What more could you ask for than a bright frosty day at Ogden in mid winter? We planned our courses with a day like this in mind! After the wind, rain and snow of recent weeks fortune was with us on the day.

You saw Ogden at its absolute best. In Oct when we started to draw up our courses we could never have imagined how dramatically the visibility and runnability would have improved .Thanks to the bad weather the bracken and brambles were flattened, large sections of previous slow run had become fast run. From 10mins/km for an M60 it dropped to under 9mins/km and then we had 2 frosty nights to change it from soft to firm going (well firm for Ogden!).

From the outset we chose to keep the courses in the wood as much as was realistically possible and take full advantage of the benefits of SI punching. This meant that only courses 1 to 6 went out on to the moor. The moor is tough, as the EPOC Wrinklies found out last Weds, even after a hard frost, because it is hardly grazed at all. 10 years ago there were sheep all over it and the woodland too!

We have planned at Ogden several times and Jonathan lays claim to the definitive Colour Coded courses. That's fine but when you have to stretch 7 courses into 12 you start having problems of too similar legs, overuse of control sites and too much climb. While the moor can be tricky, especially in mist, the choice of decent control sites is limited on an A4 map. Some of you may remember an earlier version where we made use of the intricate quarry area in the NW corner. Unfortunately two long fences right across the northern area have discouraged us from renewing this extension and only the longest courses could have reached it comfortably without having a high start beyond the wood. We tended to keep the courses a little on the short side as we know from experience what Jan. at Ogden can be like. The last time we went into the quarries was in that Oct. badge event which Ivor planned and Tony controlled when it snowed heavily overnight, was misty on the day and the wind generators weren't all on the map. Or were they?

Thanks for coming in such good numbers. We trust you enjoyed your day, you certainly seemed to and that above all is our reward for spending many long hours preparing your courses. We thought we'd done really well to plan a regional event with just 50 controls. Then on Sun morning we found we had put out a control which had been eliminated in the final planning that nobody went to!! So it was really 49.  

Thanks to International controller Tony Thornley for his valued professional comments and advice and for keeping a steady rein on some of the more exuberant legs we drew.

And finally full marks to Anthony for his skilled handling of all the EPOC organisation yet again.

(Come to think of it, Ivor invited them both to join us in running the show!)

Ivor Noot M65

Jonathan Emberton M40