BADO District and SCOA League Event Chawton Park, Alton 19th October 2008

Officials' Comments

Planner:

• Many thanks to all the helpers (too many to mention) that made my job easier, particularly those that turned up at 07:30am on the Sunday to check the controls (and how important that job turned out to be!), and those that stayed on at the end to collect afterwards.
• The vandalism to two controls was spotted at 08:30, and therefore we had the time to replace before the event started. I was very angry at the time - why do people think that this is a clever thing to do?
• My personal apology is due for for the incorrect control description (control 73). I intended to use gully bend, but for some reason it appeared as ride bend. Probably a late-night 'tired' moment on my part. The problem was exacerbated by the 1:15000 map which makes it harder to see the detail, but there is in fact a small erosion gully marked on the map, if you have good eyesight! Incidentally, I would prefer a 1:10000 map for this event in future, and in fact Phillip (Controller) and I agreed that White and Yellow should be printed at 1:10000 scale, because their small courses were dwarfed on the 1:15000 map.
• The discussions with the landowner on the day were a little unfortunate. He was somewhat agitated for the use of his land around control 85, but I think I managed to placate him. The map does not indicate that his part of the forest is out-of-bounds, and therefore (for future usage of this small part of the forest) he should henceforth be contacted first for an ok.
• Unfortunately, the area of forest in the North East corner of the map was quite brambly for the runners on Brown. I did check the area a month earlier, and I tried to keep you to the parts that weren't too bad. I hope that you enjoyed the long connecting run back from that area to the main part of the forest - this is a personal preference of mine, i.e. I always enjoy long legs, to allow myself to get my orienteering brain 'rested' and then ready to start navigation skills again when at the end of the long leg.
• I thoroughly enjoyed working with Philip Cooper (Controller), with his excellent ideas and feedback, and with Mike Broderick (Planner) for his thoroughness and professionalism. And a note of thanks to Allan Farrington for his EMIT management and results activities, always expert and assured.
• And finally it was great that we had over 200 entrants. Everyone that I talked to seemed to have enjoyed themselves, particularly the gentleman whose name I didn't catch, recently returned from a heart bypass operation, smiling and happy, an inspiration to me. Thanks!

Tim Fowler, BADO

Controller

Tim's energy as a planner was inspiring!!

• Map - we did a little updating where it was important, but a resurvey would improve the potential of the area enormously. Several, usually older, competitors said that a 1:10000 would be much better. I guess this is a change in peoples' expectations since the original survey. Mapping a route from North to South across the fields at the Western end would give more flexibility in planning. The field at the Eastern end near the water tower seems to be used by the public now, so the map could be extended here.
• Event hiccups - vandalism of 60 and 76 was annoying. Alan Farrington treated this very calmly and Andrew Hensman, his 'control sniffer', recovered nearly all the missing bits. 60 was exposed, but I don't think any scheme would have predicted 76 being hit.
• 73 - here the flag, map was OK, but we gave a wrong description. In the olden days the flag checker had control descriptions as well as a map, but with electronic descriptions we have skipped this. I guess this meant we were unlikely to detect this at a late stage. Most people just navigate to the middle of the circle and check the control number, but yesterday's experience suggests there are some who always read the clues!!
• Car parking was excellent despite the distance - I heard no complaints about the walk, and our pragmatic use of parking on the lane for those doing the string course was welcomed, I think.
• Permission problems - unfortunate but I think it turned out well in the end. The Army planner for the event on the 29th is aware of the problems, so in the short term things should be OK.
  Usually the FC check with tenants before they give permission. The Farmer seems very pro the use of the wood so maybe it just needs him to say in which months he doesn't want that bit used.

Thank you for the chance to control again. I enjoyed it a lot. Look forward to the next time.

Philip Cooper, SOC