The 2008 British Champs were held in Culbin Forest, near Forres in Scotland. 14 Chasers made the long journey north and were rewarded by a fantastic forest and good weather (much appreciated after the JK!). We had 2 class winners:

W35S Cath Williams
W65L Jane Christopher

Other top ten performances were:
M35S Mark Stodgell 4th
M70L Doug Peel 10th
W40S Alison Yeates 2nd
W45L Beth Clayton 5th

A small band stayed for the relays and so Chasers were represented by 2 teams:
Men's Short - Iain Stamp, Andy Yeates, Mark Stodgell - 8th
Women's Short - Cath Williams, Alison Yeates, Jane Christopher - 16th

All in all an excellent weekend and well worth the trip to the far north.

Doug Peel has won Stafford Borough Council's award for a special contirbution to sport. He was awarded the prize at an awards evening at the end of February. The summary of his fantastic contribution is:

"Doug's involvement in orienteering goes back to the 1971 as a competitor and official. He has always been a Chaser and has been heavily involved in the club from the outset. He has twice been club chairman, has mapped Cannock Chase and is still our mapping guru. He is now Walton Chasers' honorary president in recognition of his contribution to the club. Nationally he has been Chairman of the Fixtures Committee, an international coach, personal coach to two Walton Chasers international athletes, Chairman of the National Coaching Committee and senior coach of the British Junior Squad. He has organised a day of the orienteering world cup when it came to the UK, and was an indispensible member of the organising team for the two major multi-day national events to have come to Cannock Chase in the last few years. "

Doug is pictured right at the club dinner - not quite how we usually see him!

Bob Dredge was also at the awards ceremony, having been nominated for the Sports Performer fo the Year (Male) category.

The JK festival of orienteering was held over the Easter weekend in the South East, between Guildford & Royal Tunbridge Wells. The event will likely be mostly remembered for it's weather. We had lots of it. Friday's sprint race was relatively unscathed, made up for by horiziontal hail on Saturday and horizontal snow on Sunday and Monday! Thanks to all who assisted with getting the club tent there, up and down - it's a little bent, but survived and was much appreciated.
We had some great performances - 3 individual and 1 relay podium places:
W35S - Cath Williams - 3rd
W45L - Beth Clayton - 3rd
W65L - Jane Chrsitopher - 3rd
and 1st place to Beth Clayton, Jane Christopher & Hazel Waters in the W165+ relay!

Other good finishers (top 10 - ish) were:
M14B - Alex Grew - 5th
M20E - Mikey Hopkins - 11th
M21E - Matt Crane - 8th (recently defected to SYO but great run)
M21L - Iain Stamp - 8th
M35S - Mark Stodgell - 6th
M55L - Jonathan Howell - 7th
W14B - Hannah Garside - 5th
W21V - Claire Stamp - 5th
and Men's Short relay of Mikey, Stodge & Iain in a creditable 11th.

Well done to all - just pray for better weather at the British Champs next month......

The 2008 Midlands Championships were held at NOC's Robin Hood Trophy event yesterday in Sherwood Forest on a lovely sunny day. Chasers now have 5 Midland Champions, so well done to all of you!

Hazel Waters W55
Seonaid Dudly W65
Marlene Palmer W70
Elaine Dunn W75
Norman Hall M70

The 2008 Club Champs were held at the Stepping Stones CSC Qualifier match. Well done to all outright winners and also to the handicap winners. Link here

Also, we're through to the CSC Final!!! Although OD beat us on the day, because they won the CSC last year, we get a buy through. The final is in October at Sutton Park, so plenty of time to get fit so Chasers can win once again!! CSC Results here