| Organiser’s
Comments Many thanks
to our helpers for the day – Paul Ames
guarding the gate, Vivienne Maxwell and Tracey
Blackford on registration, Andy Reynolds, Graham
Dugdale, and John Dyson on the computer, and
Alison Reynolds and Wilf Taylor for dispensing
helpful advice. Ella Bowles and Bryan Smith kept
an eye on the yellow and orange course
competitors on the short road section. But a
special thank-you goes to the start team of Ruth
and John Chesters, who definitely drew the short
straw. Somehow on that lovely sunny day, there
was a persistent cold wind blowing through the
wood. They stuck to their task manfully.
Alan Simpson
Planner’s Comments
There was a late change to
this area following Plym Forest suffering serious
felling in the battle to control sudden oak death
disease.
Most of you were able to
sample the variety of terrain this area has to
offer in favourable weather. Some will remember
Wheal Florence mining strip in rain and
mist and gorse! The green was at the longer
end of the course range to give competitors an
opportunity to go into Wheal Florence. I hope you
found it worth it. I had not foreseen that the
hill at the end and the resultant oxygen
starvation would lead to mistakes by some
competitors on the final woodland circuit.
The yellow and orange map
were printed at a larger scale of 1:7500.
Unfortunately the red lining and the contours of
the steep hill were not as distinct as they could
have been. Please accept my apologies.
Thanks to Jill and Roger
Green for preparing initial armchair courses
before I could get involved and to Alan Simpson
for his support as controller particularly after
also taking on the organiser role at a late stage.
Nicholas Maxwell
Controller's Comments
The variety of terrain in
this small area is amazing, requiring competitors
to switch technique continually. I think
Nick’s planning exploited the area to the
full, and the longer courses worked well. Number
48, dry ditch end, proved tricky, but did
competitors read the control description?
Sometimes the difference between success and
delayed success lies in using all the information
at your disposal. And that little adjacent nick
in the contour provided a good and very close
attack point.
Unfortunately, we
rediscovered the fact that planning the shortest
course is often the trickiest. The constraints of
paint-balling on the one side and clay-pigeon
shooting on the other, combined with a worry that
the stream can rise rapidly to a torrent,
resulted in yellow and orange courses which were
on the hard side and difficult to read on the map.
With hindsight, smiley faces would have helped.
Alan Simpson
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