Hatfield ForestSun 18 Sept

SOS Colour Coded and ESSOL

Regional level event

Terrain type: Forest

Results

• • Results now final

Report

Results and splits on Routegadget available here

Planners Report:
Hatfield Forest is a beautiful area and it was great to get permission to hold an event here again, the first since 2016. Many thanks to Grant and Nick of the National Trust for their strong support during the preparation of the event and on the day itself.
During the summer while surveying I was rewarded with a huge variety of butterflies including marbled white and clouds of orange fritillary; and early this Sunday morning a fallow deer stag looking in fine fettle.
The map needed a radical update with many changes to fencing and vegetation, so this meant focusing on the areas most relevant to the courses. Even then I discovered an unknown partial fence when putting out some controls the afternoon before the event. Thank you for the helpful comments I received on Sunday for some further improvements to the map.
The area is very flat (the Brown course boasted 30m of climb), but this can actually make navigation more rather than less tricky. This and course lengths erring on the longer side for the technical courses perhaps showed in the times taken.
Many thanks to Peter Woods of WAOC for controlling on the day and especially for his constructive comments and ideas during planning.
Thanks also to Roger Gooding for his help surveying and putting out controls.

Organisers Report:

Firstly my thanks to all of the club members who once again volunteered to take on all of the roles that make these events possible and run smoothly.

I would also like to thank the National Trust at Hatfield Forest for the permission to use the area, but also for allowing us to use their classroom for download and their toilet facilities. Access to a dry room, power and toilets makes such a difference. I would also like to thank Nick for his assistance in facilitating the entry of the competitors without charge and his help and assistance throughout the day.

I think is testament to the popularity of Hatfield Forest for orienteering and it’s location that we had a good number of entries for this event, with entrants coming from well outside our usual catchment. I had a number of people comment to me how nice is was to be able to run in this area again and tell me how much they had enjoyed it. This is of course also largely due to Eddie’s planning of the courses, which were by all accounts interesting and not without some challenge. It was really lovely to see that our presence sparked some interest with other visitors who hopefully may give orienteering a try in the future.

Apologies for the late publishing of the provisional results. A combination of inexperience and lack of communication with the most experienced member of the team out of the country until late Monday night. We will do better next time.

Last updated: Wed 28 September, 2022

Overview

Final Details-SOS Hatfield Forest

Location Info

Near: Takeley
Lat,Lng: 51.85957,0.23404
OS Grid Ref: TL547203
Postcode: CM22 6NH
What3Words: ///dolphin.gift.bandwagon

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