March 8th, Midland Night Championships, Fair Oak Please accept our appologies and those of the East Midlands Si Hire Co-Ordinator for the faliure during the event of 9 si boxes. This was due to battery problems. Steps are being taken to prevent this happening in the future. Mark Stodgell - Walton Chasers

Planners Comments

I hope you will all accept my apologies for the courses which were 50% longer than expected due to an error with OCAD8. Although I followed the instructions I was unaware that our 1:10 000 map had been drawn at 1:15 000
and consequently the course measurements were wrong. Despite many hours spent in the forrest and looking at maps I never spotted this and the error also slipped past Colin the controller. Had I been planning a badge event with a full range of courses it would probably have become obvious. I had originally aimed to get the courses onto a smaller part of the area so that we could print at A4. When I discussed this with some of my club mates they thought I would struggle to get a good 6 km course into the area. So, when this appeared true the alarm bells didn¹t ring and I decided we needed to extend the map to add the final few controls.

The problems with the control units will obviously have affected some people¹s runs and I feel disappointed that we were let down by the equipment.

Despite the extra length I hope you found the courses a good test at night. I tried to use the better parts of the area and include plenty of changes in direction. I didn¹t make too much allowance for darkness and tried to use technical controls where I could. The winners times on the UK Cup courses were impressive and I hope you found it an enjoyable competition despite the problems. The number of entries was very pleasing and made me feel my efforts were worthwhile.

As you may know I was lucky enough not to be able to attend the event as our second child, Nadia was born just before 5 am on the Saturday. I have to thank Ian Turner for undertaking all of the work in the week or so before the event allowing me to dedicate my time to the family. Thanks also to Colin for his hard work especially his tweaks to the map.

I think the event lived up to it¹s title. It took place on the Chase and
was a challenge to competitors and officials alike.

Allan Williams, Walton Chasers.

Controllers Comments

Apologies to all competitors for the extra long courses. They were planned using OCAD8 and I checked them using PICOVER, however, both programs cannot cope with a 1:10000 map derived from a 1:15000 OCAD file and measured the course lengths at two thirds. I’ll remember to try a ruler next time. I must congratulate all the finishers, the elite runners for completing the 9.3k and 7.4k courses in most impressive times and particularly the more local runners for their perseverance in successfully completing their courses on an area with not a great deal of fast clear running. It does explain why I felt so knackered after checking all the controls in the afternoon rain.

I found my role included some resurveying to give a better indication of the worst underfoot conditions and a few contour tweaks to better display the shape around some control sites. The map from Kall Kwik was clear and readable at night. A couple of runners mispunched at controls 143 and 152 that were close, 40m apart, but on totally different features, an earth wall end on a hill top and a steep slope foot. I had run most forest blocks on the obvious routes but had missed 10 to 11 on course 4 which was too tough for the shortest course.

It was unfortunate that controls were dropping like flies through the evening due to battery failure. They had all shown reasonable battery life on test and were all alive when I checked between 1530 and 1830. My previous experience with SI was that it was almost 100% reliable but it must be seen as a risk now that the equipment is aging, particularly when the equipment is hired rather than the clubs own. I gather that the latest software upgrade will provide a better battery test. I must make special mention of Stodge and his download team who coped admirably under considerable pressure as the situation deteriorated through the evening.

The stress of the event took its toll, as both Allan and Stodge became fathers during the week, Allan on Friday night. Allan had produced some testing courses and then handed over to Ian and his helpers to put them out. Apart from the control problems, the evening seemed to run smoothly thanks to Neil and the helpers from the Chasers.

Colin Spears. HOC.

Organisers Comments
Will be here soon