Most of my visits to Beacon Hill were during the snow and ice late last year. This made planning the event a real joy running around the snow covered hill.

The weather meant that area became more runnable as the bracken and even some of the brambles were knocked back so there were some quick times for the courses - especially if you were able to run up the hills.

Unfortunately the recent thaw and the heavy rains that followed resulted in one or two control locations that were a little damp underfoot.

At least the rain held off until after everyone had finished their runs. I decided to use Windmill hill fairly early on in the planning process since this part is not used as frequently and would be less familiar to local competitors.

This meant that the longer courses had to cross a busy road and the 4 controls at the road crossings were added for safety reasons.

Many competitors took advantage of the 1 minute timeout to turn their control descriptions over.

I hope you enjoyed your runs.

Thanks to Ernie for his patient controlling, Steve for his capable organising and special thanks to all those who volunteered to collect in controls - it was much appreciated.

Routegadget is now available so please add your routes, I'm interested in seeing where you went.

Iain Tebbutt

Firstly, congratulations to NOC in the Cup Competition and to LOG in the Trophy Competition and 'Good Luck' to both Clubs in the Final later this year at Longshaw. To say that it was a close run thing between NOC and DVO is putting it mildly, especially in the Download Tent in early afternoon with the continuously scrolling results literally changing before the watching eyes and, at one moment, with only two points separating the Clubs, I was on the way to checking Competition Rules J (2010 version) section 4.2.7 in the event of a tie!

Secondly, it has been a real pleasure to work with two such enthusiastic, committed, efficient and well-organised Event Officials - Steve Edgar succeeded in organising an excellent quality event without fuss or being flustered and in him LEI has a man capable of organising events at the highest level of our sport, whilst Iain Tebbutt should be proud and as 'Pleased as Punch' to have planned courses that received a fair measure of praise and a minimum amount of criticism from competitors to whom individual success was as important as was doing their very best for their Club on the day - Iain, like Steve is, in my opinion capable of planning an event at the top level of our sport and I hope that at some point in the future he will have the opportunity to do so.

Thirdly, answers to a few points raised: "Shame about the uphill finish!" - well, LEI more often than not is asked to use the Upper/West Car Park in order that on a Sunday the Lower/East car Park is kept for family groups, dog walkers and horse riders, so starting and finishing close to the top of one of the highest points in Leicestershire gave physical as well as other forms of challenge to the competitors.

"Too many controls - some should have been left out" - Beacon Hill not only has a really good range of point and line features but it also has a multitude of features, including walls, fences, major forest roads and tracks, and roads separating sections of the competition area, that limit a Planner with ambition to provide route choice and a range of leg lengths within the courses - take away a control and a straight run up or down a road or track appears or an O.O.B area or public road limits access. Within the constraints that he had to work with I believe that Iain created courses that allowed a fair and honest competition.

"How come you controlled the event as a member of the host Club?" - Indeed, a good question, as I was asked to control in 2009, and with the new 2011 Rules, following hard on the 2010 Rules, following on as they did from the 2007 Rules, change and fluidity generally seemed to be the order of the day - at least the Club had Grade B Controller who lived reasonably near by and who would be willing to step aside if another out-of Club/Region Controller was appointed! I treat every task undertaken on behalf of orienteers with a belief in getting it right and ensuring that everything is as fair as it can be, hopefully irrespective of the Club that I belong to. I hope that you found the organising and planning of good quality and that there was no evident element of unfairness - if you did then I did my tasks as Controller correctly though, it must be said, with the new 2011 Rules, Appendices, Competition Rules and Event Guidelines the this sort of situation is very unlikely to happen again.

Finally, in the light of my last remarks, it has to be admitted that this particular M69, with various ailments such as ischemic heart disease, osteoarthritis and asthma, amongst others, is giving very serious thought, when 2012 begins and M70 is printed on the membership card, to ceasing to be a Grade B Controller and opt for Grade C status instead. In fact, as I was remarking to the LEI Chairman only a few days ago, there is now within Clubs a growing role for the ageing Controller acting as the Controller/Mentor required at Level D Events, especially with regard to the new Rules - go on, go look up Rule 1.7.4 and 4.4.1 if you are in any way curious - and as the number of Level D Events being put on by Clubs is growing apace with the demand for locally based events of various types, and with them being in a very positive sense the events where novice and tyro Organiser/Planners are given the opportunity to have a go, then experienced Controller/Mentors will be able to continue to make a contribution. As this Regional Round of the CompassSport Cup & Trophy is almost certainly my last major event as a Controller then it has been one that I am really proud to have been involved in on behalf of LEI and, by extension, the East Midlands Region.

Thank you all for coming and making the day the undoubted success that it was.

Ernie Williams