Lost Property
1 Reebok Navy Blue Sweatshirt
1 DKNY Black Fleece
1 Sum of Money (loose handed in)
Contact Jane Christopher

Organisers Comments
I hope you all enjoyed the weekend – I can now! I would like to thank Chris Poole and James Williams who gave up their time to provide such an excellent commentary for the two days and for the presentation after the relays. They made a big contribution to the event being special as did the dry weather and sunshine. In addition, a big thank you to squad leaders and coaches who brought the competitors and enjoyed an overnight stay at Walton High School, ably looked after by Wilfs.

I would particularly like to thank everyone who was part of the JIRC team (over 40 people) and made it all happen both at the event days and at the school. To name just a few - Dorothy Wilson was an excellent Assistant Organiser, Marlene Palmer took entries and provided start slots, Doug Peel masterminded all the maps and Mark Stodgell provided an extremely efficient SI and results service. All helpers from Walton Chasers worked very hard as did one member of Wrekin and members of the GB Development squad - Matt Crane, Helen Palmer, Andy Etherden and Rob Baker who did a great deal of running over the weekend! Members of the JIRC team did a wonderful job in being there, making the ideas work and especially filling any gaps in the organisation without necessarily being asked. Thankyou!

It was just as well that I did not know what was involved when I took over the organisation of JIRC 2003 at a fairly late stage. Here, I put in a plea for information deadlines to be met as this did mean certain tasks had to be done much later than we would have liked. However, I do like a challenge and have learnt an enormous amount about organising what proved to be a major event. Thank you very much for the positive comments already received.

Jane Christopher

JIRC 2003 - Individual day,
Planners comments:

My aim was to plan courses which kept you off the paths as much as possible, while at the same time providing the challenge of route choice and a variety of leg lengths. On the whole, listening to your comments, I think I probably achieved these aims.

The initial planning was a challenge, as the actual area available was severely restricted by either vegetation or ?out of bounds?. However, with the use of electronic punching and the back-to-back maps on the three longer courses, any problems with these restrictions were soon resolved and the courses you ran began to take shape. Another consideration was the fact that I live a 400 mile round trip from the area – this, and a severely congested fixture list, meant that I was only able to spend one weekend on the Chase to check sites. However, as always, the locals from Walton Chasers were helpful, and willingly provided advice about the best areas and features to use. So, thanks to them for that.

Despite these challenges, I enjoyed planning the courses and am grateful to Walton Chasers for giving me the opportunity to do so. Judging by the comments I received at the finish, most competitors enjoyed the courses too - so thanks to you for your positive feedback.

Thanks are also due to Mike Forrest for his helpful comments as controller. Also to Matt Crane, Andrew Etherden, Rob Baker, Rob Little, and Helen Palmer for their invaluable help in hanging the flags and then patrolling the area during the event. Thanks also, to all those who helped collect the controls in so quickly.

See you in a forest somewhere,

Ben Chesters

Planners (Relay) Comments
After the enforced changes to the assembly/changeover during the final week, everything went as well as I dared hope. Good weather, fast running (despite the undergrowth), exciting finishes and no controls vandalised (as has happened on this area in the past). I certainly enjoyed watching the action at the spectator control and the final control/extended run-in. From the noise generated so too did the spectators!

The winning times were much as expected, if anything a little faster. The guidelines quote a 5 minute range and whilst only 2 of the 6 courses were within this, three were under- by no more than 2.5 minutes- and only one (W16) was over, by 3 mins.

I had enjoyed test running the courses in mid-May when there was no bracken, no brambles and no long grass in the open to No.1 making the running even faster and the visibility much better. I tried to recreate this and help the competitors by spending hours on Saturday flattening the undergrowth particularly around 152, 170 and 163!

My philosophy is that orienteering is both a running and a navigating sport so I tried to make the final section after the spectator control meet both these requirements. After a relatively flat and easy early part of the course, the legs to 156, 158 and 166 were meant to be tricky and the climb back to 164 was intended to be tough. If nothing else, the climb served to spread out the runners with no real packs coming together into the finish arena.

The pit 166 proved difficult for the M16s and M18s (who approached from the North West), perhaps because it was in a greenish area. However, looking at their times, the W16s and W18s who approached 166 via the path to the South had no such problems. Perhaps therefore the optimum route for the men was to overshoot and bounce back in from the path bend.

Finally, some thanks from the planner- to a helpful and relaxed controller, to Steve for hanging controls with me, to the control guarders (Doug, Mark & Chris) and the 8 who brought the controls safely back in.

Ian Turner

Controllers Comments


SI Team Comments.

Some of you may have noticed some very short run in times. This was caused by the relay course boxes being programmed by the planner to his computer clock, the finish boxes were programed by the si team to race time. This will be noted for future events, but will not have affected the overall results. Sorry some of you have not just broken the world sprint records.
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