This was our first attempt at planning a level C event and also at planning together.
The latter was interesting at times and certainly brought out the fact that we orienteer in different ways.
Over the months we have been planning this event, we have appreciated how much more time goes into a level C
event compared to a level D and we will certainly more fully appreciate being competitors at future orienteering events.
The other factor to really hit home is how much-die back occurs with regard to stinging nettles and bracken,
completely changing the visibility and runnability on the ground from when we first started surveying the area
in August to the day of the event. Another factor is that the event occurred very close to the shortest day which
meant hanging some controls in complete darkness; the area looked very different and our need to buy more powerful
head torches became apparent! From the comments received on the day, competitors appeared to enjoy their courses,
with some visiting the intricate areas of Windmill Hill for the first time. The amount of rain we had experienced
recently meant the area was extremely wet with many unmapped streams appearing. The area of Felicity’s Wood visited
by the blue and brown courses produced many comments about how slippery the paths were. We would like to thank Chris
Bosley for his support and guidance during our planning process.
Alan & Wendy West
I was very pleased with Alan and Wendy’s courses particularly their use of Windmill Hill
for some of the TD5 courses. All comments I received were complimentary about these. The finishing times for elite runners
match well with those expected.
Some competitor’s were delighted with their superman run-in times, until they noticed
their snail pace to the first control. The download team had a small problem before the start of the event, which meant that
they had to re-sync the Start and Finish boxes. This caused the Start/Finish boxes to be 59 seconds adrift of the rest of the
course. Importantly the overall times were exactly right.
The split time to Control 1 was extended by 59 seconds, whereas the split from the last Control to the Finish was reduced by
59 seconds. The provisional results showed the unrectified times but the final ratified results will be correct for all splits.
Thanks to Kevin for identifying and rectifying the problem despite having to repair his central heating on return from the event.
Thanks also to Nigel and all his helpers for a well run event despite problems with map numbers maps, more vehicles than expected
and locked loos.
Apologies to those people that needed to run using second hand maps. We will be giving recommendations to the LEI committee
regarding map numbers to avoid similar problems in future.
Chris Bosley
Firstly, a big thank you to everyone that turned up at Beacon Hill on Sunday.
We had the biggest turnout for any LEI event in years and makes all the effort well worthwhile. I really hope everyone
enjoyed the area and the courses on offer and went home smiling.
Next, I would like to apologise for both the toilet and the maps situation. After making repeated calls to the ranger
office we did eventually get someone from the council department to unlock the doors late morning, too late for most though.
So apologies for this and it’s something I will learn from.
Having to recycle maps wasn’t good. We did actually look at the attendance figures from the last few years for the time
of year and venue and decided to increase the printing on all of the long courses from Light Green onwards.
Obviously we didn’t go far enough. Again, I will remember this and try not to repeat the mistake in the future.
For those of you that gave up your maps, and without much fuss it has to be said, a massive thanks to you! I will be
leaving my email address below so that anyone that would like sent a PDF copy of their course to their email address
or a physical copy sent through the post, please get in touch.
This was my second event as Level C organiser and count myself very lucky to have worked with two very professional
and thorough controllers. Chris was always available to offer suggestions and an immediate response.
His attention to detail impressed me and always talked in a positive and helpful manner. Chris was a pleasure to
work with, as were planners Alan and Wendy who were equally as thorough and helpful, with no lack of communication between us all.
I thought they made good use of the whole area with controls visiting Felicity’s Wood North of the map and Windmill Hill South. Everything seemed to go very smoothly. Thanks very much all three of you!
As for all those members of LEI that helped out in all those different areas, you were great, a credit to the club.
I was very proud. Extra special praise to Annie Leake and Ian Wilson who were brilliant on car parking, to Roy Denney
who gave up his run to freeze his wotsits off all day on the start and unsung hero Kev Bradley and his download team.
A proper team effort, many thanks to all helpers! One last thank you to John Cooke who is always happy to respond quickly
to requests to edit/update the Details on the LEI website , thanks John!