I trust everyone found the courses challenging but fair. Some were on the long side but given that much of the area lends itself to fast running on paths I considered these reasonable. The newer areas in Peartree and Burroughs Woods are growing well as those who had courses crossing the road will realise and the area is improving all the time especially as the new areas provide relief and not inconsiderable climb unlike the largely flat areas in Martinshaw Wood.

Unfortunately the thinning work of the Woodland Trust has opened up the canopy since the map was updated and that together with this years weather has brought on the undergrowth changing runnability. The lack of footfall during foot and mouth closure did not help on minor paths.

All things considered I thought the planner made good use of the area including several really good courses. Every course had some excellent legs and I heard many complementary remarks as I went round. Some controls were found difficult by some runners but others found these easily and it seemed to depend on route choice and avenue of approach.

There are lesson to be learned from this our first C4 with electronic punching. No doubt other clubs have discovered similar problems.

The whole structure of events needs some rethinking - Many jobs are cut out and others reduced considerably - Results are now a doddle.

The downside though is that someone is needed to programme the boxes and computers and he needs time after the planner and controller have finished agreeing the courses and this brings forward the deadlines for their activities. Programmer should now be added to the list of event officials. In addition the planners role on the day is much more difficult and unless boxes can go out the night before, planning probably has to be a team effort. Recovery of controls is a major task and volunteers to help are not often around when an event draws to a close.

Putting out the new stakes is more difficult both in weight and bulk terms and they have still to be out in good time to allow the controller to get round them for his morning checks. Often this entails the planner(s) going round putting out stakes and then going round again to add the boxes. If we are to continue to find willing volunteers for planning it will have to be on the basis of finding assistant planners as well.

All in all a successful event with the threatened deluge holding off till we were pulling in equipment and packing up.

Roy J Denney

Without long walks to the start and finish I opted for the courses to be towards the longer end of the guidance. All the courses were, I hope, rewarding and challenging with the choice of both route and attack point being very important (the shortest route was very rarely the quickest). Watching you all compete and hearing discussion afterwards people did take many different routes which is pleasing. With this event using electronic punching the option is now there for you to now compare your times on individual legs as well as overall. For those people using this for the first time this is very useful for reviewing how you did, where you gained and lost time I hope you will use it

Ratby is an area where I think you have to learn from initial forays into the forest and adapt an orienteering style to suit the terrain. I hope you return to this area in the future (hopefully with less undergrowth!) as many parts of  Pear Tree and Burroughs Woods are maturing nicely. Many thanks to you all for coming and the complementary comments during and afterward the event

David Lawson