GLOSS race series 2023 Greater London Orienteering Summer Series

20th Aug 23

HAVOC win the GLOSS trophy for the sixth time in a row.

Once again, victory in the series was truly a club wide effort.  We had runs from 19 members.  We got 14 different top 6 scorers over the series.  We had 84 total runs, and were the only club to get full teams of at least six runners to every event.  We had 7 of the 9 people who ran in every event.  We were the only team to be in the top two scores every week - we won two of the six events, and came second in the other four.  If you look at individual scores, then based on team scoring we had the second (Andrew), 3rd (Jenny) and 5th (David) best scorers.  Andrew scored in all 5 events he appeared in, so takes the club MVP award, Jenny 5 of 6.  Chloe and Ros also scored in every event they appeared in.  If you look at individual scores removing the top 6 stipulation, but giving points all the way down the table, then we take the top 3 places – Jenny, Chris P and David, and HAVOC take 7 of the top 8 positions.  Dale got our best score of the series – 99 points, for second at Lloyd Park.  We had a couple other podium places – David at Lloyd and Andrew at Hampstead.

In the end, our margin of victory, was just a single point though.  With SLOW winning the last two races, and a second and third to back it up, they got 77 points, with us on 78.  So, actually, it was pretty close.  If we go back to our amazing win at Epsom, SLOW were in second place that day, just four points behind. A reverse of that result would have given SLOW overall victory in the series.  And how close was that?  Well, if the sixth SLOW runner had been 45 seconds quicker on the day, the trophy wouldn’t be in our cabinet anymore!  Equally, if our sixth place runner had not been as quick (and our seventh as we had backup that day) then again, the result would have been different.  The order of events this year probably played into our hands – a fast start meant SLOW were always on the back foot – if the last two events had been first, then SLOW would have taken the early lead and may have given us a tougher run for our money at the CHIG, HH and DFOK events.  You can analyse forever though – in the end, HAVOC are the champions.  HAVOC are the club to beat in the Greater London Orienteering Summer Series, again.

Well done everyone.  Massive thanks for your contributions over the last six weeks.  Some great runs, some great team efforts and some great post race celebrations.  The spirit of the club lives on.   Roll on 2024, when our title defence will resume.

GO HAVOC.  GLOSS champions, 2023

The trophy presentation:

GLOSS is a series of races held in June/July each year, and run by the clubs in and around London. There are two courses: the GLOSS course which is about 3½ to 4½ km (with optional extension to around 6 km) and is of moderate navigational difficulty and a 'Yellow' course which is about 2km with easier navigation, but which doesn't score for the GLOSS trophy.

The GLOSS trophy scoring is calculated based on the best six runners from all the competing clubs, with individual ranking being worked out depending on how well each person performs against their BOF ranking.

Both courses are traditional line courses, so navigate between control points - you decide the best route in order to complete the course in the quickest time. Beginners welcome.  If you don't have a BOF ranking, but complete the course, you are given a default score, whatever time you complete in.

HAVOC are the defending GLOSS champions, having won the trophy for the last five runnings (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022).

Draft fixtures for 2023 are: