Great Plantation 31 Mar 07

This was my first experience at planning an orienteering event and I enjoyed it. The forest has a technical corner in the north-east part of the map, which I have tried to use as much as possible for the Green, Blue and Brown courses. There is also a good network of paths in the south part of the map, making the White and Yellow courses easy to plan. In comparison I found it more difficult to plan for the Orange and Light Green courses.

The OCAD software (in particular version 9 which Demo is freely available for course planning) turned out to be a great tool for planning. In any case I have tried to offer as many route options as possible for the longer courses. The routes drawn so far by the competitors on our new RouteGadget software (see www.devonoc.routegadget.co.uk) show that this was achieved to some extent. I would like to thank Andy Reynolds as a very professional controller, as well as other helpers for control collection. And thank to you all for coming.

I hope you agree that Olivier provided you with challenging and interesting courses. On his first attempt at planning, he made good use of the area, including one control on the brown course which competitors visited twice, but from different directions (one of the benefits of SI). From a look at the results, the times show that his courses were the right length and difficulty. Great Plantation is not a place you can, or would want to have long courses, especially if the weather had been wet. Although a limited area with some real fight, Great Plantation has improved over the years as the forest has developed. Although Olivier made some map amendments to assist his planning, the map does really need comprehensive re-mapping.

We've just had a quick play on the new RouteGadget system where you can not just compare your route with others, but see an animation of how you ran relative to them. Have a go -it's great fun!

Challenging courses, pre-marked and bagged maps, no problems, dry weather, willing volunteers, positive feedback, same day results, enhanced analysis: good event.

Many thanks for their various support to Graham Dugdale, Olivier Boucher and family, Andy Reynolds, Roger Green, Alison Reynolds, Graham, Tom and Jackie Brodie, Lorraine and Jonathan Croome, Ruth Smith, Mike Smith, Peter Flick and Mike Hosford and others not listed and who collected in controls.

Brown  (10 6.9 km  0 m   24 C   

   1 Kevin Hagley           M45       DEVON               1:01:04 
   2 Steve Edmonds          M50       DEVON               1:05:21 
   3 Adrian Taylor          M50       DEVON               1:05:33 
   4 Richard Sansbury                 QO                  1:07:08 
   5 Ian Bartlett           M40       QO                  1:10:46 
   6 Andrew Bowman          M40       DEVON               1:11:29 
   7 William Hancock        M21       KERNO               1:22:04 
   8 Alison Reynolds        W40       DEVON               1:34:24 
   9 Ben Edmonds                      IND                 1:36:15 
  10 Tony Smith                       DEVON               1:59:46 



Blue  (14) 5.6 km  0 m   19 C   

   1 Philip Way             M45       DEVON                 52:40 
   2 Mike Wimpenny          M55       DEVON                 54:06 
   3 Nigel Bateman                    DEVON                 54:38 
   4 Mike Steward           M50       DEVON                 58:14 
   5 Nick Hockey                      DEVON               1:03:04 
   6 Kate Bickerstaff                 DEVON               1:08:44 
   7 Lew Bean               M60       DEVON               1:10:11 
   8 Alan Simpson           M60       DEVON               1:12:19 
   9 Donna Timmis           W21       KERNO               1:15:15 
  10 Roger Hateley          M60       DEVON               1:16:57 
  11 Ann Hughes             W60       DEVON               1:17:44 
  12 David Livsey           M65       DEVON               1:25:39 
  13 Alexandra Way          W40       DEVON               1:27:45 

     Rob Kohler             M50       DEVON                    mp 



Green  (20 4.0 km  0 m   18 C   

   1 Stephen Trezise                  DEVON                 46:43 
   2 Wilfrid Taylor         M55       DEVON                 49:10 
   3 Paul Goff                        DEVON                 49:38 
   4 Graham Dugdale         M55       DEVON                 51:36 
   5 Michael Smith                    DEVON                 56:51 
   6 Robert Toy                       IND                   57:38 
   7 Stephen Dunford        M65       DEVON               1:03:39 
   8 Lorraine Croome                  DEVON               1:03:46 
   9 Chris Miller           M45       DEVON               1:04:39 
  10 Erik Peckett           M70       DEVON               1:09:13 
  11 Brian Parker           M70       DEVON               1:10:51 
  12 Mike Hughes            M60       DEVON               1:14:06 
  13 Luke Hayward           M14       Torbay 20th         1:15:44 
  14 Roger Green            M60       DEVON               1:20:16 
  15 Hana Skuckova          W40       IND                 1:37:30 
  16 Helen Taylor           W45       DEVON               1:40:09 
  17 Harry Lee              M14       Torbay 20th         2:02:24 
  18 Sandy Cowan            M65       KERNO               2:06:53 

     Paul Moroz             M14       Torbay 20th              mp 
     Anna Stephens                    IND                      mp 



Lt-green   3.3 km  0 m   12 C   

   1 Richard Patterson                IND                   40:39 
   2 Luke Hayward           M14       Torbay 20th           43:29 
   3 Jackie Brodie          W40       DEVON                 44:15 
   4 Susan Hateley          W60       DEVON                 50:13 
   5 Eleanor Taylor         W45       DEVON                 51:52 
   6 Harry Lee              M14       Torbay 20th           53:30 
   7 Joyce Burgess                    DEVON               1:09:37 



Orange  (1 2.5 km  0 m   10 C   

   1 Martina Skuckova                 IND                   27:45 
   2 James Trott                                            32:32 
   3 Jo & Rob Smith                   DEVON                 35:46 
   4 George Kohler          M14       DEVON                 38:18 
   5 Annette Lockyer                  IND                   45:26 
   6 Lea Boucher            W12       DEVON                 52:02 
   7 Tom Brodie                       DEVON               1:01:23 
   8 Val, Anna, Rebec Livse W65       DEVON               1:08:11 
   9 Ross Perrett                     Torbay 20th         1:18:02 

     Marian Bartlett                  QO                       mp 



Yellow  (6 2.0 km  0 m   11 C   

   1 Lea Boucher            W12       DEVON                 18:44 
   2 Harry Way                        DEVON                 33:53 
   3 Claudia Trott                                          37:24 
   4 Carole Smith                     DEVON                 38:26 
   5 Jamie Witherington     M11       Torbay 20th           40:36 
   6 Iain Ross                        DEVON               1:03:57 



White  (4) 1.4 km  0 m   8 C    

   1 Eulalie Boucher        W10       DEVON                 17:41 
   2 Harry Way                        DEVON                 23:26 
   3 Susan Ross                       DEVON                 23:45 
   4 Heather Brown                    IND                   34:52