Virtuous Lady 04 Jan 09 - Results & Comments

Splits Browser

Winsplits

Route Gadget

It is a long time since I organised an event other than a night or novelty one (where you are planner, controller and organiser) and the role of the organiser has certainly changed. Perhaps not changed but less to do or organise! With SI and the team that goes with it, thank you Roger and Jill and Steve and Alan working as a slick team to get courses and controls up to speed I just needed a handful of other people to help with the jobs. Thanks then to Donna and James Timmis, Alex my wife and Jack my son who manned the entrance with SI registration forms.

The event was well attended and the day bought perfect crisp and dry January weather. I would recommend to anyone who would like to get involved at helping with an event that the organiser’s job is a good introduction. The guidelines that are on the clubs website are comprehensive and help you through the process.

If I didn’t yesterday may I wish you a Happy New Year!Phil Way

 Planner’s Comments

I have been competing in both civilian and military events now for 18 years.

Eventually I was going to have to be more involved; planning seemed like the best option. It took a surprising amount of time in table top planning getting used to 0CAD9, and checking suitability and positions of controls on the ground, for which I would like to thank Alan for shadowing my every move and re-positioning some of the more dangerous, and correcting other sites.

Virtuous Lady is a very picturesque area with some great natural cliff features and with the confluence of 2 rivers gave a lot of scope for the technical courses. Whilst the large open area re-entrant of West Down with its path network suited the less technical courses.

Thank you for your comments at the finish both positive and constructive, a lot of information has been taken on board.

I apologise for possibly making some courses slightly longer than normal due to their physical content.

Unfortunately by placing some controls close we had some miss punching (it’s worth checking control numbers!).

On the technical courses I added both easy and difficult controls this did catch some of the unwary.

Above all thank you for coming along, I hope you enjoyed the experience on a gorgeous winter’s day and if at some stage you were cursing me, please bear in mind I was suffering on the Saturday whilst placing all those controls. 34 Aluminium stakes and paraphernalia in a bergan going up those slopes is not fun!

Thanks to Alan, Phil, Roger for their help and guidance in the planning and all those still willing and able to help collect the controls.

Steve Edmonds

Controller's Comments  

I would like to quote from some recent “Advice to Club Controllers” from Brian Parker, a retired Grade 1 Controller.

 The other day at a club event I was struck by how much the out-of-forest organization of orienteering has changed over recent years.  Not just changed but improved almost beyond measure.  The efficient registration, the reliable SI system with its print out of splits, the quiet generator, the maps with courses pre-printed, the web site riches and more.

 Priority GOLD.  To be correct at all costs.

•  The control feature at the centre of the circle on the map to be correctly identified in the terrain and flagged with the correct code.

 Just the one bullet point.  If this requirement is not achieved, the course is invalid and a bad experience for all concerned.

 How close did we get to this target at Virtuous Lady? Please bear in mind that Steve Edmonds, an accomplished competitive orienteer, was planning for the first time. This situation obviously places an extra responsibility on the Controller. We do want all concerned to have a good experience.

 I think we came close. The only query was control 11 on the Brown course. After the event, the planner, controller, and organiser had all visited the site and agreed that the control was correctly placed. Unfortunately a tag bearing the control number 41 had been left fairly close by, and for that we must apologise. Three competitors found the tag, and assumed that the control had been vandalised. So they have been credited with that control. Unfortunately one of them missed another control, and so remains “mp”.

 There were imperfections elsewhere

•   Some control circles unbroken and obscuring important detail,
•  The “marked route” adjacent to Grenofen Bridge not marked on the ground,
•  A touch of “Old King Cole” on the longer courses.

 However, it is my belief that expectations have risen. The improvements noted by Brian are now expected at all events. Today’s event was only a C4/C5, soon to be a bottom level “local event”.

 I believe that a healthy club needs to be in a continuous state of development. New event officials need to be encouraged and brought on-stream, at appropriate events. We must tolerate imperfections.

 Maps too need developing. Apart from inevitable vegetation and minor path changes, there are residual errors in our map stock. New aerial photographs and GPS systems provide new tools to add to the mappers’ armoury, and I think it appropriate for us to spend club funds on revising some of our smaller maps.  After controlling an event at Five Tors two years ago, where the planner and I had difficulty interpreting certain sections, Erik Peckett has now revisited the area, and the results of his labours can be tested at the Devon Relays event in July this year.

 Returning to today’s event, Virtuous Lady is a wonderful area. West Down is tailor-made as a starting point. The network of paths make it easy to plan the junior courses. Farther afield, the severity of the valley slopes and verticality of the rock features present challenges (and hazards) for the planner to utilise.

		Whilst I think the mapping is pretty good, Dartmoor rock features do present a special challenge to the mapper. The difficulty with control 41 maybe lies partly with the map. On the ground the two parallel lines of crags are by no means equal in height. Our control was at the foot of a 4m crag. The line of crags below this one on the slope is perhaps 1m high. Can the mapper indicate this difference?

 In conclusion, I think Steve Edmond’s opening foray as a planner did the club proud, and we were pleased by a turnout of 98 competitors, almost hitting the magic ton.

 On behalf of the competitors, I must also thank Phil Way and his team for his slick organisation.

 The full version of Brian Parker’s article will appear in the forthcoming “Devon Orienteer”.

 Alan Simpson

Updated 05 Jan 09