Planner's Comments

This is the first event that I've been an official as a member of Thames Valley OC and it looks like everything went well. Everyone I talked with seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

Black Park with its extensive path network, runnable woodland and lack of climb is very different from Dartmoor and Haldon that I'm more used to; the times were always going to be quick. I tried to keep the courses varied but also trying to avoid having too many loops going where you've been before, just because you can with electronic punching.

On the morning of the event we discovered that two controls had been vandalised but were corrected before the first starts. When collecting controls we discovered a further three more controls had been vandalised but fortunately this had occurred after all competitors had finished their runs and the only people inconvenienced were Mark and myself as we searched for 120 in the thunderstorm that had come over later in the afternoon. I propose that perpetrators, when caught, be given community service and made to gilley for planners. Carrying twenty stakes across the map should soon rehabilitate them.

Luckily you all escaped the rain but this brings me to mention a strange coincidence; in all of the visits I made to Black Park prior to the event it rained except when Mike was there. On the day of the event we had blue skies right up until half an hour after Mike left. Truly, the sun shines on the righteous!

Thankyou to Mike and Lynda for their advice and checking, to Andrew Chalmers for his work on the map and for scrambling through the green walk area to the north-east of the finish to add some new features in and thanks also to the TVOC control checking team who patiently waited whilst I returned from the north-east end of the map before collecting controls.

James Head, Thames Valley Orienteering Club

Organiser's Comments

My thanks to Tim Williams and staff at Black Park, to all the TVOC Helpers on the day, to Jerry Newcombe for running the EMIT side of things, to Fred Ashford for sorting out the start, to James Head for the courses, for Mike Pemberton’s guidance when I had problems and last, but no means least, Barrie Walmsley for taking on the major job of coordinating the club entries and start times.

On the day whilst there were difficulties with controls being vandalised, I was sorry to hear of the accident that befell Fern Horsey whilst running, and I would like to publicly record my thanks to Begonia Garcia of OD who not only sought help for Fern, that was eventually provided by the Black Park Rangers on call, but also gave up her own run to do this.

Charles Taylor-Keane, Thames Valley Orienteering Club