Perham Down Short Series Event

18/06/03

For some this was the 'event from hell' and Steve the planner has admitted it, unfortunately unit were short staffed and there was no controller. He did not really have time to fully check the area and it all went wrong on the day, but so what, it was a good bit of coarse orienteering and you had to think laterally to find some of the kites. The runnability was horrendous in places and my legs are still stinging from those nettles nearly 24 hrs later.

Briefly about the course (Steve says he only did this so the AOA planners course would have something to critic!):

Too long given runnability, area was not 5 mins per Km terrain so 5 km to long. Winners did nearly 8 min kms, so 3.5 to 4 km would have been better allowing for Master Maps. Control 1 on A should have been in the large depression as no indication of which side was given. One competitor spent 25 mins looking for it and then sacked it. Control 6 was in wrong place, it was about 150-200m, further up the veg bdy. Control 9 was unfair as those taking obvious direct route into control found it overgrown and staying on longer track route gave an advantage. Control 10, unfair as there was another similar and more obvious earthbank about 75m west, which may have actually been in the correct place as all the tracks through the nettles lead straight to it. Finally the finish, no need for 2 separate finishes, just confusing.

There was also a problem with early starters on the B Course as some used the finish control and not the start control, which meant their card was not activated properly. I have managed to recover most of the times and splits based on the finish time noted against them. In the odd case it may not be correct, but it is only a training session anyway. One person managed to repunch the start as they finished and wiped the card completely. There was a problem with the finish printer halfway through as it had not been fully charged up, fortunately I arrived 15 mins later with a replacement.

I think we put this one down to experience, there must be a controller, even if you just send someone off early to run the course. Upavon on 2 July will be totally different.

Updated: 19/06/2003 02:16:11

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