Following our new club policy of trying to have
two people responsible for planning each event, this event was planned jointly
by myself and Martin Boyce, recently returned to Island orienteering after a couple
of decades away.
It was a great help having a co-planner to bring
in new ideas, help decide on the advisability of some control points, and to
share the work of setting out and collecting in the courses. If anyone would
like to try planning, a number of our more experienced planners would be
delighted to work with you.
Despite a dreadful forecast, the day itself
turned out to be delightful, and the turnout was good. There were some
excellent times, particularly on the longer courses. We might even have to
consider setting a Brown course just for Tony who seems to be in a class of his
own.
Brighstone is always a difficult place to set
easier courses. If you use only well marked paths the distances get too long,
and if you try to stick to realistic distances you end up using a lot of
indistinct paths which are easily missed by the inexperienced orienteer. This
was reflected in the difficulty experienced by some of you on white, yellow and
orange, so well done to everyone who finished, whatever your time.
Some of you would have the made the course
easier if you had remembered to copy the map corrections. As a small club, we
cannot afford to update our maps nearly as often as we would like, so it is
always important to look for the corrections, which are often significant.
Thanks to all those who helped with the event:
Chris and Beryl for map sales and registration; Glyn and Sue for coming in at
very late notice to set out the string; Dave Boyce for organizing parking and
helping to collect in; Tony for helping to collect controls; Martin for
co-planning the whole thing, even though he did seem to pass on a dreadful cold
to me in the process.
One minor moan. It would be nice to be able to compile a proper results list consisting of real names and age class. Or this just me being over-serious?
Steve Taverner
Martin
Boyceıs comments:
It took
nearly 25 years, but the memories of the last Wighto event which I planned
finally faded, and I was asked to help out again. Thankfully, this time Steve Taverner was there all the way
to keep me on the straight and narrow.
For those
of you who have not planned an event before, I hope that you will take
advantage of the new Wighto policy of twin plannersı. Planning an event is very different to
running:
1. Planning is much harder work:
First the
bad news - there is no doubt that planning is much more time-consuming. Steve and I each spent three or four
evenings sorting out the courses, master maps, control descriptions etc. In addition, with surveying, putting
out controls and collecting controls, I made at least four runs to the bottom
of the bowl at Brighstone Down and back and Iım pretty sure that Steve made
even more than me. However, this
was all done at our own pace and at various times to suit ourselves.
2. Planning is a completely new challenge:
Surveying a
course is very different to orienteering it is more akin to map-making. At first, there is no definite
destination, just the elusive search for runnable sections of forest and clear,
unambiguous map features. As maps
get older and nature combines with Forestry Commission Rangers and cyclists,
the paths have a frustrating habit of moving or disappearing, only to be
replaced by new tracks which arenıt on the map.
Once you
have decided which areas of forest are clean and which map features are
useable, the next challenge is to weave together a combination of controls
which give the right level of challenge for each colour course: not too much
climb, not too many dog-legsı which double back on themselves, not too much
opportunity to cheat by punching controls in the wrong order or too much
duplication between courses.
Thankfully, this can be done in the warm, at the kitchen table and as a
team with your fellow planner.
Steve and I had plenty of discussions and kept changing our minds right
up to the last minute.
3. Planning is a bit more stressful:
As you are
putting out the controls, there is of course the added burden of running around
with a bag of kites, punches, stakes and mallet. However, the really surprising thing is just how much more
difficult it is to find that small depression without the re-assurance of an
orange and white marker to confirm that you have found the right place. Long after youıve put in your stake and
tied on the control, there is still the nagging doubt that you may have been in
entirely the wrong place. Standing
at the start, it is lovely to see all the hopeful faces, but that awful nagging
feeling that you might have missed something doesnıt leave you until at least
one person has successfully returned from every course.
4. Planning is far more sociable:
The best
news about organising an event is the opportunity to meet everybody at the
start and/or finish and to talk about their course - no matter which one they
did. Thank you to all the
breathless runners at the finish who spared the time to tell me about their run
even those who were really frustrated about one or two of the sites.
5. Planning is much more rewarding:
Early on,
during surveying and putting out controls, the forest is much quieter. Steve
and I saw buzzards, red squirrels, rabbits and pheasants. We had time to see the whole forest and
could actually stop to enjoy some of the spectacular views on the way without
worrying about the clock ticking.
Ultimately,
the very best feeling is to see people enjoying themselves particularly those
who were running for the first time.
The exhausted smiles at the finish were a delight.
6. Planning greatly improves your
mapreading
During the
surveying, Iıve gained an extra appreciation of features / contours as I was
forced to look carefully at the whole map and pick out alternative features,
contours and routes. I hope that
this will prove to be a benefit when I next get a chance to run.
If youıre
interested in having a go as a planner, please get in touch at the next event
and weıll help you team up with an experienced event. Youıll certainly get a brand new challenge which will give
you a whole new perspective on orienteering.
I must
share Steveıs thanks to everybody who helped ensure that everything went
smoothly on the day particularly to Glyn and Sue who put the string course
together at very short notice and cheerfully managed to cope with the fact that
weıd planned a course which was 200m longer than the ball of string! Sorry. Thanks also to my Dad who didnıt
complain too much when he learned that Iıd given him completely the wrong place
to put out the taped route. Sorry,
again.
Most of
all, Iıd like to thank Steve who was very gentle with me and guided me through
an introduction to planning in a very enjoyable way. And I am guilty as charged of passing on my nasty cold. Sorry for the third time.