Last updated 10:34, Sunday, 17 February 2008

MICHAEL Noblett of West Cumberland Orienteers has become Northern Night Champion and been selected for the international match in Belgium at the beginning of March.

Michael Noblett on the run in a night event

He joins three other club members, Susan Skinner, and sisters Charlotte and Rosie Watson, who have also been selected for Interland.

Interland is England’s only international match outside the British Isles. England has competed in this annual pentangular match against two Belgian teams (Flemish and French speaking), the Dutch and the Nordrhein-Westfalische (NW Germany) team since 1995. Each nation hosts the event in turn.

The competition is truly a team effort spanning age groups from W and M14 to W and M60+ with 42 team members in all.

Courses are of National Event standard technical difficulty. England have managed to win each year but the margins recently have been close.

Susan Skinner (W40) moved up to Cumbria with her family over a year ago. She is a highly competent orienteer who consistently finds herself well placed in the results. With West Cumberland team-mates Angela Brand-Barker and Margaret Mackenzie they took the bronze medal in the W40 British Relay Championships in 2007.

Charlotte and Rosie Watson are sisters and both go to Keswick School. Both learned their orienteering skills at Ennerdale School as part of the West Cumberland Orienteering Club schools programme. They both took part in the series of events run in the spring and summer terms each year.

Keswick School took a team to the British Schools Championships last November, to Dorset. The two races held over the weekend were used to select teams to go to the World Schools Orienteering Championships, which this year are to be held in Edinburgh in April.

Both were chosen to be part of the select junior girls team of five runners. This team is chosen nationally. There are also school teams of five runners, and Ulverston Victoria High School will be filling the junior and senior girls and junior boys teams. This shows the strength of the sport within Cumbria.

Both Watson girls are part of the North West regional junior squad, along with six other juniors from the club. Junior development has gone from strength to strength over recent years with the attainment of Club Mark accreditation.

Both take part in the regular evening event series run by the club, which during the winter months is of course, in the dark.

Night orienteering is great fun, developing navigation skills and teaching self reliance. Charlotte runs the long course and is often found well up in the results, beating many of the older and more experienced runners.

The club has a wide membership base, with Copeland and Allerdale equally represented. The schools in both districts are very active in the orienteering league with well over 20 primaries taking part.

All four played key roles in the club's qualification for the final of the national CompassSport Cup competition, which took place recently at Hamsterley, near Bishop Auckland.

Roger Jackson, of WCOC, said: "The club is delighted at the selection of Michael, Susan, Rosie and Charlotte. All four have done so well over the last year, and totally deserve the recognition."

Noblett won the Northern Night Championships held last Saturday evening on High Rigg. Absolutely perfect conditions on this intricate open fell produced an extremely fast race.

Noblett completed the 6km course, which include 170m of climb, in under 39 minutes. The following day he won the premier course at the first Galoppen of the season, at Hawse End, again, in perfect conditions giving a very fast race indeed.

The Northern Night Championships on High Rigg on Saturday evening also produced several junior championships for the club: Charlotte Watson (W16), Rosie Watson (W14) and Lewis Taylor (M16), along with Susan Skinner (W40) and Malcolm Ruckledge (M65). A great night for the club.

All had been out earlier in the week, on Thursday evening, running on Southerndale on the slopes of Skiddaw.

Mild conditions produced fast times, with Alan Irving scoring a win on the long, less than a minute clear of Neil Hamblin who is in his first season. Hamblin will undoubtedly help to make the competition even hotter next year.

Alistair Arnott, new to the sport, showed that the short course was well within his capabilities with a great win over Nathaniel Green. Rosie Watson was not far behind in fourth.

The first Galoppen of the season, and the defence of the Borrowdale Trophy got off to a magic start at Hawse End on Sunday in true spring like weather, with mist shrouding the shores of Derwentwater. Almost 350 people travelled from all over the north of England to compete.

Outright wins were recorded by Michael Noblett on the brown, and Lewis Taylor on the blue. Both found the conditions very much to their liking and turned in very fast times.

The undergrowth provided little or no obstruction, allowing the competitors to run hard through the terrain.

Many juniors moving up a course this year also ran well. Nathaniel Green was third on light green, same position as Paul Eaton on orange. Eight year old Alistair Thomas had a great run on yellow mixing it with the older secondary school pupils, showing his real potential.

Details of future events can be found on the website www.lakes-o.freeserve.co.uk or close to each event on the answerphone 01768 895539. The winter night event series draws to a close shortly. The fell series then starts with long and short courses suitable for runners of all abilities. Details on the website.

High Rigg results (top-10 finishers) - Blue: 1, Michael Noblett 38.44; 2, John Noblett 42.32; 5, Alan Irving 52.37; 6, David Downes 56.38; 8, Kevin Hodgson 60.08; 9, Neil Hamblin 61.41; 10, Jeff Goodwin 61.54. ; 13, Alistair Hornsby 69.14; 15, Steven Breeze 102.50.

Green: 2, Michael Billinghurst 30.44; 4, Martin Skinner 34.14; 5, John Taylor 35.21; 6, Graham Watson 38.19. ; 16, Alice Crook 65.49.

Short green: 1, Charlotte Watson 21.59; 2, Lewis Taylor 27.16; 3, Susan Skinner 27.40; 4, Graham Hemingway 29.23; 6, Rosie Watson 31.26; 8, Malcolm Ruckledge 32.18; 9, Nettie Milburn 36.46. ; 11, Chris Hemingway 42.02; 13, Debbie Watson 42.50; 17, Brian Wilson 46.02; 20, Nathaniel Green 49.57; 21, Mike Hind 51.47; 22, Joyce Hemingway 52.42; 23, Michael Green 53.05.

Orange: 2, Katrina Hemingway 30.48; 6, Emma Johnston 56.06.

Southerndale results (top 10) - Long: 1, Alan Irving 38.35; 2, Neil Hamblin 39.25; 3, Pete Nelson 40.28; 4, Jeff Goodwin 41.49; 5, Lewis Taylor 42.25; 6, Kim Collison 43.49; 7, Kevin Hodgson 45.16; 8, Graham Hemingway 46.13; 9, John Taylor 47.14; 10, Charlotte Watson 47.25.; 11, Chris Emerson 47.58; 12, Roger Jackson 49.15; 13, Graham Watson 49.17; 14, David Spencer 49.42; 15, Margaret Mackenzie 51.29; 16, Chris Pollitt 56.31; 17, Alice Crook 80.45; 18, Alistair Hornsby 97.23.

Short: 1, Alistair Arnott 37.26; 2, Nathaniel Green 38.04; 3, Malcolm Ruckledge 40.29; 4, Rosie Watson 40.50; 5, Steven Breeze 47.47; 6, Rob Phizacklea 49.20; 7, Michael Green 50.46; 8, Julia Tucker 50.54; 9, Brian Wilson 51.04; 10, Joyce Hemingway 60.15. ; 11, Christopher Hemingway 60.55

Hawse End results (top-10 finishers) - Brown: 1, Michael Noblett 41.25; 3, Michael Billinghurst 46.14; 4, John Noblett 46.46; 9, Kim Collison 49.09.

Blue: 1, Lewis Taylor 37.13; 5, Charlotte Watson 44.28; 6, Graham Hemingway 44.39. ; 11, Kevin Hodgson 47.36; 14, Graham Watson 48.18; 16, Peter Hemingway 49.03; 25, Susan Skinner 50.53; 29, Roger Thomas 52.07; 30, Laurence Cowton 52.16; 31, Alistair Hornsby 52.42; 37, Debbie Thompson 53.59; 39, Roger Jackson 54.33; 48, Alice Crook 58.11; 51, Richard Cummings 59.31; 53, Jane Hornsby 60.21; 54, Malcolm Ruckledge 61.05; 60, Lynne Thomas 64.14; 66, Melanie Bradley 69.31.

Green: 3, Andrew Warner 43.15; 5, Christopher Hemingway 45.42; 6, Debbie Watson 45.46; 7, Jessica Bibby 45.55; 8, Rosie Watson 46.28. ; 18, Penny Bibby 48.40; 24, Jeff Cowton 50.23; 33, John Calvert 52.19; 38, Steve Sullivan 53.30; 45, Dave Fenwick 58.53; 47, Brian Wilson 59.49; 51, Joyce Hemingway 62.38; 55, Valerie Sullivan 67.04; 56, Richard Lewthwaite 67.57.

Lt green: 3, Nathaniel Green 35.01; 8, Katrina Hemingway 37.03; 9, John Cowper 37.18. ; 12, Hugh Guise 39.21; 14, Annette Milburn 40.34; 19, Michael Green 42.23; 20, Natalie Burns 42.52; 21, Emma Johnston 43.32; 22, Gwen Rea 45.56; 32, Marguerite Pennell 51.50; 36, Lesley Wornham 54.34; 39, Hannah Skinner 56.10; 40, Angela Ruckledge 56.19; 41, Margaret Calvert 56.30; 42, Oliver Burns 57.19; 53, Raymond Nelson 78.32.

Orange: 3, Paul Eaton 19.33; 4, Alice Rea 19.39; 9, Sam Pagett 23.22. ; 14, Richard Wilson 25.07; 18, Adam Pagett 26.06; 20, Heather Wornham 27.11; 25, Rebecca Cummings 40.46.

Yellow: 10, Alastair Thomas 13.16. ; 22, Kate Skinner 19.18; 32, Chelsea Bacon 24.00; 38, Heather Eaton 28.59; 46, Jenny Bradley 33.54; 49, Ben Breeze 36.11.