Dan’s press report about the event is now available, with photos from Julie
Here are some additional comments from the planners/organisers…
- Thanks to everyone for coming and we hope the majority enjoyed their courses.
- With hindsight, some of the courses were a bit too long. The best excuse we can think of is that additional fallen trees created by Storm Eowyn slowed people down. We had re-visited all the control sites a few days after the storm, and while none were directly affected, the routes in and out required more deviation from the straight line. But in reality courses might have been better 10% shorter even without the storm. The mark one Blue course didn’t include the long slog through all the fallen trees (to control 16); instead it had a kilometre long track run to get back towards the finish. When test running the course this seemed a bit boring but we probably should have left it in.
- Talking to competitors at the finish, we realised that there is some confusion about what the “ride” symbol means. The official definition is “prominent trace (forestry extraction track, sandy track, ski track) through the terrain which does not have a distinct runnable path along it”. In general, you will be able to see a ride, especially when looking along its length, and use it to navigate, but you can’t expect it to offer an easy route through the terrain. (Unless it’s outlined in a different colour from the surrounding terrain – see here if you want to know more). Note that a ride has nothing to do with bikes or horses!
- Talking of which, two horse riders came along to Enquiries part way through the event, and commented on how considerate all the orienteers had been to their horses, giving them plenty of space. So thank you to all the competitors who encountered them.
- We were amazed by how many people took up the offer of a coaching session before the event – around 15 in total. There is obviously a big demand for this and the hope is that such sessions can be repeated at other Saturday morning events (Hallin Fell in April probably). Maybe there is even scope for a stand-alone Saturday morning coaching session separate from an event. Do let Julie (who led the coaching) know if you would be interested (secretary@borderlinersorienteering.org). Thank you to Julie and Christine for arranging the coaching
Border Liners Orienteering Club 