This edition's interviewee is the new club captain and former club secretary, Val Challacombe, enticed to reveal some of her secrets for the benefit of Pacemaker readers.

Val began orienteering in December 1989. Alwyn and her brother-in-law were running the St Albans' marathon, so all their family came to stay for the weekend. Her sister and all her family orienteered, and had found that WAOC were holding an event at Maulden Woods. As a result Val and Sian went with her sister's family to Maulden Woods. Val did the red course with her sister and Sian did a yellow with her cousin. As they both enjoyed themselves, they went to a number of local colour-coded events over the next few years, and joined Happy Herts. Val gradually moved up from light green to green and then finally to blue. On her first green, at Wendover Woods, she finished last out of over 80 competitors - "Sian wondered what had happened to me!" In January 1993, Alwyn was finally persuaded to come along to a colour-coded event at Cuffley Woods. Optimistically described by Val as "a mudbath" [I remember spending all day drying out control cards before they could be punch checked], it was enough to get Alwyn hooked, and for the first time the family bought some proper 'O' gear. In the same month all three went to their first badge event; "I got a silver so was thrilled to bits".

While fitness was not an immediate problem (Val had played tennis and done a little yoga when her children were young, had started running in her mid-30s, run half marathons and the London marathon in 1987 and 1991) she took some time to pick up orienteering techniques. After her sister had showed her how to take a compass bearing, the rest was mainly 'self taught', with some hints offered by other club members, including Mike Perry at a CompassSport event at Blackwood where she thinks she "even scored some points". Not every event went so smoothly. Val remembers a badge event in Epping where she took 2 1/4 hours, "for 20 minutes of which I was trying to find the centre of the number '9' rather than the control circle!!"

Val began to learn more technique when Sian joined the SE squad and passed on what she had learned. Now she uses "most of the text-book techniques at one time or another though it varies with the terrain. I have never been very comfortable on open moorland and often find all those pits and depressions in South Wales very much the same, especially in the fog". Val attempts to maintain close contact with the map, but admits that she doesn't always know exactly where she is, even though she intends to. She feels that it is difficult to change technique; "In the south east it is so easy to belt along the paths to the nearest attack point and 'dive in' which makes it harder when I am on different terrain. My first Scottish 6 Days was a nightmare, as I just couldn't use the contours well enough".

With increasing experience of a variety of terrain Val has grown more confident but "I still feel more comfortable with trees around me so I can use hints from the vegetation as well as line and contour features. I nearly always take a bearing and sometimes pace like mad, though sometimes find myself counting and am not quite sure from where!" On the rumour that quantities of red wine play an important part in the Challacombe training programme, Val was strangely silent.

As Sian is half Welsh, and was born in Cardiff, she has run for Wales at Junior and Senior level. Val's proudest moment was when "she won the W15B course at the British Championships in 1993. We didn't understand then how unimportant the B course was and thought it was wonderful!" Sian has since gone on to finish fourth on W17A at the British at Newborough (1995) and also in the first Future Champions Cup. Meanwhile, Val's son, Christopher, has never orienteered; "he was old enough to leave at home on a Sunday and he always maintained that Sunday was Stay in Bed Until Noon Day! It's a shame as he probably has the best physique for running of the four of us and would have been a good map-reader."

Val has been teaching at Queenswood School since 1981,at first part time and then full time, spending two years at Sir Frederic Osborn School in Welwyn Garden City before returning to Queenswood. She teaches A-level Economics and Business Studies and some Maths to years 7 and 8. Queenswood concentrates very heavily on hockey and tennis and, as the girls now spend more weekends at home rather than boarding, it is not possible to take them orienteering - "so we won't be winning British Schools Champs".

	Its all Alwyn's fault-the distinctive JOG 2N at a recent colour-coded event: note that as its a four wheel drive, you wouldn't want to risk taking anywhere muddy or wet!

I enquired about the rather distinctive registration of their Range Rover. "JOG 2N was a number that Alwyn found and bought and he's had it more than 10 years. I say it means 'jog to nowhere', but at least people remember it". Val claims that they have only been locked out of it once, in a state of excitement at the first day of the Scottish 6 Days in 1995 in full view of half the club. After several HH members (including Mark Adams and Andrew Cummings) had crawled around on the roof trying to get in via the sunroof, David Saunders managed to squeeze his hand in and hook out the keys - "and his hand has probably never been the same since!"

When the children were younger Val and Alwyn went to France or Spain during the school holidays. Their first event abroad was the French Champs in 1993, when "Sian won a prize as the first foreigner and we ran together as a senior Ladies team, (Alwyn included). Alwyn and I running took the same time as Sian walking" The following year they went again, with the Rosens. Janet, Sian and Val ran together in one relay team, while Alwyn and Alan were joined by Simon Bourne, "they were in second place after the first leg - no, Alwyn was not the first leg".

In 1996 Val and Alwyn went to the Swiss 6 Days, their main memory of which is not of the orienteering. "We came back from training and had a late lunch. I had just washed some lettuce at the sink in the caravan and was sitting in the awning when we heard a crash in the van. I went inside to find no sign of damage. I opened the crockery cupboard to find smashed plates and glasses and a hole in the door. I looked behind me and there was a hole in the wardrobe door. I ran outside the van and there was a hole in the side of the van. I then climbed up the three-foot mound of earth behind the van to find myself looking down from the wrong end of a rifle range with three men lying 'prone' at the other end shooting in my direction. To cut a long story short, the shooting club had leased the ground to the O event for the week and was not meant to be doing any shooting. They accepted responsibility and paid for repairs etc. We had police, a judge and the 'big cheese' in charge of all the Orienteering round that evening plus all the onlookers to inspect the hole, which was about nose height!" Despite this inauspicious start to the week Val ended up best British runner in her class and twelfth out of sixty overall.

Val has also orienteered in Denmark, Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic. "There is no doubt that if you want something different, the rock pillars in the Czech Republic are outstanding. We have been twice and will certainly go again. But beware controls at the back of caves; I took 20 minutes to find one which was down some steps - and then around a corner!" Val was pleased to finish 3rd in the Czech Republic (winning the last day) and 4th in Hungary in the summer of 2000, particularly as the temperatures in Hungary were 35-40 degrees C.

Some typical Czech terrain rock passages in the map section on the left and giant smooth rocks on the right

I asked Val about her favourite types of event and terrain. "I think the HH trip to BOC at Oban has to be the best event in the UK, for the terrain, the weather and the wonderful club spirit". She reckons that the Scottish 6 Days in 99 was a close second as, although challenging, she felt she did better and got to grips with Scottish terrain, a confidence that only lasted until JK 2000! The JK 97 in Cornwall was another highlight, "the whole set-up was so special, the weather was brilliant and we took part in every possible event". Val also enjoys relays, finding them exciting, but also much more nerve-wracking. With Janet Rosen and others she has gained some good 2nd and 3rd places, including the Harvester relays. Her success at night has been mixed; "I have had some unfortunate experiences at the Southern Nights, like my battery running out at the furthest point and picking up the wrong course (from the right box)".

Val was club secretary from 1994 to 97. She enjoyed her three years on the committee, "although Mark Adams and Andrew Cummings took great delight in taking the mickey out of me - which of course I always loved!" She claims she took on the job "as it was the only one I thought I could do!" Given that Val has just become club captain, lets hope her confidence in her abilities has increased. She is particularly pleased with the quality of the speakers she managed to persuade to come the club dinners during that time "Dave Gittus, Yvette Hague (as she still was then) and Sue Harvey. I am very proud that I can say that we've had a World Champion in our house! While the first venue in St Albans turned out to be noisy, people seemed to enjoy the two years at Tewinbury Farm."

Finally, I asked Val about rivals and ambitions. Within the club, she prefers "to beat Lesley and Frances, and I'm very annoyed that Lesley has beaten me in both Street Os". Nationally, Val has beaten most of the top women at some time or another but not consistently; "I tend to get too excited at the big UK events and do less well than I should, like at the Beaudesert National event earlier this year, when I trotted out of 6, thought I had just done 7 and ran a kilometre to 8! I realised as I neared 8, ran a kilometre back to 7 and then back to 8. All this to-ing and fro-ing wore me out and lost me 20 minutes and a place in the top 5!" Her ambition is to cut down her mistakes, lose weight and get fitter so that "I can have one really good season, finishing in the top 10 and get in the top 3 for one big event. Well, that should keep me busy for the next ten years!"