Planners Comments

I’ll start by apologising to the competitors on the JM2/JW2/Yellow course who were confused by the different control codes for number 3 on the description sheet on the map and that on the web.

The code on the map was the correct one. Originally this course did use control 172 and then went to control 171 but we thought the going underfoot was a bit rough for little legs so we changed 172 for 176 so you had a path run from 176 to 171. It seems I forgot to update this on the web site description sheets.

Regarding the Route Gadget glitch thanks to Alistair for remedying my course transposition error.

Maybe we have too much technology? We used the Fabian credit card entry system, OCAD for the maps and the course planning, Sportident for the results and RouteGadget for after event route analysis. As a person who works in the Information Technology industry I know most problems occur when one or more systems interface with each other. I obviously need to be more diligent in future.

I tried to use the Ogden area in a slightly different way from the events in the past, by starting and finishing on the South side of the reservoir. I favour having the start and finish adjacent if possible as it’s more convenient for helpers and competitors alike and gives a bit of a social feel to the event especially on a nice sunny day. I aimed to mix long moorland legs with short technical legs in the woods to provide some variety. The medium length courses used the more runnable bits of the moor whereas the longer courses visited some rougher stuff unfortunately but I needed to visit all corners of the moor to get the necessary length in.

We were very lucky with the weather as the Saturday was foul with driving rain all day and the Monday saw Ogden covered in thick mist.

I’d like to thank Tony for his helpful advice, especially with the junior courses were he has bags of experience. Several of the courses were much the better for his input. I also want to thank Dickie, Julie and Ian who helped me bring in controls. It’s not the best of jobs at the end of an event but is one of the most crucial – thank you.

And finally to you the competitors for coming to the event and for your comments after you had run, both complimentary and a few bits of constructive criticism.

Mike Pownall