Five of the district’s orienteers join field of 3,000 at Reading

With around 3,000 competitiors from 22 different countries, this is the largest orienteering event held in the UK this year.

Day One was the sprint race around the Whitenights campus of Reading University.

Helen Parkinson’s was the performance of the day, with 17th place in a field of 97.

Results: M18E Ben Beresford 27th, Will Parkinson 39th; M40 Paul Beresford 34th, M55 Robert Parkinson 63rd, W45 Helen Parkinson 17th.

The second and third day’s events were at Hambledon and Cold Ash respectively.

The times were combined for a two day total.

The highlight for Bassetlaw was Robert Parkinson’s very encouraging performance at Cold Ash, that moved him from 12th overnight to take second place overall and a podium position on the M55S course.

Results: M18E Ben Beresford 11th, M18L Will Parkinson 15th, M40L Paul Beresford 40th, M55S Robert Parkinson 2nd, W45S Helen Parkinson 8th.

Day four was the relay when Ben and Paul Beresford joined up with members of Notts Orienteering Club to create two teams in the Men’s Short Relay.

Ben’s team finished a very promising ninth and Paul’s a creditable 23rd, out of 41 teams.

This weekend sees the third event in the Bassetlaw Spring series at Langold Country Park.

Registration is 12.30pm to 2.30pm and starts are from 1pm to 3pm, with courses for all ages and abilities.