Sunday 5th October 2008
West Midlands League
Brockhampton
Planner's Comments
Brockhampton is an enjoyable and varied area to plan, especially on sunny days, which made this event a pleasure to prepare (if not for the other officials who had to wait for me to finish enjoying it and produce something - my thanks are due for their patience). Despite losing the east end of the map to extreme brambles (yes, the ones you fought through were not the bad!), and concerns about the extreme physicality of some parts of the courses, overall it seems to have been a successful event judging by the appreciative comments. Thanks to all who turned up despite the initially awful weather, and especially those who took time to pass on their views on my planning. The feedback makes it all worthwhile.
As you'll notice, I'm avoiding commenting on the finish.
Allan McKinley
Controller's Comments
Brockhampton is not an easy area to plan on, especially with the brambles at their current level. So Allan did well to produce courses that most competitors completed within the guidelines for finishing times. The exception was Light Green, which although short enough still proved too difficult.
A number of competitors seemed not to realise that they were required to navigate to the finish. This was correctly shown on the map as being below the path (and was visible to all courses as they came out of the woodland), but many ran past, or even directly to download. However, it is perhaps an anomaly that there is no way of showing on the control descriptions what feature the finish is on.
Clive Caffall (SPLOT & HOC)
Organisers' Comments
We were very unlucky with the weather, which must have been the main reason that numbers were so low for a West Midlands League event. Ironically, as we finished the final clearing up, it was dry, with patches of blue sky and sunshine! Brockhampton is very pleasant in warm sunshine.
My thanks to Allan for the planning, to Clive for all his help after stepping in to control very late on, and to all the Harlequins who helped in miserable conditions, willingly stepping in to take on jobs as required. Special thanks for the unknown helper who collected all the road signs and left them at the end of the estate drive - it was much appreciated.
Our thanks too to Mr. Les Rogers, the National Trust Estate Manager, and his staff and volunteers who could not have been more helpful.
Mike Farrington (HOC)