I live less than 2km from Bradgate, or 3km if I choose not to swim, but I do not go there as often as I should. Last year we had a summer league event there in August and some controls that were usable a few weeks before ended up in head high bracken. Roger and I agreed that this could be a problem and there seemed some merit in leaving the planning as late as we dared. On my first visit I noticed that vast areas of the Park had been rolled, allowing fast running over many areas where bracken has been allowed to grow unhindered in the past and consequently were shown on the map as rough open. I would like to thank Don Moir for updating the map to show more open land. The International Standard for Orienteering Maps (ISOM) defines Open as areas where running is possible at 80% or more of normal speed and I think that applies to all the areas where the bracken had been rolled. A common misconception, is that Open is used to show relatively short and smooth grass. As the weeks passed by the bracken started to grow, but only four weeks ago it was only 20 to 30cm high and very sparse. Previous results suggested some fast winning times, and I expected most legs to be run straight, so I planned the courses at the upper end of the suggested range. Most of the people I talked to after the event said that their time was similar to what they might have expected for the same coloured course in normal orienteering terrain despite the course being significantly longer and having some stiff climbs. There is no way of getting away from it, but if you go down, then you have to go back up!

A week ago the bracken to the east of the start, around 171 and 187, was getting up to chest high and I collected a few ticks around my waist while re-taping some controls. We put warnings in the final details about the need for full leg cover, but some people either ignored this or did not read the final details.

The White course was a significant factor regarding the start location but Bradgate presents the Planner and Controller with a dilemma as it is so untypical of much orienteering terrain. The path network is so dense that it is not possible to put a control at every decision point without overlapping some control circles. I decided that the good visibility could obviate the need for having controls at every decision point. However, this raises the possibility that some younger competitors might be drawn off route by a prominent control not on their course and that they may not have the necessary skills to relocate.

I can already see from looking at the courses people have inputted into Routegadget http://www.leioc.routegadget.co.uk/leioc/reitti.cgi that there is a wider variety of route choices than I expected.

Some memories.
Evening visits to Bradgate when the middle bits are usually deserted. Last Thursday morning when I ran the Blue course and the cloud was so low you could not see Old John (the folly) from the pond below it. Finishing off putting out some controls at 11.15pm yesterday with only just enough light to navigate by, and with the deer peering back at me out of the dusk while noticing that even more bits of bracken had been rolled very recently.

Come back next week and you might find that those bits of bracken you did get stuck in will have been rolled as well.

Finally, thanks to Roger for his Controlling, Rachel for her Organisation, the people who offered to collect in controls, and to all the others who contributed to this event.

John Marriott