SE Score Championships 2000

Epping East ::. 20th November 2000

Well done, Moles, on winning the Championship. The scoring system is complicated but I should reiterate that running up is automatically applied only if the club coverage of age classes is less than 12. Note also that two CHIG runs have been discounted, John Pearce, mapper and planner on the area in September, and Rosanna Maycraft, who was accompanied. The continuing saga on eligibility or runs when being familiar with an area is an irritant and each individual case is always going to be different. CHIG looks forward to a stand off with Moles on neutral territory next year.

Results

Class Analysis, Scores and Club Positions

Individual Results

Splits

Number of people who visited each control

Tony’s Winning Route

Tony Burton’s (MV) winning control route:

20 controls; 60:31 minutes; 1160 points (1170 – 10 pt penalty):

S – 12 – 11 – 13 – 15 – 16 – 20 – 21 – 24 – 22 – 23 – 25 – 27 – 28 – 29 – 30 – 26 – 32 – 31 – 33 – 18 – F

Organiser’s Comments

This event seemed quite straightforward when originally envisaged, but we encountered a number of problems. Firstly, there were difficulties over the fixture date. This took some time to resolve but in the end there were two other South East fixtures on the same day. Whilst a large region like our own should be able to support this number of events, attendance does have a financial implication for the clubs.

Secondly, I made the erroneous assumption that the South East pool of SPORTident equipment would be available and advertised the event accordingly. We now know that, due to the time it takes to go through the evaluation process and arrange grants, this equipment will not be available until January 2001. So I had to find an alternative supply, which in the end was from BOK. Nearer the time of the event we lost our agreed parking area, where we in fact assembled, due to the wet weather conditions,. And finally we had issues with the map overprinting. Not only the twist to the overprint as forewarned to you all, but also the unaccountable loss of 100+ maps. All of this illustrates the need for flexibility and good contingency planning, and if you, the competitors, were unaware of these problems, then that is exactly how it should be.

There were some items on the plus side, though. The King’s Oak Public House provided us with electricity at no charge and we therefore avoided the hire cost of a generator. I was worried though that someone in the pub’s kitchen might pull the plug! The weather was very kind to us, in view of what we have recently experienced, especially when, at the end of the day, the rains returned when I was in the garage polishing the aluminium stakes ready for their return to BOK. I had a very good team of CHIG members, very few of whom did not get a run, and all, of course, experiencing the organisation of a SPORTident event for the first time. This ability to cope with the requirements of SPORTident is not of course confined to the day. Sally and George spent many hours familiarising themselves with the software and running mini courses. Organising a score event is simple in that it is just one course, but the software would much prefer it to be a badge event with a range of courses and everybody running in their respective class. Whilst we would not consider ourselves experts, we are willing to give others the benefit of our experience if required. But we ourselves benefited from the support of Andrew Cordle of SOS, Anne and Andrew Leaney of SLOW, and, naturally, the guru in this country, David Rosen. Our thanks to all of them.

One of the organiser’s responsibilities is to ensure that adequate safety arrangements are in place, which includes the whereabouts of the nearest A&E unit. We tested this for real on the previous Saturday when I, in the gathering gloom, inadvertently closed the tailgate of my car on our equipment officer, Colin Flint’s, hand. The journey to Harlow Hospital took approximately twenty minutes, where he had his fingers stitched. And yet despite inflicting this injury on him, he was still erecting the tent, the club flag and dishing out the hired dibbers, and marshalling on the day. We smile about it now, but it is one memory of the event I could well do without.

Finally, everyone’s split times are on the website (www.chig.org.uk), plus a few photos taken on the day by Ray Weekes. Thank you all for coming, especially those clubs that took the Championship very seriously. I must apologise for not being aware that there was a trophy to be presented and I will make arrangements for this to be done at a premier South East event in the very near future. And thank you to those who took time out to either pass their thanks on for the event at download, or subsequently on the phone and email. All this makes the time and effort very worthwhile.

Tim Pribul

Planner’s Comments

Basic Plan:

To hold a score event, the South East Score Championships, using SPORTident on Epping Forest East.
Knew roughly where the Start and Finish would be.
Chose spread-out control sites, with no easy routes/paths between them. Should not be able to do them all in the time allowance: unfair!
Use of height gain – so that it is more challenging the further you go – very tiring for the speedy!
More points awarded further out – incentive to go far – seniors.
Easier controls generally nearer to the start – for beginners/novices to quickly gain points. Some easy controls also present further out to provide further incentive to the adventurous.

SPORTident:

• Quick, easy to use.
• Modernisation of Orienteering.
• Chance for competitors to try out the new system, and also encouragement to do more orienteering, and to buy SPORTident cards.
• No major problems!
• Takes away the hassle of manually checking control cards (for mispunches).

Sunday:

• Everyone went off in different directions from the start
• Good turnout in the circumstances
• Enjoyable for competitors – general opinion
• Finish – very efficient because it was easy to set up.

Control 6

• The only control that seemed to cause comment
• One should always treat marshes in Epping Forest with respect!

Finally, thanks to all those who put out controls with us (Kenth Runesson, John Pearce, Derek Jenner), the marshals in the forest and those who collected them in again (Ray Weekes, Tony Maycraft and Graham Pribul). Thanks also to John Pearce for OCAD support before the event and to Mark Johnson, our controller.

George Pribul and Sam Jenner

Controller’s Comments

I hope that the wet conditions underfoot did not spoil your enjoyment of Epping East, which must be amongst the best venues for orienteering in the South East.

George and Sam provided you with an interesting variety of control locations that gave everyone a chance to enjoy the challenge of a score event – did you get your strategy right? George (coached by his father Tim) was organised and thorough in his preparations for this event – it is good to see juniors having a go at planning.

The Registration and results teams were most efficient – all this on top of coming to terms with using SPORTident electronic punching software for the first time. All in all I had very little to do. Thanks to CHIG for inviting me to act as Controller for this event – I really enjoyed the experience.

Mark Johnson (SOS)

Acknowledgements & Thanks

• The Conservators of Epping Forest
• Carlos at The King’s Oak for electricity (and ice for crushed fingers)
• Ciconia Ltd for loan of laptop and printer
• Andrew Cordle (SOS) for Score Event software (Access)

And finally:

we received a number of much appreciated thank-yous – this is just one….

Can you say a big thanks to all involved in the event last Sunday. What value to have a fab score event on one of the best areas in the south with pre-marked maps, with SPORTident punching and a pub adjacent to the car park, all for three fifty!! Fantastic!!!!!!!!