SALCEY FOREST OFFICIALS COMMENTS

From Sunday 15 Feb 2004

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Results - Course Times

Results - Split Times

Organiser's Planner's Controller's

Organiser’s

Last year  SMOC put in place a group of team leaders for our events. A good job we did as I spent most of January in bed. Well, that’s my excuse for any rough edges on the day and late arrival of the finalised results.  That it went  well is in no small part due to the volunteers and I’d like to again thank them all for their help.

Other than Keith’s electronic gremlins [see below] the main issue was with the entries. Late entry is becoming an increasing problem at Regional events and we were no exception. Of the 250 who paid, only 70 had entered by the closing date. This makes purchasing the maps a total lottery and a financial hazard. Most had the courtesy to telephone or email beforehand and we accommodated those. But if, as some did, you turned up around 11.00am and seemed surprised that we hadn’t predicted your arrival and course requirements what can I say?

Salcey needed to be completely remapped for the event and I hoped you enjoyed our efforts on that front. Thanks to Robert Dove and his team for their work.

And a final thank you to Keith and Ian. An efficient and personable pair to work with – what more can you ask for in a winter forest?

John Shaw  (SMOC)

Planner’s

It was over 15 years ago that the former NVO club mapped Salcey and since that time the area has been little used for orienteering; however, the thick thorns and brambles of that time have lingered on in memories of those who ran there all that time ago. In the intervening years the Forestry Commission has been active in managing the forest and many of the former areas of fight have been opened up whilst some of the few runnable areas of that time are now thick with brambles. My aim was to keep you away from the worst areas and at the same time avoid long track runs by keeping you in the forest as much as possible. In most cases the direct route was the best, avoiding the areas mapped as fight.

The results of over a decade ago gave little guidance of expected winning times and the small number of competitors in some classes will not help future planners. However, I think distances were about right, although I know some of you found routes through some of the thorns and brambles that I had tried to avoid.

Unfortunately I did cause a small problem with punched start times which was rectified with the assistance of Steve Robertson from SOS (Many thanks, Steve), all times on the day have been corrected. The technical problem that caused the delay in posting the results to the web is due to my PC disk-drive’s temperamentality which meant times had to be sent by snail-mail to the web-master for posting.

The other problem which came as a surprise was the vandalism of the final control on Courses 2& 3. The control was in a part of the forest little visited except by orienteers and the damage was early in the day before many of the public had arrived. I hope it did not inconvenience too many of you.

My thanks to Ian for his helpful controlling and to Robert Dove and John Lewis who helped put out controls

 

Keith Downing  (SMOC)
Controller’s

When Keith asked me if I would control the event, he talked about Salcey, and his words included “There are some nice bits!” That comment filled me with woe.

Well, when I visited the forest, I was pleasantly surprised. There were lots of ‘nice’ bits.

Talking to finishers on the day, most people were in agreement, with bad route choice being given as the main reason for getting brambled.

The map was superb, and any little error was put right when brought to the attention of Robert.

Keith planned some very good courses within the constraints of the thick blocks of forest, and the bramble areas. So much so, that I had very little input.

John and his team were superbly organised, and apart from the download glitch, everything ran very smoothly.

Thank you SMOC.

My only sadness on the day was that my 4-legged assistant controller of 11 years, who’d investigated most corners of the forest (to ensure your safety, of course), passed away on the eve of the event.

Ian Whitehead (DVO)
Last Updated - 06 April, 2004