SARUM SAUNTER 2005

20 MARCH BIG WOOD

as at Mar 2005 , any queries to John Parfitt - 01985 216371 or SarumO@aol.com

Provisional results Planner's Comments This was my first venture into the planning of a Regional Event, not to mention the use of OCAD, so I had no real idea what I was letting my self in for. My original idea was to try and stage the event to the north west using the main ride. Thanks to John Parfitt who dissuaded me of that notion - those who passed through that area will have seen the industrial scale forestry operations still underway which would have wrecked any plans. I therefore opted to utilise the area to west which had been updated for this event. I also opted for a close start and finish to keep the organisation compact and try and create an atmosphere. My background is in running hence the climb towards the end of the longer courses! I was challenged in too many ways to mention - the Junior courses were the most discussed of all. I hope you enjoyed your courses and especially the nicer parts of Big Wood of which there are many. As an outsider, thanks must go to SARUM for allowing me to plan on their behalf, to John Parfitt for producing the map and Nigel Benham for doing more than his fair share in preparing the over-printed courses. I was inundated on the day with offers of help from many SARUM members - I was struck by the friendly and co-operative nature of the club. Final thanks to John Shucksmith in particular for keeping me right all along and correcting the detail I missed. Murray Cowan (LVO and BAOC)

Organisers Comments. The last time I organised an event we dug trenchs for the toilets and needed more helpers for registration and finish teams. Now we have portaloos preprinted maps and computers which require (it seems) more toilet rolls and sophisticated equipment. It was a real pleasure to be involved with an event where the club members, some of whom I had not previously met, showed such enthusiasm to quietly pitch in and help out. Youngsters and older club members alike all doing their bit with such good humour. It was delightful to work with John and Murray and see competitors enjoying a good time. Thank you to for co-operating with our detours in an out of the event and coping with the care needed in parking. Enjoy your orienteering.

Controller's Comments I have to confess to being rather apprehensive when I first met the planner and he told me he would be out of the country most weekends! However I hope you will agree that Murray proved to be a very capable planner, and made good use of the western area which had not been used since 1993. Course lengths were based on an M21 speed of 6 min/km and it is pleasing to see that the winning time on M21L was spot on. I apologise to those competitors who lost time at control 206. We should have made it clearer to you which control and which courses were affected by the incomplete forestry work. The Sarum organisation ran smoothly, and there were no problems with the Emit system. My thanks to Jerry Newcombe for getting the results, including the badge times, onto the web so promptly. Big Wood is at its best in March for orienteering and it was a pleasure to have to spend time there checking the control sites. The only problem is car parking. It would be good to have alternative(s) to allow access to all the area for the shorter courses, or would you tolerate a rather long walk to the start? John Shucksmith (WIM)

Badge times