Sunday 13th
March 2011
I'd decided a few months before the Ventnor Downs event that
it would be a good idea to have a go at doing an extensive update to the map.
It seemed to be a good idea as Ventnor was one of the club's more popular areas
and it would be worthwhile as we'd have a good turnout (?). In the month or so
preceding the event 40+ hours was
spent up Ventnor, some of it with Sue Williams (thank you for the help) and on
the laptop mapping and adjusting features and vegetation, plus planning
courses. It was enjoyable even though the weather and visibility was somewhat
challenging at times, but to see a good turnout would make it all worth doing.
As for the day itself, I enlisted the help (again) of Mum in
setting out the controls. We arrived at 7.30 in the dark and drizzle and got
cracking on! Before long it brightened up and turned in a lovely morning, and
all courses were out in good time - about 9.00am.
I planned the Green and Light Green course and Mum (Sue)
planned the Orange and Yellow courses. The Yellow ended up being on 1:5,000
scale map which I created because I was getting Olympic rings with some control
circles (due to close proximity) when plotting on a 1:10,000 scale. I really
liked the look of the 1:5,000 map and hope those that saw it noticed the
greater clarity. I only wish I'd have done the other courses like that, maybe
with back-to-back maps, but it was only a few days before the event and the
other were already printed off. Maybe next time?
The Orange, Light Green and Green all used the same control
twice. This was to get competitors out and back towards the Wroxall side of the
map without tackling the Barbed Wire fence, or potentially causing damage to it
which could impact on the National Trust allowing us to use the area again.
This seemed the better of the evils in my opinion.
A lot of the area near the 'technical area' used by the
Green, which I'd updated a little, wasn't used. Not a lot could have been done
about this apart from put on a Blue or Light Blue, or plan a Blue and call it a
Green! But with so little in the way of competitors recently I didn't want
there to be too many courses resulting in so few numbers on each course.
Some competitors on the Green course may have thought the
odd control was hidden? I personally dislike 'hanging them high' so they can be
seen a mile off. At TD's 4 and 5 (technical difficulty 4 and 5) a control
should be visible when you are close enough to see the feature in the manner
described on the description sheet and as per the control circle, and not just
if you're running in the general direction. So a control in the gorse in a
reentrant is perfectly fineŠ fine if the only way of identifying that it's a
reentrant is to be standing in it, in the gorse. If the correct part of the
feature (as described on description sheet) can be acurately identified from 30
metres away then the kite should be visible tooŠ this correct part of the
feature may be the opposite side to your approach rendering the kite out of
view until you're on it though! I mention this because some people believe in a
20metres visibility from all directions rule - there isn't one. I believe there
was something like that many moons ago, but there isn't now - BOF and IOF rules
are pretty clear on control kite/flag positioning now. Enough digressing on
this matter the short explanation is navigating exactly to the feature and
not kite hunting is what orienteering is about.
Anyway! It all turned out to be a fairly pleasant day
weather-wise and I think I managed to coerce a few more people to 'do' the
Green course which made bit more competitive than it has been recently. Our
occasional mainland visitor, Keith McCarthy of RAFO (RAF Orienteering Club),
managed what I thought beforehand would be a quick time for the course. He
managed to beat our current speed demon Chris Pritchett only by about 90
seconds.
I hope those that turned up enjoyed the morning; courses,
weather and views alike - thank you for turning up. To those that didn't make
it - you all missed a glorious day! (hopefully that'll entice them?)
In seriousness, numbers attending are dwindling and it's the
same helpers (volunteers) helping at most events. My view is that we're getting
stretched and this won't be sustainable in the long term. The past couple of
post-event reports have politely asked for volunteer help at events or within
the club, in any capacity. I would just reiterate this and add that the club is
ALL of it's members and not just a handful. We all appreciate that not everyone
can volunteer help, but simply more members turning up to events will make any
of the current volunteer's efforts (be-it mapping, course setting, running
registration etc) feel more worthwhile.
Many thanks to Kevin and Vanessa Allen for their planning
and setting out of the String course for 2 competitors and to Chris Pritchett
for his help in collecting it in. Thanks also to Sue and Glyn (Mum and Dad) for
help in collecting in the controls (and for my packed lunch!).
I hope we'll see more people turn up as the weather improves
for the Headon Warren and Mottistone Common events. There's no better way to
spend a Sunday morning than to escape your mind from the weekly grind and get
your heart rate up to the wonderful views that the next few events will have in
store for us!
Planner