Organiser’s
Comments
Today was an example of how the weather on
Dartmoor can change rapidly. After a promising
weather report from the planner on Saturday
morning the day deteriorated and the continuous
rain left the main access road flooded. This
morning the rain had slowed enough to allow most
of the surface water to drain but a large section
of the road remained flooded which led to the
strange diversion through the woods on the way.
At registration the field we had planned to use
for parking and tents was accessible only by 4x4s
and the plan was quickly changed with the tent
situated in the only sheltered place we could
find and parking moved to the road or a lay by.
Once everything was set up the storm passed and,
apart from a strong wind, conditions were good. I
hope everyone enjoyed their run on an excellent
area of Dartmoor. After 2pm conditions again
deteriorated and the event was wound up.
Unfortunately three late finishers led to a
search as the controls were collected in but all
returned un-hurt.
As a first time organiser this was a baptism of
fire but I was overwhelmed by all the support
given by the team of helpers and by those who
gave advice as I was putting the event together.
Pre-event the pool of helpers looked a little
small and some people did long shifts; if you
don’t normally help then please re-consider,
even 30 minutes pre or post run would help
enormously.
Lastly a big thank you to all those who helped
and made the event successful.
Anthony Drew Planner’s
Comments
In the planning this event we have been
through the whole gambit of weather from clear
blue skies and warm sunshine to snow drifts last
February and torrential rain and floods this
November. So we were indeed fortunate the weather
relented on Sunday and for the majority of the
day the weather was reasonably clear.
Historically planning on
Holne Moor has been made difficult due to the out
of bounds areas imposed by the National Park
Authority. This included the areas adjacent to
the car park field and also the areas to the West
and North of the reservoir which contain the
medieval field boundaries. For those interested
there is an article about the area in the current
issue of the Dartmoor Guide.
Happily last year the
restrictions on the areas near the car park field
were removed which allowed the start and finish
to be near the car park and avoided a long walk
for all competitors to the areas further west.
Planning reasonable short courses further west
would have been very difficult so the lifting of
this restriction allowed the shorter courses to
use the many line features near the car park. The
longer courses were able to use the more complex
areas of the old workings of Rugglestone Mine to
the west of the area.
As the event was originally
planned for last February all the courses and
maps were printed prior to that date. Fortunately
there were no significant changes to the terrain
except for the area of the finish field where the
gorse had been burnt during the summer. During
the original planning all the courses had
penultimate controls in the gorse which were not
visible from the finish. To gather the runners
together prior to the finish a final control was
added (code 31) at the start of the taped route.
However, this meant on Sunday that as the gorse
was no longer there all those controls were
visible and appeared close together. This
resulted in some competitors running past the
last control and not punching it.
Tom
Lillicrap
Controller's Comments
I
trust that Tom’s explanation about the
placing of controls near the finish explains the
situation – hopefully those who made an
error don’t feel too aggrieved. Tom
ended up spending much longer on the various
planning tasks than would normally be expected
due to the postponement, including battling
against the elements all day on Saturday to put
out controls. It was good to work with such
a cheerful team of Devon helpers who remained
resolute despite the especially bad conditions
early on Sunday morning. Fortunately my
fears of all the approach roads being flooded -
as had been the case late on Saturday when I was
trying to drive home - came to nothing. The
bad weather obviously put a number of people off
from travelling to the event. Those who did
brave the elements were rewarded with
comparatively favourable conditions and could
enjoy such a lovely part of the moor.
Rosie Wych
Quantock Orienteers
|
