of our best runners were in Denmark for a race over there so there was a bit of pressure on the B team (the likes of me). I didn’t do to bad, the map was really just a runners course so it suited me but I had a few small mistakes which cost me the win. My running speed was not to bad even thou I felt like throwing up before I started so I think my training must be starting to pay off. I was fourth 30sec down on 2nd and then 4min behind winner I can easily see that time if I was clean but its one of these things I guess. The club got through to the next round, which was good too. I have found a new program to play with so I can now have more fun with my GPS watch. It lets me plot my run onto the map so can see my change in speed as I go, would be a bit better if I could scan the map but yeah cant afford a scanner so will just have to get taking photos.
You can see where I lost my time, a few of my mistakes were really stupid but I also wonder how good the mapping was in a few areas as it really just didn’t make any sense when I was there and lost time cos of that. I should point out that most of the white really wasnt white and thats preaty much why i never went into it!!



In few weeks I have my last trail race for the World champs team, Its the JK which is being held in UK up in Newcastle so should be interesting to go and do some oing there, will also be fun as Ross is coming over so will be good to compare with him as to how fit I am. He is arriving a few days before so have a day off work so we can have a good catch up. After that weekend we are going and helping at the first adventure race of the year, that’s also in Newcastle well kind of close to it, so we are heading there on Friday morning and then come back on Sunday night, have to tent so that could be interesting might be a bit cold I think!!!

I have also put a few photos up on the net not many but a couple.

Portugal part 2

After the final event of the Portugal O meet, Piret and I parted ways from Neil and then travelled to our next location which was at a place called Pataias, which was about 2 hours drive, after a few wrong turns we finally got there. We were staying in a beach side town called São Pedro de Moel it was only about 15km from the event centre. Our hotel was a easy 2min walk to the beach so that was rather nice and the smell off the sea felt like we were on a summer hoilday!! Well if only it was a hoilday we had organised a couple of days training before the races started again on the Saturday so didnt really get to much time to relax.

I found our trainings really worthwhile as it gave us more time running with maps and also not to have pressures of a races on us. We did two trainings most days, one in the morning then one in the afternoon too. On the Friday we decided that we should try and get to both model events finished early so we could do some sightseeing in the afternoon. We didn’t really know anything to do in the area so we just headed for the closest big town which was a place called Leiria. It was rather fun trying to drive through the City centre but luckily we just decided to park in a car park building and be done with it. The city wasn’t really anything special but there was quite a cool castle on the hill so we walked up there and had a look around was quite cool as you could walk anywhere you wanted which I don’t think you could get in many old castles these days. I think we spent about an hour walking around Piret got a bit bored after a while but ohh well. We then headed back towards our hotel but stopped off at some place where they did glass blowing. It was pretty crazy to watch the guys shape the glass which such ease. The stuff they were making was sooo cool would love to have brought some but the 200euro price tag was just a bit too much for me.

On the way home we stopped off at this lookout point which was overlooking the beach and had a bit of a picnic which was just rolls, cheese and chips rather exciting really. They did taste rather nice all together thou. After a late lunch it was time for a bit of exploring on the rocks above the sea you could get a wicked view down the cliff, we found this safe place to look down and was watching the surf smash into the rocks below us, I told P to wait and we would get a cool photo when the surf smashes up and the water splashes kind of close to us, so we waited and waited and the finally this wave looked like a goodie and man was it. The wave smashed into the rocks then completely covered me in water, P had more sense and saw it coming so she bolted!! But yeah that was the end of our sightseeing as I had to go and get some dry clothes on. The dumbest thing was the photo didn’t even get the wave ohh well next time maybe!


For the first time in the time we had been in Portugal it started to rain just in time for the races!! I guess It was trying to get as ready for going home to UK. I have to say it was a bit nicer to run in than the heat which we had in training. The first of the races we were doing was the most important of the two, it was a Middle distance event which was a WRE. I once again had a later start so had to wait around for a while. I didn’t start off to bad in till number 4, well I was going ok heading to the control then saw somebody going over this hill I told myself not to look at them and keep going which is what I did well kind of, I then took off to the right when I should have been going left running through this open area then looping back on myself so really I just did this pointless circle. I have no idea what I was thinking and just couldn’t work out why I had done it!! I think I lost 6min on this mistake which is shocking considering it was just soo stupid. After the first Pivot control I kept loosing concentration and loosing where I was on the map which then meant I would have to stop and figure it out!! Not to sure why I was doing this as I didn’t feel tired I mainly think it was cos I was trying to run to fast to make up for my mistake. I made a silly little mistake on 19 and also 24 so all and all my run was just filled with stupid mistakes!!!

After the race we went back to the hotel with the plan to head to the night sprint later on that night but in the end we not going as we were just too tired and also it was quite a long drive from our hotel to the event.

Sunday we packed our stuff and headed to the last race, both hoping for some good runs to make up for the others that weren’t so good. We had quite a long race with 16km on a rather sandy map, I started of shit, throughout the middle I was shit and then well finished rather shit!!! Quite a dumb way to finish the week!!! At least Piret did a bit better than me she was 4th I think so she was kind of happy with that!!! We then had a nice drive back to Lisbon where we had to drive to drop off our rental car then went back into Lisbon for a night. We spent most of our time walking from our hotel into town then going and getting some dinner then just on the underground back home again so we didn’t really see too much would have been nicer to get a bit more time and have a decent explore as it looked like a cool little city. All and all we had a great time in Portugal and hope to return next year for the same events.


Heaps of pics are up too, still gotta try and sort out maps some time soon

Well after staying to night in Luton we meet up with our friend Neil at the airport as he was going to be traveling with us for the first 5 days. We were all rather excited once on the plane but the both of them soon fell asleep leaving me sitting there playing on my PSP. Just as we should have been about to start out decent into Lisbon we were told that we had to be diverted to Faro (bottom of Portugal Lisbon is about the middle) because there was too much fog to land so after landing in Faro we then refueled and sat there on the plane for about half an hour then took off again to try and land in Lisbon luckily we did so and only arriving about an hour late but it was better than having to sit on a bus from Faro to Lisbon.


Piret and I then went to the rental car place to pick up the keys lucky for us the lady asked us if we would like to upgrade our car, hmm who wouldn’t when they say “upgrade” well we all got out of the lift to be meet by the car rental man who took us to our Nissan Micra well yeah “Micra” is the right word. I have to say if it was just Piret and I it wouldn’t have been so bad but Neil had to try and fit in somewhere too!!! Luckily the boot is massive so everything could fit in there and with me having my seat pulled forward and Neil sitting sideways across the back we fit in!!! Well just anyway. On the plus side thou it was a convertible so on the nice hot Portuguese days we could put the roof down. We then drove for about an hour which was rather fun trying to get out of the busy Lisbon. They seem to have some crazy drivers or it could have been the fact we had to drive around and around the roundabout trying to find the right exit, I don’t think that went down to well. Luckily we made it to the event center in a place called Mora. Once we had registered we headed out to the model event. The car said the temp was 17degrees and man was it nice and warm!!! After leaving the cold UK it was so nice to come to this not to hot but just warm enough. The map itself was rather fast and open. I did a few controls with Neil at speed then he headed back and I went and did a few extra was great to be Orienteering for a change. Was a bit rough but wasn’t to bad.


We then headed back to town to drop Neil off at his accom and went to try and find ours, Neil went for the cheaper option of the school floor but Piret and I had decided we would go for the more expensive but in the hope we would get some better sleeps. The week away is a rather important one for me as it is part of my trails for my World champs team. My trails are over 3 events which all have to be World ranking events (this mainly just says the event is at a high quality) so I have picked two in Portugal and then one a bit later on in UK. After find our place and trying to talk to the owner which spoke no English at all we soon settled ourselves in and went back to town to have some dinner. We found some nice little restaurant and went there with much discussion about the menu with Neil and a Irish guy we choose having no idea at all what we had ordered. It all seemed to come out the same Neil and I both had the same which was a bit pork which we worked out came of the shoulder of the pig, rice, and then chips hmm kind of random mix. Piret and Declan had the same which was Pork for some other part and then rice and chips hmm kind of seemed the same as ours but ohh well.

The first race we were to do was the Middle event which was 7.4km. I started off ok, was going a bit slow to try and make sure I was clean it was working for a while but then on my way to 4 I drifted down the wrong spur luckily realized so didn’t lose too much. I kept making small mistakes most of the way around. The last part of the course I just seemed to die which was rather disappointing as I thought my fitness was better. Don’t think my pre race preparation helped to much thou, my pre race food involved eating peanuts and bread and nutella. I finished 39th in a time of 40.31min the winner did 34.18min so just a bit faster than me. I think I could have done a bit better with better prep but still need to get the fitness up to be going that fast!!! After the event we had a rather relaxing afternoon as that night there was a night sprint. I never really planned to do this event but Neil decided he would jog it so thought I may aswell jog with him. We started off slow but then thought maybe we should try and do some split bagging, so we took turns and tried to get every second one. I’m pretty sure we would have won every split we went for and some im sure we got a lot faster than anyone else could have!!!

After a good night sleep we had breakfast then headed off to pick up Neil. He had a early start time so we have to be at the event by 9.45am even thou I didn’t start till 2.15 so I just had a bit of time to kill. Luckily it didn’t seem to take too long and after a while Neil arrived back looking rather shattered. He gave me a few hints as how to tackle the 16km mission. His main tip was to take it very easy at the start as it is by far the hardest part. With the tips racing through my mind I headed to the start. And well blew number one I think I lost 6min to others on that one leg, I then took off trying to make it up only to stuff number 2, Number one I just never really seemed to read my map and headed off wrong from the start which then caused my to go down the wrong spur. Heading for 2 I just seemed to run and not read my map at all and then ended up grid searching. 3 and 4 where ok and then 5,6 and 7 were also messy!! Luckily that was it well kind of. I could go on and on about different things I should have done better but can’t really be stuffed my only other stuff up worth noting was after leaving control 22 going through the drinks station I decided not to have my carbo shot and have it when I pass back past this drinks point. After going back to the Pivot control (26) I soon discovered that I wouldn’t be going back through that point and therefore had no more water stops. I probably could have tried to take it without water but didn’t want to try and risk it. So I just got slower and slower!!! I lost 5min to Neil from control 24 onwards as I was just so tired so I think it was a rather costly mistake not to take it. I finished in a time of 1hr 54min the winner cranked out a time of 1hr 23min which is just crazy. Even with no mistakes and feeling great I would have been lucky to get 1hr 30min ohh well guess I better do some more training.


So do I think my result is good enough for WOC team well hard to say, I feel I could have done a lot better but I can see the training paying off, I feel my fitness is far better than when I left NZ I just have to try and get my Orienteering up to speed. Luckily I still have 2 more WRE where I can try and prove I am good enough to be selected.

Better say how Piret has been going to. In the middle she said she died and just couldn’t run at all I think he pre race prep wasn’t the best either, in the long she said she made quite a few mistakes and just couldn’t run that far but her result was quite good well at least I think so. She was 19th and 20min behind the winner, Piret did a time of 1hr 43min if you took out her 7min of mistakes she would have been top 10 but yeah as we all know woman are very hard to please!!!

On Monday we had another middle event. This area has to be one of the most open areas I have been too, hardly any undergrowth and just lighting fast!!! I started off well by not going out to fast I was orienteering well but still going at a good speed there was one tricky area which was some complex rocks which I was kind of getting ok I seemed to keep on not quite seeing the controls and loosing like 10sec on the controls. I then blew it big time at control 20, I went straight from 19 and ended up at 21 my exit direction out of 19 wasn’t quite right which then meant I went over the wrong hill and searched in the wrong re entrant I then went over one more hill and then got to number 21 once there I was so gutted one my way back to number 20 I was passed by the runners who started behind me. Ohh well one of those days I guess. That afternoon we had whats called a Ori-show, which is just a orienteering race on a map that is tiny only took around 5mins to race around. On the first race I started the same time as 30 others which was rather hard as you all had to sprint to the first control and when they only had one box to punch it lead to a bit of pushing and shoving. Luckily I was 5th finished so went through to the next round. Piret also made it even thou she really didn’t enjoy it. The map is manmade like they pretty much just make a maze of fences then put a few controls in. The next round only top three went through so meant you had to go a lot faster. I wasn’t going to bad sitting in second for most of it then left the second to last control the wrong way which dropped me one place. I later discovered I had punched a wrong control which meant I was DSQed which was rather gutting but ohh well good first attempt I guess.


The last day of races was held in the same area as day before so we knew it was going to be very fast again, we were starting the same time as somebody else but only had first same control then would do different loops, I did first few ok but then started to lose the plot a bit, maybe it was from seeing Piret out there or well maybe not, I had to ask her where I was once and then another time after seeing her I did a 180 error and took off the wrong way for ages intill I hit a big road which suddenly made me realize what I had done. Ohh well hopefully with a few days training I can stop making all these stupid mistakes. We now drive for two hours to a place called Patatias which is the event centre for the last two races. We are staying in a hotel next to the sea so that should be nice if the weather stays around the 20 degree mark.

I will try and get some maps up soon, well once I get a pen to draw my routes on.

The UK Winter sets in

Well this has been a long time coming!!! So what’s new hmm well still in the same job which still doesn’t pay enough but its not really the best time to get a job in UK. They have put the job I have applied for on hold because the company is having a few problems with money I think but they seem to think in the nxt few months we will know more about them. I have started to apply for other jobs but there isn’t to much there so have to keep trying I guess.


Sheffield hasn’t been too bad lately we have had shit loads of snow which was rather fun for running well in till it started to turn to ice which meant it was rather hard. Had a couple of wicked runs in the peak district, running through the snow which was about a foot deep. One day I finished work an hour early so I could catch the train out to the peak and then run home it wasn’t too bad in till I got up to the top where it was like a blizzard but luckily I had a pair of long johns in my bag so I could tie them around my head to help ease the pain of the driving snow. I think it was one of the best runs I have done in quite a while. Its all melted now so the fun has gone I have to say was was starting to get sick of it after a while.

Piret and I have sign the lease for a new flat so that’s exciting we are moving into our new place a week after we get back from Portugal so gives us a bit of time to sort things out. It’s an apartment which is just above Pirets work so it’s rather quick for her to get to work and then only takes me 15min walk. We worked out we will save like 120pounds a month on busses and trams so kind of makes sense to move. Running won’t be too bad will mean a bit more road running I think but will allow us to get done to the running track for some speed training. Its fully furnished and brand new so its quite nice once we have moved in I will put some photos up.