Croeso 2012, the Welsh 6 Day, ended last Saturday with the largest British Urban race to date, held in and around the Aberystwyth University campus. Many other records were broken too – the pre-entered list of 2055 competitors made Croeso the largest event ever held in Wales in terms of runs. Nearly 800 overseas competitors from 24 different countries – the largest contingent being the 113 Swiss - made the week a truly international one too. One notable competitor was ex-World Champion Yvette Baker, back home for a short time from her adopted New Zealand.

Good weather for the week banished the organisers’ fears about unusable car parks and miserable orienteering on the predominantly open hillside terrain and, by all accounts, the week was a huge success. The experimental competition format of four Long races and two Middle races (one being Urban) proved popular too, as also was the organisers’ emphasis on EVO (extra value orienteering).

Not only were talks, entertainments, quizzes, etc staged during the week, but the Croeso co-ordinator, Dave Brodie, also found time to design a Photo-O competition centred on the town of Aberystwyth which nearly half the competitors tried.

Some 500 competitors were accommodated in student rooms in the University campus itself and another 400 camped on school playing fields just across the road, giving the event a hugely sociable atmosphere.

A slide show of various scenes in and around the event is available at http://www.croesomultiday.org.uk/slide-show-1.

David May

Item posted by Caroline Povey