Colour-Coded Courses Planner's Comments

I would like to thank John Warren for his controlling expertise on the colour courses, and to my fellow novice planner Philip Eeles who did the OCAD 8 course planning bit along with the other planning activities. Philip says he even enjoyed the experience!.

Apologies for the quality of the pictorial descriptions available at registration for the colour courses, some sort of computer glitch that we are looking in to.

We were blessed with a perfect day with the weather, that is as soon as you got away from the cold wind - but it is March!

I hope the lady who severely sprained her ankle is soon on the mend and back to orienteering.

Thanks also to Bill Davidson and Barbara Ralph for organising so efficiently and to Charlie Richardson for negotiating the use of the car park field and well appointed registration and download barn, adjoining the map area.

Colin Hicks (SOC)

Colour-Coded Courses Controller's Comments

I hope that, like me, you enjoyed being able to experience some of the finest scenery that the New Forest has to offer. The combination of open heathland, runnable natural forest and a minimum of undergrowth and brashings made for very fast times. Some of you told me before the start that the courses seemed long; only to come through the finish saying that you could have run further!

It was pleasing to see very few retirals, particularly on the junior courses where we used ‘Smiley’ faces to encourage Yellow course competitors along an indistinct path.

Colin Hicks and Philip Eeles did an excellent job in planning, with Colin also taking on the task of providing updated and extended maps for both Colour Coded and Long O events. As Orienteers we should be very appreciative of the hours of voluntary work done by mappers to provide a basis for our competitions.

The SOC team of helpers led by Bill Davidson did a great job on the day, but spare a thought for the Start team who braved a sunless morning in an arctic wind whilst the Finish basked in warm sunshine!

John Warren (WIM)

Colour-Coded Courses Organiser's Comments

On the day everything combined to make the organisers lot a pretty easy one. Dry weather. A firm car parking field, (albeit a little more expensive than usual), which was adjacent to the competition area. The very professional registration and results service from Emit, fronted by Jerry Newcombe. Sharing some of the duties with the Wimborne Long O team, and last but not least the ever reliable team of SOC helpers.

Our thanks go to all of the above.

The comments we heard about the courses and the map were all favourable, and thanks go to both planners and also to John Warren for his guidance not only with the forest side but also with the organisation.

Bill Davidson & Barbara Ralph (SOC)

Long-O Courses Planner's Comments

This part of the forest is a combination of ‘runnable’ beech woods and tussocky open areas and I tried to plan courses that kept people off the tracks and offered some route choice. This was a bit tricky in some parts due to the network of tracks and roads and uncrossable marshes.

After a very cold start, Peter Robson and I spent a lovely couple of hours resting on the gate, watching competitors dib the final control and run to the finish, and yes, most of you did run to the finish which was impressive after 23+ km.

Comments at the finish were favourable and the clear sunny weather certainly helped make the event enjoyable.

My thanks go to Peter Robson who acted as controller and offered sensible advice and encouragement. The smooth running of the event was down to the Branford family who masterminded the organisation, sorted the entries and helped me use Condes.

I am looking forward to next years Long O when I hope to be one of the competitors – training starts to morrow!

Kirsty Staunton (WIM)

Long-O Courses Controller's Comments

It was interesting to have the Long-O combined with the SOC Regional event, and the use of some common controls. My thanks to John Warren for looking after these.

Kirsty produced two good and challenging courses which seemed to be well received (after recovery!) by everyone. I am impressed by the finishing times on both courses. Chris had the organisation under control and let us hope that WIM can produce another Long-O next year.

Peter Robson (SOC)

Long-O Courses Organiser's Comments

This was my first experience in cross-border co-operation and I would like to thank SOC for allowing the Long-O to be held in conjunction with their District event. I very much appreciated all the help and assistance given by them.

As always, Kirsty Staunton planned some excellent courses and again Peter Robson was an excellent controller, giving advice as and when needed and keeping us all on our toes.

Special thanks must go to Colin Hicks for his work in producing the map and to Barbara and Bill Davidson for all their work in organising the overall event. Thanks also to Jerry for his guidance and computer work, both before and during the event. Finally to Lynn for organising all the paperwork (and me) and Simon for sorting out every time we mucked up the computers.

Thank you to all competitors for your compliments about the courses and event – I must admit many of you were initially a bit quiet when you returned. The exception being Dale who said something about Dave and less that one minute! In fact a rather close finish after 24k.

Chris Branford (WIM)