Sunday 15 November 2009

FIRESTONE COPSE

Report

The challenge as always is to find new and more interesting places to send people in Firestone, which is not easy in such a small area of forest. This is particularly true for the shorter courses which rely on clearly defined paths and tracks. However, it gets a bit boring if all the controls are at path junctions so I sent the Yellows off into the woods at a few places to make it more interesting. The Oranges had the choice of sticking to paths or going cross country in a few places. Green and Light Green courses used some control points that had been overgrown last time I planned a course (2007).

Much to the delight of the dog, I spent several hours in the copse looking for non-existent knolls and pits before settling on a reasonable set of courses. Having picked up the equipment, all that remained to do was to set out the courses. I would go and put out about half of the controls on Saturday afternoon leaving a gentle stroll to put out the remainder on Sunday.

I spent an anxious time on Saturday watching the severe gales and horizontal rainfall. When the rain died out in the afternoon I ventured out to the forest only to find that the trees were bending alarmingly in the wind and quite a few had come down. I managed to put two controls out before deciding it was too dangerous to go on.

Leaving my house at 7a.m. on Sunday morning I was doused with a heavy shower and spent the next three hours very damply putting out all the controls.

Having completed my task the day turned out to be fine with only one more shower to remind us of how lucky we were. All the courses including the White, which we have not had for a while, were used but with a disappointing turnout. This may have had something to do with the weather. There were no major complaints about the courses and everyone said they had enjoyed themselves. So the tired, damp and happy planner went off home for a well deserved soak in the bath.

Many, many thanks to all the helpers on the day. Thanks as always to Chris Lipscome and her team in the car park. Thanks to Sue and Glyn Williams for helping out with the start, providing the squash and helping to collect in the controls. Thanks to Nikki for putting out the yellow and white controls. Special thanks to Vanessa and Kevin Allen for putting out the string at very short notice. Thank you also to anyone I have forgotten and of course thank you for turning up and competing.

Dave Mackett, Planner