Thanks for coming to this event. We hope you enjoyed your run.

RESULTS (without splits)

RESULTS (with splits)

PAR TIMES
Short: Par 33.21 after Jo Morrison
Medium: Par after No. 19 Anthony Extance
Long: Par after No 29 Gary Parmenter.

ORGANISER'S REPORT - JACK RICHMOND (DFOK)

The biggest concern for an organiser of an orienteering event at the end of December was that the ground would be covered with snow which could make the narrow access roads impassable and the conditions on the Estate treacherous.

The day of the event turned out just cold and sunny- a perfect winter's day. However, the overnight rain did mean that it was impossible to use the start field where as an overflow car park. However, we did squeeze cars in down the road on the verges and just managed to cope with the number of vehicles that arrived.

The landlord of the Hook and Hatchet public house was very accommodating in letting us use his car park and even opened his door early so that orienteers could use his toilets.
My thanks to Phil Basford, who as planner as well as mapper, had already worked out the car park/ registration/ start/ finish routes for me and was a pleasure to work with on the day.

Thanks also to Les Hooper, who like all good controllers, just gave gentle but welcome advice.

PLANNER'S REPORT - PHIL BASFORD (DFOK)

Firstly, thank you for coming to our festive event in such large numbers, and from such a wide variety of clubs - an event at this time of the year obviously has an attraction! I hope you appreciated the bagged, overprinted maps along with 'dibber' facility - I am pleased my colleagues convinced me this was the thing to do. Getting the numbers right will always be a problem so I hope those towards the end who had to draw up their own courses didn't feel too disadvantaged. To have had the control descriptions on the computer would have been a good idea and has gone onto our 'to do'
list.

Having competed you will have realised that this new area, though lovely countryside, has a number of restrictions for orienteering, not least the fenced off new plantation areas and ancient woodland. From your many comments I can assume that I managed to make the best of the area though, on reflection, the longer course could have been a little longer. I think we kept the length down mainly for safety reasons at this time of the year - whilst it was a nice day I think you will agree it was very cold in the exposed areas.

A new map as well - so my thanks to those who stopped to make a few comments on the map - they have been taken on board and some 'tidying up' will take place during the coming year. I don't profess to being a great mapper, but do like to get most of it right if I can.

A few thanks. To the controller, Les Hooper, who has been a great support, and contributor to some areas of the map - I look forward to working with him again. To Clive Steward of the Woodland Trust, who has supplied ongoing detail from his maps of the workings going on in the area and been extremely co-operative. A mention of Mrs Parsons, local land owner, who allowed us to use his right of way to a key path enabling a useful loop for the longer courses North of the road. To Adam at the Hook and Hatchet, I hope we didn't drive too many customers away with the parking - though I did notice a number of your cars still around when I left! To Jack, always on the ball, a pleasure to work with - and to my Klubb colleagues who helped with controls in the morning and late afternoon.

Haven't seen the final results yet but I understand Nick Barrable completed the Longer course in just over 29 mins - now there is something to aim for! Many other competitors completed fast times also showing just what fast courses they were.

Many thanks to you all for making it a worthwhile day - perhaps we will come back here next festive season?

CONTROLLER'S COMMENTS - LES  HOOPER (SO)

Not a very technical area and constrained by the requirement to only use the fence crossings. However, Phil did well to produce some enjoyable courses with a bit of route choice and making the best of the area. We were blessed with some lovely weather. We were dreading the prospect of wind and rain on the exposed bits. I am responsible for the miss-punching on the Medium and Long courses. 106 (small depression S side) was the control for the short course and I persuaded Phil to add 119 (Westmost Distinctive tree N side) for the longer courses to keep runners alert. Perhaps it was a bit closer than it should have been but those who miss-punched will be pleased to know that my wife also miss-punched and that I am paying for it! Most runners seemed to enjoy their courses and I was satisfied with the times for Short and Medium but perhaps the Long course could have been a fraction longer. Now that the vegetation has died down some of the Green looks a bit more usable and with some added fence crossings the area has a future.

Thanks to Phil for many hours mapping, cartography and planning. Thanks to Jack and DFOK members for attention to details and coping with the unexpected numbers. It was a pleasure to work with you all.