Controller’s
comments
Firstly,
many thanks to Rex for planning the courses on this, his first, District Event.
I think Rex was surprised at the amount of time it takes to plan an event
of this size and I hope you all enjoyed the challenging courses. The area
is renowned for long times so we took the decision to keep the courses at
the lower end of the recommended lengths because of the physical nature of
the area, the greasy, moss-covered boulders which feature in parts and the
vicious brambles and brashings which have worsened because of recent felling.
The weather was exceptionally kind – the previous afternoon, when we started
putting controls out, was extremely wet, though warm
Thanks
also to Dave for organising the event – also his first outing in this role.
He and his willing band of helpers made it all go very smoothly.
There
is still a widespread misunderstanding that courses should be based on the
winner’s time, whereas the BOF Event Guidelines stipulate a time range for
most competitors. It is worth looking at these and comparing the results from
Black Rock and Cromford Moor as some of you may get a real surprise.
|
Course
|
Actual winning
time (minutes)
|
Time for
most competitors
|
Number of
competitors within that range
|
Numbers
below the range
|
Numbers
above the range
|
|
White
|
13.45
|
13 - 35
|
9
|
1
|
2
|
|
Yellow
|
12.36
|
25 - 45
|
7
|
11
|
3
|
|
Orange
|
39.29
|
36 - 60
|
3
|
0
|
12
|
|
Red
|
50.47
|
45 - 75
|
5
|
0
|
2
|
|
Light Green
|
40.37
|
35 - 60
|
10
|
0
|
23
|
|
Green
|
46.52
|
45 - 75
|
37
|
0
|
31
|
|
Blue
|
48.27
|
55 - 90
|
55
|
4
|
11
|
|
Brown
|
49.56
|
65 - 105
|
23
|
12
|
9
|
So,
Yellow was probably too short, Orange too technical, Light Green too physical
– apologies to all of you on these courses and we hope it didn’t spoil your
enjoyment too much. Green, Blue and Brown were within guidelines though Green
may also have been too physical (apologies for sending you down to the boulder
and then back up the same slope – though some chose different routes). We
received most positive comments about the Blue course – perhaps because it
was the one which most closely met the guidelines.
Ranald
Macdonald
Planners
Comments
With
my usual optimism, in early October, I paid my first visit to this area thinking
that two or three hours would be sufficient to nip round and sort out thirty
or so control sites. So after five hours I arrived back at the car shattered,
thirsty and hungry after wrestling with man-eating brambles, scrambling over
treacherous moss covered rocks and sliding down rain sodden slopes.
Ranald's
sensible shortening of the more technical courses from my initial 'lets give
them a long run for their money' approach (too much KIMM training) proved,
as the results and times show, to have been very necessary.
I hope
that before the next event using this area that the Forestry Commission clear
the rides and the denser undergrowth in the southern area that we were not
able to use.
Thanks
to Ranald, Viv and the dogs for their help and encouragement, to Dave Vincent
for his good organising and to the willing band of helpers who collected in
the controls.
The fine
Autumn morning helped to give us a good turn out, with some new faces amongst
the regular Orienteers. Comments from competitors at download were generally
appreciative of some challenging courses which was satisfying and made me
think that the numerous hours that all, we officials spent were worthwhile.
Rex Bleakman
Organiser’s Comments
After
a dreadfully wet and dreary Saturday, with the weather instilling gloomy and
dread thoughts in my mind of impending doom and disaster, everything seemed
to fall into place on the day. But
of course, nothing “falls into place”; the tasks are sorted out by the many
competent people who give of their time. It was reassuring as a first-time
organiser to be able to trust all those key personnel. Thank you.
Special
thanks to the helpers whom I corralled at the last minute because of the late
change in car-parking, and also to Karen and Dai for their thoughtfully designed
and challenging string course.
Lost Property
- A smart silver ballpoint at dibber hire
- Compass, found between finish and car
park
Apply
to me on 07711 635771.
David
Vincent