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Results without split times

Results with split times

Winsplits      Splitsbrowser

Routegadget


To allow easier comparison on route in RouteGadget and of the splits, the Black and Brown courses have been merged (they were the same). All runners on the Black and the Brown courses are listed on the Brown course.

Colour standard times
Black     Brown  Short Brown
Blue   Short Blue
Green Short Green Light Green
Orange Yellow White

Officials' Reports: Organiser   Controller   Planner

Lost Property - see Organiser's report

Pre-event information 
Flyer This version easier to read on screen
Flyer This version prints on one A4 sheet
Final Details

Organiser's Report
Thank you all for coming to our event and for your kind comments (at least the ones I heard were kind!) In the end everything seemed to work fairly well. We overcame the problems of not being able to use the intended bus pick-up point (in the smaller car park) due to the overhanging trees not noticed by Countryliner when they checked it out a few days ago, and the problem of the broken down bus for which the others covered as well as they could while a replacement was fetched.

In the end the remote car park was probably preferable to any of the nearby fields which would have been impossibly muddy given the weather conditions of the last couple of weeks - and the sunny skies made up for a lot of the disadvantages. For once mobile phone communication was reasonably good between the event centre and the forest, and that helped make things go more smoothly.

May I presume to offer grateful thanks on behalf of the competitors to all the volunteer helpers without whom the event would not have happened at all, and to our mapper Mike, planner Philip and controller Steve.

I have two items of lost property:

Pair of black fleece gloves dropped (I think) on the route between bus and start

Thumb compass dropped near the clothing dump - somebody reported this missing but I don't have your contact details

And we still have unclaimed from St Leonards (28th December) one purple sweater brand Westbury at C&A size small. This garment will be donated to charity if not claimed shortly.

Send any claims to me by email to SimonATSimonling.org.uk (replace 'AT' with @)

Simon Ling, MV 

Planner's Report
I first started planning back in March 2007 for our Regional event in January 2008. Control sites were all taped and many of the shorter courses were planned. Map updates were started that summer but extensive forestry work in the autumn frustrated the update. Eventually the forestry work was to continue over the winter with the result that land permission was withdrawn and the event had to be postponed. The following year the forestry work continued and was not expected to be complete for the January 2009 date so the event was delayed by another year.

Last summer it looked like the event was on again for this January. The map still had a large chunk of the new Oldlands Wood area to be surveyed and drawn. During the autumn all the original control sites were revisited and about 50% of the tapes were still in place, most with the writing still legible. During the remainder of the year the courses were finalised or planned in parallel with the map being updated.

Sheepleas was not too bad, but for much of the rest of the map there were major changes in the vegetation. Many white or yellow/orange areas had become various shades of green, and many green areas had become white. Some of the white areas eventually had to have runability screens added due to brashings from the forestry work or to undergrowth. Some controls were dropped where the undergrowth was even more unpleasant than some people experienced.

Having a new area, Oldlands Wood, with perhaps some of the nicest forest on the map, at least with respect to running conditions, I wanted to get as many people over there as possible. With the constraints of roads, houses and fields it was impossible to avoid the area of brashings and undergrowth and some of the hills. The whole area is also rather short of decent technical control sites and too well endowed with paths and distinctive rides, so some of the legs may have been a little on the easy side. Hopefully this was balanced by many other legs which were more challenging. Having some long legs crossing Sheepleas seemed to provide quite a challenge for many people as it was easy to be confused by the many paths, clearings and valleys.

Courses were planned within the latest length guidelines which allow for climb. As all courses had significant climb this led to courses apparently being on the short side, and a few people commented on this. If the weather had been like it was over the last week or two then we would have been thanked for this. There was originally a longer Black course planned but when the weather changed this was dropped at the controller's suggestion and the Black people were put on a slightly longer Brown course with the Brown people. This saved us putting out (and checking) 6 controls in remote locations in pretty unpleasant conditions, so I hope people do not feel short changed.

After all the bad weather we had during recent weeks we were exceptionally lucky to have had a clear sky from pre dawn till way past dark, and sunny all day with no wind. The ground had completely drained following the pouring rain on Saturday (which lasted until midnight), and was just crisp with the very light frost. Nearly all the snow had gone and many people came back with dry feet. A bit different from a couple of my recent visits when everything was snow covered!

I spent a long time at the finish line and we had many good comments and no complaints, although some did mention the brashings and brambles. Mike must have got the map about right as it hardly got a mention.

My thanks to controller Steve for his input, helpful suggestions and checking.

Philip Gristwood, MV

Controller's Report
Comments were mostly favourable from conversations overheard as I sat at the finish, I think the fine weather and the desire for you to get in the forest after Christmas makes even the deepest bramble seem pleasant (well, nearly!)

Apologies for asking the planner to combine Black with Brown. The extreme weather conditions the week before coupled with an entry of only four people on the Black course meant it seemed a good decision at the time. In the weeks before the event (and pre snow) gg had run the Black course in 90 minutes. Although this was not race conditions it was clear that to run the course in conditions of high snow levels (had they remained), may have put runners at risk.

Steve McKinley, SN