MOLE VALLEY ORIENTEERING CLUB
|   Home Page   |   The Mole Roll   |   Event Results   |
|   Permanent O Courses   |   Your First Orienteering Event   |
|    O Jargon Buster   |   O Events Calendar   |
|   Join Mole Valley   |   Club Management   |   Club Contacts   |

BALCOMBE DISTRICT (COLOUR CODED) EVENT

28 MARCH 2004

Split times for all colour coded courses

String course results

Link to Winsplits

Link to Splitsbrowser
 

Planner’s report

I learned several things from this event. Think long and hard before agreeing to plan an event on an area you do not know; if you do, make sure it is not the week-end the clocks go forward and also make sure you have about three times as much time available for planning as you first thought. Having said that, what about the event?

 First of all an apology to competitors on both the Green and Light Green courses; I had thought that the path route choice options would have been more attractive than they plainly were, and this made the courses much tougher than I hoped. All of the other course times were as expected, and this makes me even more cross that I got those two wrong.  The Light Green course, together with the Red and Blue, was also affected in the late stages of the event by the unhelpful actions of a couple of youthful competitors to cover control 229 (a stream) with brashings so that it was almost impossible to see.

 I had intended to make route choice the demanding feature of the courses, but I suspect that competitors will recall only the physical side of things – Balcombe is quite lumpy, and runnability variable! My decision to site the start, finish and primary car park as close together as possible, meant that an uphill finish was inevitable, but I can assure you all that the finish was at the same height as the start!

On the day, my thanks go especially to Ian Ditchfield and John Davies for their help with putting the boxes out; all was in place and checked by about 9.00, and to those stalwarts, especially Simon Greenwood (SAX,  Landowner and 4-wheel drive vehicle owner!) who helped to collect the controls in at the end, allowing a 3.00 finish.

Chris McDonald

Organiser's report

I trust that you all enjoyed your visit to the lovely Balcombe Estate on a pleasant day weatherwise.  From the organisational side of things it all seemed to go smoothly,  even though we gave ourselves the handicap of choosing the day when the clocks go forward!

On behalf of all competitors I would like to thank the Balcombe Estate team, in particular Simon Greenwood (SAX), Jamie Kirkman (Head Forester) and Rosalie Hammond (Estate Office) for which nothing was too much trouble. 

 Thanks also to Mole members for passing the alarm setting test, and going about their tasks very efficiently. I believe that everybody who wanted a run was able to get one in.  A special thank you to Nigel for his help the previous day to level the car park, yes we had improved it for you even though it still did not look all that inviting!  It was especially pleasing to see a number of newer Moles helping out on the day.

It was a pleasure to work with Chris and Tim throughout the whole of the event, remember that without volunteers like them there would be no events. Perhaps next time you will be one of the event officials?

Mark Rowe

Controller's report

1 Balcombe is an interesting area, with some unusual (for the south east) rock features that came as a surprise on my first visit to the area. Seven metre high boulders are not too common in Surrey. The area is quite fragmented and, given the constraints of the railway, fields, roads and car parking, it was quite a challenge for Chris to link together the isolated woodland blocks without too much dead running, while keeping away from the deepest areas of bramble. Judging by comments at the finish, I think the balance was fine although the results suggest that a few of the courses were a bit long. The area is quite physical, both in terms of undergrowth and climb, and the combination of these probably impacted more than we had anticipated. The ratios in relation to the Brown seemed OK but, in hindsight, we should perhaps have cut out a bit of climb or 10% of the length on the mid-length courses.

2 We were fortunate that the weather was kind. The stream levels a week earlier were very high, and the slopes precarious.

3 A late-starting competitor found it entertaining to 'doctor' a control site (229 - no 5 on the Light Green). The controls were placed to be reasonably visible from all directions. The addition of camouflage considerably spoilt the enjoyment of at least two subsequent competitors. not clever.

4 We have permission to use the area from the land owner on the basis that we look after his property. The young gentleman on the light green course seen digging up wild flowers should please take note.

5 Safety - there were a couple of visits by the Transport Police during the event, concerned with the northern rail crossing. Mark had sought and received all necessary consents, and provided a team to marshal the crossing throughout the day. Had the process not been undertaken correctly, we might have been asked to stop using the crossing point. It was therefore a useful reminder that having a documented risk assessment is more than a paper exercise and should be undertaken with enthusiasm by the planner, organiser and controller for all events.

Tim Denton (GO)