Dartboard

Full Speed, No mistakes! These are the famous words from the “King of orienteering”, Thierry Georgiou. However, this could also be said about DFOK members as we gave it our all to attempt to qualify for the CompassSport Cup heats at Worthlodge on 12th March! Congratulations to everyone who took part and we will go again strong next year! This month, many members attended the BOC long and we had two teams at the BOC relays.

We all love orienteering for what it is. As soon as that long beep sounds at the start, you are given a map and you are suddenly alone In the forest. That isolation and interaction with nature whilst exercising. The beauty of the sport is that only you can affect your result and performance. But for so many people, this is all that orienteering is and many people miss out on the social side of orienteering.

How many people at Worthlodge felt they could push just a bit more on the run-in because of the crowd of DFOK cheering? After that massive climb to the run-in, I was exhausted but for me, the support at the DFOK tent definitely helped me to find a sprint finish from somewhere, (if not the treat of crepes and shortbread when I got back to the tent)!

Whilst we may not have got the most points at Worthlodge, we definitely had the best team support.

There are a couple of things that having a good team support can do. Firstly, I believe it does actually boost performances. Every time I was thinking of walking , I thought about the other DFOK members who were giving their all on the steep hills of Worthlodge. My 2 minute breather could wait till the end! In addition, and possibly most importantly, it makes our club attractive to potential new members. A person who sees a club all gathering together, supporting its members seems like a much more friendly and welcoming club than a club where all its members went home after they finished running .

Perhaps at more events, we could all do a bit more to hang around at the end and support fellow members on the run in or discuss with others at the event centre after a run. At local events, we could give advice to new or potential new members.

I wish everyone good luck in any future races and hope to see people out and about at events!

Luke Bennett (Editor)