Report from Dan Parker
Weren’t we lucky with the weather? In between storms, competitors at Walltown Country Park enjoyed fast and varied orienteering, with (almost) no rain and shelter from the strong winds battering elsewhere.
Officially a NATO area, Keith had recently re-mapped the area, Tricia planned some excellent courses and Anita organised a small but enthusiastic band of helpers. There was a nice warm building for download and post run tea and coffee, with the added bonus of a large canopy for sorting out equipment after the event when the rain finally arrived.
Tricia planned three courses – technical long and medium together with an easier short course. The terrain was a mixture of fast open grassland and woodland of various degrees of runabililty (and prickles), all overlaid with an good path network together with ponds, crags and other useful control sites. One particularly interesting feature of Walltown is the Peace Labyrinth constructed of prickly bushes, in which Tricia had put a control for those on the Long and Medium courses. Fortunately it wasn’t a maze so it was easy to find and then get back out!
Everyone who came seemed to enjoy themselves – it just shows what you can do even on a small area.
Links to Results and Routegadget
