Mapper & Planner's Comments

Fracturing two ribs during the week was not the ideal scenario and much as one enjoys the buzz of siting controls and some time later retrieving them, my role became very much one of directing and delegation. BAOC members rallied and you benefited from the thoroughness of their execution for what is often a thankless job……many thanks to them.

My mapping exploits you read about in the preamble published by CompassSport in the build up to the final. However, I had not taken too seriously the effect that flash storms and the resulting flooding of the undulating gravel area in the North East of the map would have. It was mostly negotiable and having watched the best and slower runners in that area it did not seem to affect performance.

On Saturday afternoon the council chose to landscape two control sites adding a new large depression but again the effect was ignored by most of you. I spent Monday afternoon in the gravel area and have adjusted the map so you can see the difference below. On Sunday some serious thicket clearance took place which I feel sure would have benefited the later runners.

Planning was initially slow but on realisation that the now redundant airfield had to be crossed, the combination of some small but fairly technical woodland areas, with an urban option for the longer courses, and the capacity to utilise almost the best of two maps produced an interesting challenge. It also helped that the controller was prepared to run with me, showed extreme patience, rarely interfered and offered sound advice ensuring that I was almost whiter than white on that particular course!

Course legs were carefully planned, criss crossing others and rarely were they repetitive for more than three controls hence following was partially restricted. Clustering of control sites was fair and demanded maximum concentration to avoid being put off. Too many failed to read their description sheets in these areas and were either disqualified or lost time…..three on the Brown on the first leg chose the rootstock (77) some 40 metres from their control the clearing (62).

In so many ways the event was, from my perspective, perfect but then those amongst you with amazing technical and physical expertise spoilt it by running too fast and probably some courses could have been a kilometre longer.

In summary, competition was fierce on a beautiful day and sport was the winner on an area that so few years before was the controversial siting, for some, of an American Cruise Missile airbase.

Hugh Drummond, BAOC

Controller's Comments

Most competitors seemed to enjoy the experience of running around Greenham Common. The area has been transformed (or re-formed) back into an area of common land, its original use at the end of the 19th century.

Greenham was not the first choice for the 2006 CompassSport Cup Final, which BAOC took on at relatively short notice anyway, but with the Finish area making an arena, and Hugh's planning, it made a good substitute.

The courses were all Hugh's doing, the mistakes all mine. After discussions with some of the parents of the Yellow course runners I can safely say that I will try harder to ensure that the guidelines are followed much more rigorously and that I spend more time on controlling the easier courses in future.

Hugh has already mentioned the extra water in the North East of the map but I can assure you it wasn't as deep as it may have looked, I tested it on Saturday afternoon when checking the controls in that area. Those bits marked as marshy on the map nearly went up to my knees (making running hard work) whilst the extensions were generally shallower.

Thanks go to Tony Burton (MV) who re-checked my Saturday afternoon work to ensure that there had been no late vandalism, to Hugh for his diligent planning and to Allan for getting the team of BADO and BAOC members together.

Mike Elliot, MV