This weekend started as it seemed to go on, with a possible head injury. Katie may have obtained a concussion due to the sleeping bags falling down from the crazy high shelf in the gear store. She seemed to recover well though, as the first part of the trip was very successful. As per usual, Harry Foord looked for something to climb and so he attempted to scale the side of the MPV before being met with a very stern NO!
As usual Will struggled with the beginning of his MPV driving stint, he drove over the curb, but at least this mishap involved no diesel. While this was happening, Alexandra became employed as Katie’s baguette feeder. We got to the TVOC event at Bradenham, personally welcomed by Joel’s dad on car parking duty, and eyed up our competition. Of course, we continued tradition with the control description game as our warmup, despite being described as a cult by a certain Oxford member. We will continue to take this as a compliment.
Eva spread lies about the loose control descriptions (apparently it was in the final details, but she's a pathological liar so who’s to say) causing many to forget their control description holders and therefore had to run back to retrieve them. Everyone had good runs even with the complex terrain and the continuous crossing of the steep valley. The map was very green so lots of time was spent fighting through holly bushes and brambles. We ended up meeting frequently throughout the course, allowing some encouraging collaboration. Hugh spotted a train in the woods, whether this was an “orienteering train” or otherwise is up for contemplation.
At the end of the individual day, we were in 3rd place overall thanks to amazing runs from all. Special shout out to Katie for coming 5th and Harry BH for coming 8th on their respective courses. Will would probably like it known that his run in from the final control was 16 seconds (for his ego we will ignore that Tom smashed this with a time of 13 seconds).
Lunchtime soon came around where Harry F and Will had a competition for who could bring the most creative lunch. Will stepped it up from curry and microwavable rice and brought some questionable soup and a whole loaf of bread, while Harry brought a quiche, which he proceeded to eat whole out of his hand.
After too much faffing from Harry BH according to Will, we set off to the showers at the Oxford equivalent of the STV. Following Ed’s “biblical shower”, we headed to the scout hut we were staying in, with a true luxury of carpeted floors (but not a bin in sight?). Some much needed relaxation occurred, a few games of Dobble were played and camp was set up for the night. We then got the bus to the centre of Oxford with an intriguing bus ticketing method, why do Oxford buses sell a 5-person ticket? We found Will locked in a college but decided it wasn’t worth our time to help him and headed to Mansfield College for dinner. Embracing her true architect nature, Cecilia gave us a detailed explanation about the statue at the college – BUMC recreation of this statue coming soon. There was a variety of curries for dinner and a constant refilling of our water, albeit in a very passive aggressive manner from the dinner lady. Continuing the water saga, Will forgot how to act like an adult and spilt water everywhere, then decided to gaslight everyone else into believing that it was their fault. Alexandra, Cecilia and Eva went on a mini tour of the college, meeting up with Robert (the statue) and wandering around where they definitely shouldn’t have been. On our way out of the college, we misplaced Joel and Will in the toilets. As it turns out our navigation ability can sometimes be limited to orienteering events.
We then walked to the first pub of the evening, where drinks were too expensive, so Ethan, Will and Anna went to spoons to find something more affordable. It seems that some people were mid-way through a pub golf night out and so were very expressive about their want for cider. As Somerset residents we appreciated the cider representation, though the accents and volume could do with some self-reflection. Due to this disruption, the remainder of the group went for a wander around Oxford and to sneak into the Teddy Hall graveyard. Despite it being a Saturday night, we managed to find a pub with some space – this one was much quieter. The group spent much of the time marvelling over a fellow pubgoers mystery sports racket. Ed was the only one brave enough to strike up conversation with the local and we soon discovered the game of “Real Tennis”, not that many of us had heard of it before. After receiving many side eyes from the bartender since arriving, the group were eventually kicked out of the pub for not buying enough drinks. Or perhaps they were not impressed by our selection of soft drink purchases? Meanwhile, Anna, Ethan and Will had left Spoons and were being bullied by a homeless man for eating a whole chocolate cake straight out of the pack, but not before a slightly tipsy Will and Ethan decided to sprint after a bus, leaving Anna behind.
Upon returning to the Scout hut, Cecilia and Eva quickly sat down for a midnight snack, even though it was only 10pm, a plain wrap for Cecilia and some pizza for Eva. Harry BH also wanted to join in on the “midnight snack” fun with an onion which might have actually been an apple, but that really is a mystery left unsolved.
Despite the carpeted floors, the temperature in the hut dropped very cold overnight, requiring lots of layers and causing Katie to emerge in the night to tamper with the scout hut doors? This led to Alexandra believing we had an intruder. Meanwhile, Wills sleeping mat was not quite up to scratch, causing it to deflate numerous times throughout the night. Safe to say it wasn’t the best night sleep we’d ever had.
Breakfast soon came around, with more questionable food choices, notably pizza and jelly from Eva. Some speedy packing occurred and we were soon on our way to the relay event at Oxford Brookes campus. The relay consisted of two parts; the first consisting of a paired format, with each pair running opposite variations of the same course and their time being combined to give a delay for the second part. This part then consisted of a chasing sprint relay, complex right? Despite any confusion there may have been over this format, everyone seemed to have a great run and there were many exciting relay changeovers and sprint finishes. Solid performances from everyone put us in an excellent overall position, to be revealed later...
On top of the excitement of the relays, there were plenty of shenanigans happening in the arena. Alexandra soon discovered she left her lunch in the MPV... which was now parked several miles away at the park and ride. Katie’s Canterbury's also went for a walk, going missing from the tent for a notable period of time. Despite this, Tom quickly relocated them after his run, although we still aren’t sure where from. Joel’s TVOC jacket became mistaken for a flower, and he soon made friends with a very large bee.
After a very quick presentation, the drivers collected the MPV’s from the park and ride and we were soon on our way back to Bath. Making a stop at the service station for lunch/dinner (dunch?), Will found his inner raccoon and went scrounging for people’s leftovers – clearly his soup and bread didn’t hit the spot. As we have now come to realise, Will hates faffing and likes to get back on the road ASAP, causing him to drive off with the door open, and without Eva... Back in Peggy, Alexandra had become a seasoned passenger princess but was still refusing to feed Katie with a utensil. Despite varied route choice on the last leg of the journey, everyone arrived safely back in Bath ready to catch up on some much-needed sleep.
Well done to everyone who competed this weekend, we achieved a great overall result of 3rd Uni!
Alexandra and Eva
25/26 Orienteering Captains