MITRE Regional Event Epping North – Planners Comments

I think I can say that I have never seen the forest looking so glorious in the sunshine however it gave Charlotte and me a great deal of last minute change due to the accelerated leaf fall. This did make the Orange course in particular somewhat tricky and we trust this did not unduly stress the enjoyment of this course.

It was noted that there was an ambiguity on the map concerning the positioning of control 148. Although it had been controlled on the morning of the event there did exist a seperate yellow controller tape marked 148 at a similar feature nearby. The planning team have therefore approved reinstatement of any competitor who missed the 148 control. We know of at least one competitor involved. If anyone else regarding this please contact the organiser and we will arrange for the correction.

There appeared also to be a number of competitors who failed to punch correctly at the dangerous road crossing. It was made very clear on the map descriptions reinforced at the start and clear on all maps that all competitors must punch both controls each way. We had checked that it could take up to 3 minutes to cross the road and these legs were deducted from the elapsed time. In fact we had planned to deduct the legs irrespective of time taken. It was part of our risk assessment to man a single crossing to ensure the safety of competitors. Missing punches could also infer a shortening of the route. All failures to double punch are therefore counted as mis-punch.

I would like to thank all those who assisted the planning team over the last few months and in particular like to thank Bruce Marshall for his invaluable guidance. We would wish him a speedy recovery from his broken collarbone which precluded his attending on the day. A last minute rejig of the control put out plan and excellent controlling help from Tom Edelsten and Josh Jenner plus a 7 hour stint of control distribution on Saturday ensured a smooth start to the event.

Just to catch us out at the last second it would be nice to find out who “Tidied up” our 600m of White course tapes over Saturday night and necessitated a mad scramble to replace at 0900 on Sunday morning.

In all as our final course planning for CHIG Charlotte & I could not have had a better forest team to work with.

Pete & Charlotte Cheetham