There was a terrific turn out on a cold but sunny morning for the first Orienteering event in recent years at Hull’s largest park.
HALO (Humberside and Lincolnshire Orienteers) had organised an introductory event at East Park. Over 50 individuals and groups took part and with many of the groups being family groups there were nearly 80 people overall.
Most parts of the park were included in the various courses, taking the participants around the Boating Lake, Gardens, Open Spaces, Wildlife area and children’s play areas, all features of the park that make it so popular.
Many of the newcomers enjoyed themselves so much that they came back for more and after completing the introductory course went on to try the harder courses.
Neil Harvatt, the event organiser, put the good turn out down to publicity in local press and web-sites, a wide circulation of information around local schools as well as support from Hull City Council.
Predictably the winning times came from experienced Orienteers; however there were many impressive times from newcomers. Performance of the day goes to Bella Brittain who only started Orienteering in September. Bella, who attends the weekly Club Nights in Beverley, had the fastest times on both the White and Yellow courses. However one of the beauties of Orienteering is that for many, speed is not important.
Being able to visit different areas and to successfully navigate around a course is all the incentive that is needed.
The full results for all four courses can be found on the HALO web-site (www.halo-orienteering.org.uk).
The next events in this series of events suitable for newcomers are at Weelsby Woods, Grimsby (February 11th), Beverley Area (February 18th) and Beverley Westwood (March 10th). Full details of these and other orienteering events can be found at www.halo-orienteering.org.uk.
HALO also run weekly club nights, during term-time, in Beverley (Mondays at Longcroft School) and Grimsby (Wednesdays at Oasis Academy, Wintringham).
