Essex Stragglers Orienteering Society (SOS)

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Colour coded event (Level C) incorporating ESSOL
Danbury Common, Bicknacre Road
Sunday 19th Febuary 2017
Final Results

Officials' Comments

Organiser - Rachel Barford, rachel.archer@talk21.com

As this was my first go at organising an event I had many concerns, one of which was realisation that I had never before in my life had to book a portaloo! However, the calming words of Clive and the competence of Karen as they guided me through it was gratefully received, particularly in assuring me that it would all come good on the day! They were right of course, and the army of volunteers stepped up to the mark, taking control of all situations and ensuring the smooth running of the event.

It's worth mentioning Julie's efforts with the cake and tea which raised £63.50 towards funding the juniors, which is an excellent result.

Thank you again to all the volunteers, and particularly to Clive and Karen for their efficiency and hard work.

Planner - Karen Ezard

Danbury Common was my first planning event. It was a great pleasure working with Clive - as controller - and Rachel - as organiser - in the run up to and during the event. Thank you, Clive and Rachel.

Luckily, Danbury Common is not a vast area, and has a good path network, so the leg work was manageable. However, accommodating the distances for the longer courses as well as finding the level of technical difficulty with the constant proximity to the path network was a challenge for me. We were also permitted to use the Backwarden Reserve over the road crossing and this, in combination with a multitude of controls, seemed to do the trick. It was also a learning curve for me to find solutions for the shorter distances with the variations in technical difficulty whilst hopefully retaining interest and differentiating between the courses.

My apologies to the competitors who collided with the random barbed wire close to a control 128. I didn’t see this whilst planning, although we had marked some other barbed wire fencing :-/

We were lucky with the weather, and with the turnout. No-one got irretrievably lost. Phew! All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the day and the planning experience – a HUGE THANKS to everyone who helped and supported - AND to everyone who competed!

Controller - Clive Tant

This event could have been a showcase for orienteering as it demonstrated so much of what is good about the sport. With an organiser and planner, Rachel and Karen, who were officiating for the first time, there were a few more nerves than usual but the effort each put into their roles produced a smoothly organised event and courses which were appropriately challenging and fair as the finish times demonstrate. Add to this the usual Essex Stragglers “can do/will do” attitude from the helpers, it is little surprise that competitors were cheerful and complimentary.

Colour Coded Award Par Times