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MOLE
VALLEY ORIENTEERING CLUB |
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SOUTH EAST LEAGUE EVENT
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South East colour badge standard times:
Pre-event
information: Planner's Comments Apart from that, I hope you all enjoyed your courses and the area, which continues to become less green with on-going rhody clearance work in the North West part of the map (which is why this bit wasn’t used). Course lengths seem to have been OK – I doubt if many finishers were wishing for a few more controls! Thanks to Mike Elliot and Vince, without whom there would have been a lot more talking points! - And Mike Bolton for his calm and helpful organising - and my helpers on the day. Keith Masson, MV Organiser's Comments Plan B – come the beginning of October, I had done little more than show an interest in parking at Crowborough Camp, when the venue was changed to Ashtead and Epsom Commons. Hmm – not quite so close to Brighton then(!) but what the heck? The land owners of the commons were welcoming, Ashtead Station Car Park was available to anyone for the price of £1 per car and the local Scout Hut would be ideal as an Event Centre, complete with loos and keen youthful caterers. By the end of November, Keith had planned the courses and all seemed to be coming along nicely when Natural England pulled the plug on the land permissions. Hmm – 6 weeks to go and the Christmas/New Year holidays looming....that’s that then? Plan C – the MV committee were not to be beaten and mid-December they settled on Holmbush and Buchan as their preferred option for a Level C replacement. Just two problems, I was v busy clearing the decks ready to go away for the holiday, therefore unavailable until after Christmas, and our original Controller was also going to be away at the crucial time. Over the hill came the cavalry in the shape of Mike Elliot and Vince Joyce. Mike sorted out land permissions in a matter of days and Vince agreed to take over as controller (and of course Keith had to set about designing a completely new set of courses!). On the day we were bamboozled by the appearance of paintballers in an area they had told us they would not be using this Sunday. A lack of communication between those running the paintball would seem to be the cause. Our apologies to any and all that were affected by unfortunate circumstances beyond our control. My particular thanks to Harry Calvert – the manager of the Holmbush Estate – for making the organisation of this event so straightforward. The use of a heated building and the Farm Park Car Park solved all the logistical problems at a stroke. All I had to do then was book a few loos and allocate jobs to the willing Mole helpers. Thanks to Vince for his supportive controlling and to Keith for the planning, and then planning again, and then planning again, and then..... And thanks of course to the many Mole helpers (and a couple of Southdowners who also lent a hand) who made it all happen. Finally, thanks to you for coming and making all the effort of organising worthwhile. The playground was a definite hit with the youngsters and it was really nice out in the forest. I hope that you were able to take away some good memories of the day. Mike Bolton (aka Boltmole), MV Controller's Comments Keith planned some good challenging courses which needed very little input from me as controller. I must apologise to competitors who found themselves in the middle of a paintball battle. The paintball organiser had reassured us that there were no games planned for the southern area and although there were no controls within the ‘war zone’ on some courses there were possible route choices through it. With hindsight I should have insisted on marking the whole area as out of bounds. Some competitors found the rhododendrons difficult to negotiate, sadly only the longer courses got to run in Buchan Country Park which is so much more runnable than Holmbush. Thanks to Mike Bolton for organising his small band of helpers so efficiently. Vince Joyce, SO |
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Mole Valley Orienteering Club