Results for East Midlands Champs, Longshaw, 06/03/2005

Organiser

Next time DVO ask us to organise an event, we would like a low key event, nearer home, in the summer please!

For those of you who saw the details on the web on Friday, the event only had a 50:50 chance of going ahead because of snow and ice on the parking field and the access to it.

Some stalwart DVO members met Brian on site Saturday afternoon and, in freezing, driving snow, we cleared as much of the access up the field as we could - we have the photos to prove it, in case you think we are exaggerating!

Luckily the weather didn't deteriorate over night and, of course, on Sunday morning when the sun came out, what a superb day it turned into.

The logistics of parking at Parson House, with a long walk to the start and back from the finish and a dangerous road crossing made it more difficult to organise than usual but the good will and flexibility of many DVO helpers made the whole thing run as smoothly as we could hope for.

Thanks to Brian for his optimism on Saturday afternoon, Paul and Brian the planners, DVO stalwarts who helped, especially on the car park (and with good humour) and husbands Roger and Ranald for their long suffering.

Thanks to the National Trust for the access to Longshaw - we have promised to set up a permanent course there. And thanks to Mr Ollerenshaw, the farmer who owns the parking field - the fee is being given to charity.

Margaret Keeling and Viv Macdonald

Planner

One of the great pleasures of planning an orienteering event is getting up early on the day of the competition and running through the area at first light. On Sunday morning, everything was frozen and quiet and the sun was just filtering through the thinning clouds when we started putting out the control boxes. Making tracks across the snow and climbing out of a deep snow filled depression I came face to face with a herd of deer and a quite majestic stag. I stopped and took in the beauty of the scene before me. The deer looked slightly puzzled by my antics and then slowly moved away.

Moments like this make planning a joy!

Planning an event requires a lot of time and energy, but seeing competitors enjoying their runs and everything running smoothly on the day brings great satisfaction. There were, as there always are when planning, a number of restrictions that influenced the courses. The National Trust were very helpful but asked us to avoid certain areas and limit the number of competitors entering the Lawrencefield quarry area, the western most area of the map. Only the longer courses were able to enjoy the full variety of terrain Longshaw has to offer but feedback from all was generally positive.

A big Thank You to Brian Dennes for all the help bagging maps, putting out controls and providing sandwiches when I had forgotten mine. Also Thank You to Brian Shaw for his careful checking and advice, Mike Godfree for OCAD support and everyone who helped to collect the controls after the event.

Paul Addison

Controller

It is a great credit to DVO for putting on this event when it would have been the easiest thing in the world to have cancelled it. The word stalwart always seems to come to mind with orienteeering events and on this occasion it is totally appropriate. Congratulations and thanks are due to Viv and Margaret and the DVO team who by their hard efforts in apalling conditions ensured a wonderful day's orienteering for you. From a safety point of view I took the view that despite the snow the risks were not significanly greater than normal. The presence of tracks in the snow obviously devalues the orienteering slightly but we felt that on the whole people would prefer to have been out orienteering than not and certainly we had a very positive reaction from people at the finish.

Longshaw is at its most technically demanding at its extremities so with the start and finish near the middle only the longer courses reached the most interesting bits, as seems so often the case with orienteering. Nevertheless Paul managed to give everyone at least one intricate area to play in. The snow certainly slowed most of you down and we were glad as it turned out that the courses were not any longer. I enjoyed working with Paul and the rest of the DVO team and look forward to doing it again one day, preferably sans neige.

Brian Shaw (SYO)