THE NEEDLES AND HEADON
WARREN
Saturday September 27th
2008
Planners Report
Planning for this event started a couple
of months before the date due to us having visitors in August and also a weeks holiday
planned for early September.
The sites used on the Needles headland
are very distinct and do not need too much planning. The problem was trying to get
a longer length for the Brown(8.7k) and Blue(6.8k) courses. We decided that some
controls had to be on Headon Warren, but could only use the top of the Warren because
of the rapid vegetation growth on the lower side, making the paths indistinguishable.
The String course was a little bit longer
than usual, and also had a little climb from the start, but judging by the finish
times the length was not too long.
We had to have a couple of canes with
tape attached between some controls on the Yellow course to ensure the younger competitors
could find their next control, as paths on the Headland are very few.
The Orange course was planned not to
have too much climb and used very distinct features.
Some competitors on the Light Green,
Green and Blue courses mis-punched, getting the platform(ZE) and the earth bank(TT)
confused at the Eastern end of the headland. The controls in question were also
on the Yellow and Orange courses which no-one mis-punched. Perhaps those on more
difficult courses should take a little more care checking the sites and/or codes.
Judging by comments made at the end of
the event most of you enjoyed the day, which was helped by such splendid weather.
We would also like to thank everyone
for their positive comments via letter and e-mail.
Sue and Glyn Williams.
Sunday 28th
September 2008
Perfect weather, a stunningly beautiful venue and a
newly updated map - what more could an orienteer wish for? A very good
turn out of mainland and overseas competitors joined us and mostly
had an enjoyable day. In retrospect the distinctive tree which caused a
few problems was probably not the best control site to choose. I also agree
that people who thought the cave would be better mapped as a ruin have a valid
point. I hope that this not spoil anyone's run too much. It
certainly did not prevent some of the fastest times we have seen at Wighto
events. We would always be happy to see a few more visitors at our
regular monthly events, so keep an eye on our website, and let us know if you
would be interested in similar weekend events in the future.
We were well supplied with helpers, although it has to
be said that these were mainly the usual suspects, with my newsletter appeal
only drawing a couple of responses. Thanks to Chris, Pauline, Eileen,
Iris, Pete, Glyn, Sue, Martin, Kevin,Vanessa, Keith, Dave, Helen,Trevor,
Ian and anyone I have accidentally missed out. Most of these people
also helped with the Needles event on the Saturday, showing the kind of
dedication without which we could not organize an event like this.
Although I don't want to be too negative, I have to
express my disappointment with the incredibly poor turnout of IOW
competitors. A huge amount of work went into planning and organizing
this event, yet we had more runners from the Czech Republic than the
IOW! It would be nice to feel that there was a bit more support from the
club membership when we try to organize something a bit more ambitious than the
usual events.
Steve
Taverner