Essex Stragglers Orienteering Society (SOS)

Baddow Ridge, Danbury
Sunday 19th September 2021
EAL & HAVOC Club Champs and SWELL
Regional Event - Colour coded level C
Final Results

Officials' Comments

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

It's great when an Organiser has the luck to work with a team of willing and positive volunteers, including an enthusiastic and capable Planner, as well as a supportive and friendly Controller. I was that lucky person today, and am grateful for the hard work of everyone around me. As far as I was concerned, today's uncharacteristically warm September weather was a real bonus to a great event - no rain in the computers, or mud on the toilet floor! I hope it didn't provide too much of a challenge to the runners in the woods, but I heard nothing but positive comments from the returning competitors, albeit some slightly bloody and bowed, but everyone appreciating the work that had gone into the challenging courses. Reflective comments too that maybe some navigational skills were a little rusty, but hopefully we gave the opportunity for people to get some much needed practise.

It's always a challenge when Assembly/Download is a distance from the Start and Finish, but the space and facilities provided by the accommodating and friendly St John's School we felt were worth the extra walk, and added to a successful event.

I am most grateful to the volunteers who put in their valuable time and efforts, and hope that everyone enjoyed their day.

Rachel Barford

Planner: Ian Hargreaves

I was happy to be asked to plan this event as it constituted the shortest possible distance to an event, the area being literally at my door. Hopefully, I was able to use my knowledge of the woods to take you to some areas not frequently visited on previous events. I tried to utilise the nicest areas for the majority of the courses.

I purposely kept the course distances at the lower end of their respective ranges as Baddow Ridge is deceptively physical. Something I heard competitors mention at the finish. However, it is the nature of the sport, and the job of the planner, to both physically and technically challenge the competitor, within the guidelines of the specific course.

The woods are well used by members of the general public, and the fine September weather did give me some concerns that we may see elevated numbers of dog walkers, bikers, ramblers on the day. Fortunately, the only interactions were positive, with people enquiring what was going on and whether they could participate.

As ever, orienteering events don’t happen by magic. It requires a lot work of by volunteers before, during and after the competitors have run. This was my first SOS event as planner, and first in over 10 years. As such, I lent on a few SOS regulars to show me the ropes. Thanks to Eddie for helping sort the permissions and for liaising with Essex Wildlife Trust to ensure their areas of interest were protected, along with our ongoing use of the area. Thanks to Kevin for updating the map with the latest Lidar and additional features ahead of the event. Thanks to Steven for the crash course in all things SI. Thanks to the Controller Graham for his input on the courses before the event and his work on the day. Thanks to the Organiser Rachel who marshalled the troops and ensured that the event ran smoothly from start to finish. Thanks to the volunteers who helped run the start in the woods, and those in the event centre at the school. Additional thanks to Roger for volunteering to help collect controls.

As a bonus, the rain kept off until everything was packed away!

Final Results

Final Results (with/without splits) - please click here.

Officials
Organiser: Rachel Barford, rachel.archer@talk21.com - 01255 852984.
Planner: Ian Hargreaves SOS
Controller: Graham Batty HAVOC

Data Protection
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