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DID YOU KNOW?
London to host 2012 Olympics
IT is perhaps only proper that the Olympic Games should come to Britain in 2012 for it marks the 400th anniversary of the first revival of the ancient Olympics – the Cotswold Olimpick Games held in Weston sub Edge in 1612. Never heard of them? Find out more at www.olimpickgames. co.uk
Whilst there have been changes over the years, the sportsmanship, the fair play and the sheer enjoyment of these games is still closely linked to those established by Robert Dover back in 1612. It’s a great spectacle.
Maintaining any semblance of the traditional games is becoming increasingly difficult. You can just imagine the reaction to Shin-Kicking! However this ancient sport continues in the modern Games. Their present form takes much from the records of the Games in the early 17th century. Prominent is the picture of the Games published in 1636 depicting Robert Dover presiding over his Games. On the summit of the hill a castle structure has guns firing to start events, and there are representations of the different activities – dancing, backswords, coursing, throwing the sledge hammer, spurning the barre, pike drill tumbling and…. shin-kicking.
The Games were continued long after Dover’s death in 1652. They were revived in 1660 and there are impressions of them in the literature of the 18th century. Backswords and wrestling were ever popular as was jingling. Spectators particularly enjoyed the Smock Race for women in which a Holland Shift was a favoured prize.
The Games eventually came to their first end in 1852 with the enclosure of Dover’s Hill.
In 1951 they were revived for the Festival of Britain, and in 1965 the Society was established which has the annual responsibility for organising them. Some events are:
The Championship of the Hill. Teams of five athletic young people test their skills in a range of rural sports, including the traditional sack race where the sack is tied round the neck. Straw bales provide handicaps and water is spread liberally.
The Champion of the Hill is the athlete who succeeds best at the four activities depicted taking place on the hill in 1636, namely the Standing Jump, Putting the Shot, Throwing the Sledge-hammer, and Spurning the Barre, a form of tossing the caber.
Tugs of War by stalwarts from local hostelries.
Shin-kicking. Contestants hold each other by the shoulder and try to kick shins and bring opponents to the ground. A Stickler, the ancient name for judge, makes sure that shins are hit before a fall can count. Kickers wear the traditional white smocks associated with shepherds. They are allowed to protect their shins with straw. The sport dates back to the original Games. The 1636 picture shows shin-kicking taking place, probably as the underplay of Cotswold Wrestling. The activity continued through to the 18th century. In the early 19th century the activity was more brutal, with villages challenging each other, contestants hardening shins with coal hammers and wearing boots tipped with iron. Many a leg was broken!
POCKET PROFILE
Simon Mee – M16A, Toohey Forest Orienteering Club, Queensland
Photo: Ian Holmes
Simon started orienteering as a 12 year old at Street-O events in early 2002 after being introduced to the sport by his uncles. He then went along to bush events and competed in his first Queensland Championships later that year where he gained a fourth placing in M14A. He proved to be a very quick learner as the following year he won the M14 class at the Queensland School Orienteering Championships and also at the Queensland Championships. Later, Simon also gained 3rd place in this class at the 2003 Australian Championships held in the granite of Barambogie in Victoria. Last year, he continued his strong performances with a win in the Queensland School Championships, a 3rd at the Australian Schools Championships and was part of the winning team in the M16 class at the Australian Relay Championships. He was selected in the Australian Schools Honour team and was subsequently included in the Australian Schools team that competed in New Zealand in January this year. His latest achievement at the national level saw him gain a 2nd placing in the M16A class at the Australian 3-Days at Jindabyne, following consistent performances every day. Simon, who is a student at St Laurence’s College in Brisbane, also competes in crosscountry running and enjoys bodyboarding and playing his guitar. He’d like to win an Australian Schools Championships and make at least one JWOC team, with his eyes firmly set on 2007 in Dubbo. Beyond that, “Making WOC would be awesome!!! Everyone can dream,” he says.
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PROFILE The 2000 Club welcomes Mike Hubbert
DAVE Lotty became the inaugural member of The 2000 Club at Easter when he passed the 2000 events mark. Now Mike Hubbert has also passed that milestone, completing his 2000th course on May 31st at the Moonee Ponds Junction mid-week night-O event.
At publication date, September 1st, Dave Lotty holds the all-time most events tally at 2050, closely followed by Mike Hubbert on 2033 and Ian Baker (1890) who is making a bold move to join The 2000 Club as well.
Mike Hubbert is one of the “Originals”, having competed in the first event organised by Tom Andrews at Upper Beaconsfield in 1969 which started it all in this country.
The Australian Orienteer caught up with Mike in between one of his many events.
AO: When was your first event?
MH: August 23, 1969. I was secretary of the Richmond Harriers at the time and Tom had been at me for some while to stage this ‘new’ event called Orienteering. He’d been in Sweden talking to Silva and they had taken him to an event. Eventually he got the club’s shotputter, Peter WillsCooke, to help map an area in Upper Beaconsfield.
AO: Were you hooked?
MH: Yes. I set the second or third event at Mt. Disappointment with Roy Whitehead. He was a master at Camberwell Grammar which had a school camp there. I remember walking along a road with Roy and saying “Let’s put a control in that gully – Tom Andrews will never find it there.”
AO: What was your club called?
MH: We formed the Richmond Harriers Orienteering Club early in 1970 and many of the Harriers took up Orienteering. We specialised in distance running so it was a good form of training. I left to live and work in Europe in mid-1970. When I got back in 1973 I found they’d changed the name to Red Kangaroos, but the same faces were there.
AO: Did you run in Europe?
MH: Yes – I really learned the basics of Orienteering whilst I was over there. I helped found the Leicestershire Orienteering Club and ran for the Dysart Dashers when I lived in London. I competed in the 1971 Midnatsol Galloppen in Norwegian Lapland, and the 1972 British Championships held in the New Forest, which was ‘new’ about 400 years ago.
Later on, I competed at the Swedish O-Ringen 5-Days in 1980 when they had some 25,000 competitors. My lasting memory is of two continual lines of people – one heading for the starts and the other heading for the showers (which were on a hill for all to see).
AO: You seem to be keen on administration too.
MH: I was secretary of the OFA (now Orienteering Australia) from 1975 to 1981, preceding Dave Lotty in the role. During that time Tom Andrews and I hatched up a plot to get the World Championships out of Europe for the first time. We applied for 1985 because it was the last year on the application form. After a lot of work lobbying the Europeans we were awarded them at the IOF Council in Germany in 1980.
AO: How many events do you normally compete in?
MH: Well, in 2003 I completed 133 events, then 176 events in 2004, and this year I had chalked up 102 events by June 30th so I may get even more this year. In the 1980’s I did very few events – that’s why I’m still trailing Dave Lotty in the all-time total. But I’ll probably pass his tally before the year is out.
AO: Do you compete in all types of events?
MH: I run (actually it’s more of a totter these days) in most bush and park & street events, in daylight or at night. I’ve done a few ski-O events too but not MTB-O. I also take part in the occasional rogaine for recreation.
AO: What were your best results?
MH: Probably 5th in M40 at APOC’86 in Hong Kong (yes – I was that Aussie running with Kari Sallinen), and 8th in M35 at APOC’80 in Canberra.
AO: You were also a runner?
MH: I started off as a quarter-hurdler and ended up running 20 marathons and countless other 20 milers and 15’s too. There are lots of memories – I ran in the Berchem Marathon in Belgium where they allocated a kid on a bike to follow each of the internationals. My kid kept asking “Do you think you will finish?” I thought – shut up kid, just keep pedalling.
Last year I ran in London’s Green Belt Relay – legs of 13km and 15km on consecutive days along towpaths where the mud was glacial sure shook out the moths from the system.
AO: What are your plans for the future?
MH: To keep on competing. I plan to go to Austria next year for the World Masters, then probably to Denmark for the WOC carnival. In the meantime, there’s a night event next Wednesday, followed by a park event on Saturday afternoon and a bush event on Sunday. So, I’d better get going.
