Reults queries to Lyn West.

Splits are here.

Organisers Comments Geraldine Russell SOS

Despite the weather there was a steady flow of participants, over 100 in all. It was good to see the number of schools which took part and there were quite a people 'doing it' for the first time who had heard about the event on Radio Essex. I had two comments about how good our web page is so congrats to Andrew who maintains the site. All helpers turned up and performed admirably so a big 'thank you' to them especially as it was so wet and cold. Matthew Johnson did so much running around that he must have completed the distance of all courses put together.

I discovered that several groups only paid for one map between them but then unbeknown to anyone decided to take one each after starting which unfortunately made us unexpectedly short of maps on 2 courses. Any suggestions how this can be avoided in the future?"

Planner's comments Mike Powell Davies SOS

There are considerable advantages in combining mapping and planning. Much of the latter can be done in advance of the cartography. Many thanks to Mark who kept me on the straight and narrow and, more importantly, kept some competitors out of a particularly unpleasant area of bramble.

Whilst January is a good time for the undergrowth, it is the main felling period. This resulted in an inferior Yellow course to avoid the working area and associated loss of paths. The track from 8 to 9 is normally particularly muddy, but the frost just held out long enough to make it runnable. The Blue was deliberately long to compensate for the lack of a Brown course.

Using over-printed maps inevitably can cause some problems. Given the cost of the maps and the impossibility of accurately forecasting numbers on each course, there has to be some trade off between the number of maps on each course and the entry fee. I apologise to those competitors, particularly on the Yellow and Orange courses, who were asked to surrender their map at the finish so that another competitor could use it. I have a small supply of marked maps for each course and can always print more at home. So if you left the event without your map and would like a copy please e-mail me at powell.davies@dial.pipex.com or phone 01376 562657 in the evenings. You will need to give me your name and address, together with a note of your course.

Controller's Comments Mark Johnson SOS

It was good to see such a big turnout given the wintry weather. Mike made good use of the SI electronic punching to provide you with some interesting and challenging courses that avoided the worst of the brambles and rutted tracks. First time Organiser Geraldine (coached by Lyn) had everything else under control. The Registration, Start, Finish and Results teams were as efficient as ever. All in all I had very little to do.

Well-done Stragglers.