Thank you to all who ran.

SI team leaders comments
Today we had two competitors, one senior and one junior that did not download.
It is very important that all comepetitors download after completing their run, even in the event of a retiral as it is part of your safety check.
To the yellow course runner who was disq, I dowloaded the boxes 161 and 162 and could find no record of a punch, sorry, I suggest getting your dibber check by sportident.

Mark Stodgell.

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Controllers Comments
Hopefully everybody enjoyed the glorious autumnal day today. A frosty sunny
morning was a pleasant surprise after the hail storm we had last night.

I hope that all the courses were satisfactory and the times indicate that
the courses were possibly a little short but were about the longest that
could be achieved on the area. We did try to utilise the best parts of the
area which can be quite technical for such as small area - thankfully the
bracken was a bit lower than it was in the summer when I was checking
control sites.

I believe that the day ran smoothly and successfully and I would like to
compliment John on the planning and Ianka on the organising. I would like
to thank my husband Allan for his help and assistance.

Sheena Williams.

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Planners Comments.
What a lovely day! The window of sunshine from 0800 until 1400 gave perfect orienteering conditions for early autumn. If the wet and cold conditions of the Saturday, when I was making final checks of the control site tapes, had been repeated on the Sunday, it would have been a different story.

Thank you for your compliments about the courses. The White was found enjoyable and easy, and I had several keen youngsters raring to go on higher courses. By contrast, Light Green and upwards were found unexpectedly physical, which I take to be a sign of good design for technical courses. Although Gentleshaw Common is a small area, I found it possible to include a Brown course, albeit it at minimum length of 7.5 K, since electronic punching allows the use of several cross-overs. In several cases the long legs were deliberately set across the marsh area, or to give maximum climb. Running over the tussocky grass of the marsh made for slow going, but there are at least two paths that cross the marsh, and of course it was possible to run round the marsh to the north or south without too much delay. I hope you all enjoyed the experience - I certainly did when setting the courses.

This was my first experience of planning for electronic punching - it both makes planning easier because of the possibility of cross-overs, and makes the task harder because of the significant learning curve for the use of the OCAD8 and SI Manager software. The Blue and Brown course maps were split into two parts to prevent map clutter: I had planned to print these on the two sides of a single sheet, but this was found impossible because the colours came through from one side to the other, and in the end the two maps were printed side by side on one side only of an A4 sheet, an innovation that I hope you liked. I also found it easy with OCAD8 to print control putting-out routes for my helpers.

I wish to thank the following members for particular help over the six-month planning process:
Doug Peel for incorporating 30 map corrections from me, and innumerable others from Sheena;
Neil Lawford for OCAD8 advice;
Mark Stodgell and Neil Lawford for map printing;
Mark Garside for tuition in SI Manager and care of stakes, banners and SI boxes;
Jane Christopher for general event management advice;
Mark Stodgell and Cath for supply of SI boxes & equipment, stakes and banners;
Garry Langston for general planning advice;
and Garry, Tim Gray & Craig Barnes for putting out and taking in controls.

Finally, thanks to Sheena for being a considerate Controller (with help from husband Allan), and for vetting my control site and course suggestions. Ianka, the supply for helpers of coffee, cakes and chocolate biscuits at 0900 were very welcome to all, and especially to me after a very cold, not to say freezing put out of controls from 0745: this Bulgarian custom could well be repeated at other events!

John Wilcock
Planner

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Organisers Comments.
Ianka wants to thank everyone who helped - a good organiser just has to
provide coffee and cakes on the day. Thankyou to everyone who came. We all
enjoyed the good weather and hope everyone enjoyed their courses. Someone
did say it was more difficult to find the car park that to get round their
course. Lost property - a bottle, Billy Plante will be brought to enquiries
at 2 Nov event. The shoes picked up by mistake by a friend of a club member
should have found their correct home in Nottinghamshire by now.