Organiser's Comments

The most common start of any orienteerers explanation of what went wrong is "if only".

Fortunately there were only a few "if only's" at our Come & Try It Event at Shrublands as once again we were blessed with a superb sunny day.
(if only it wasn't so hot!')

We had 96 starts but actual number of people on the course was probably more like 150 as many youngsters and some not so young decided to pair up for their first go.It was very strange for both the competitors and the officials to go back to the old style of punches and punch cards. Some old hands had forgotten the golden rule that the punch marks must be in the right boxes, clear and unambiguous
(if only I'd checked)

and unfortunately this golden rule hadn't been passed on to the new comers. As it was a Come and Try It Event, many of the miss punches etc were given the benefit of the doubt but for a competition if you make a mistake don't try and punch over it, punch in another box and tell the officials at the finish and make sure they mark up your card!
(if only I'd remembered)

Out of bound areas and other restrictions are put in place for either your own safety or at the behest of the landowner. Due to the late arrival of cattle one of the map corrections showed new fences with 'Do Not Cross'. A few of you decided to ignore this and cut across the field. You might get a faster time but you are putting yourself in danger and running the risk of the landowner not letting us use his land again for future events
(if only I hadn't taken a short cut)

Please bear this in mind for next time. Those who were spotted by the officials at the finish were disqualified.

My job as Organiser was made easy as

1. The majority of those who volunteered to help did so on the day and there was the willing help at hand to cover the slots were people didn't show up. Thank you to all the SUFFOC members involved.

2. The planner had done his job well so there weren't any complaints about the courses only praise.

3. The publicity was effective. We seemed to have attracted a great deal of interest from a variety of different areas, which resulted in a high turn out.

4. Everyone enjoyed themselves on the day and are going to come back to do better next time…………(if only!)

It was very rewarding to see many of you come to the event the work of effort planning worthwhile as well being able to enjoy the sunshine.

In planning the event I was keen to use the southern part of the map, which in recent years has only been used for the longer courses. Upon my first visit to the park I drove up the main driveway having to navigate around the many sheep sitting on the road. This should have been an omen as the sheep and the cows regularly changed position every time I visited the Park. It was only on the morning of the event when putting out controls did I discover the cows and low wire fence. I hope this did not cause you any alarm or confuse you. Naturally, when I was collecting the last controls in the area of the cows at 2.45 PM my path was blocked by the cows being led to the farm away from the competition area.

Another restriction to my planning the courses was the very high summer vegetation with nettles waste height in the central and southern woodland areas. These were avoided but made planning the longer courses difficult. I do hope the SUFFOC committees' instructions of giving runners a work out was met. I spotted a few red faces climbing the slope to the finish.

Everything was going smoothly having the final version of the courses and collected the equipment. It was only when I allocated controls, on the Wednesday before the event, did I discover I was two short. The key holders to the club store away on holiday until the day of the event. My thanks to Bill and Yvonne McLean for coming to my rescue.

Having now planned with Electronic and Cane Punches I have to say bamboo canes are easier to work with. They are less bulky and require less work before the event than the electronic equipment. The very hot weather we have been having, did bake the ground in many places making them difficult to keep standing during the event.

My thanks to Louise Walker, my suffering Organiser. Louise did an excellent job in getting the SUFFOC volunteers to make the event happen, sign posting it and ensuring all the equipment was there on the day. An Organisers work is often undervalued. Well-done Louise.

Also thanks to Clive Coles, my unofficial Controller for his suggestions and June Webb for successfully publicising the event.

Thanks again to everybody who came and see you at the next SUFFOC event at Tunstall Forest on Nov 2nd 2003.