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This year is the 50th anniversary of orienteering being organised around Teesside and in the Cleveland region of North Yorkshire. Cleveland Orienteering Klub (CLOK) was originally called Teesside and Cleveland Orienteering Club – TCOC – and held its first fully open event on 12 October 1969 in Hutton Woods. Prior to that, a Youth Event was held at Eston Hills, Lackenby Bank, on 29 June 2019.
As in many other clubs that started about that time, the first TCOC maps were black-and-white adapted versions of the O.S. map of the areas; these often didn’t show the finer contour detail. The Hutton Woods map was at a scale of 1:20,000, and the open course was won by Dave Gittus of Wrekin Orienteers (WRE) with Roger Lott of Airienteers (AIRE) second.
“I am afraid I remember more about the parking and 'walk' up to the area than the course itself,” comments Roger. “Course in red and my route in green. My diary tells me that I finished second in a time of 1h 34m 43s, 10% behind the winner, and that I ‘confused track with contour on an unmapped spur.
There were 35 starters and 31 finishers. Maps at that time were not over-printed with courses – competitors had to copy the course from a master-map during race time, i.e. immediately after being timed through the start."
Airienteers (AIRE) Anniversary
On 3rd March Airienteers held the 50th-anniversary event on Ilkley Moor, with a historical course on offer which was printed on a combination of old maps demonstrating the development of O-maps over the years.
The Organiser Tony Thornley (AIRE) comments: "I am pleased that so many tried the historic courses. They were a bit of an effort to do, but quite fun. I generously spared you the joy of map corrections and having to draw in your own streams because early photocopiers would not copy blue, and did make the OS map a bit easier, taking off one non-existent path and adding a new one.
The modern courses all reflected my efforts to make ‘classic’ orienteering about route choice as well as technical navigation. I’m encouraged from a quick look at route gadget that the long legs on blue and brown have generated a lot of different options.
Many thanks to all those who helped make the event run well. The event would not have been possible without Roger Lott’s thoughtful improvements to my courses and control hanging and Tony Carlyle’s thorough and careful controlling."
As part of their 50th birthday celebrations, Airienteers went back in time.
Competitors had to use Ilkley Moor map extracts from the 60s, 70s and 80s, with markers and punches from each decade.
For many this was an entirely new experience – courses had to be copied by hand and results pinned up on a ‘washing line’.
No computers or pre-marked maps were in evidence and the old maps were tricky to relate to the ground.
Competitors had to mark their cards at one of the historical controls.
Alongside the historic courses were some very challenging modern courses.
Photo credits: Wendy Carlyle (Airienteers)
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