ORGANISER'S COMMENTS

It was with slight trepidation that I took on the organisation of this event, it being my first attempt.  I had not previously imagined the amount of detail that needs considering, even at a smaller event such as this.  The major hurdle was locating and co-ordinating the collection of SI equipment and my thanks go to the several members of other clubs in the South East from whom I received advice.  Setting the SI equipment up was a job I readily handed over to more experienced members, so thank you Kevin Willoughby, John Lambert and particularly Andrew Evans, not only for your computer expertise, but for all the other advice you gave me.

The event seemed to run surprisingly smoothly.  There were a few minor hiccups - master maps still not located five minutes before the start, the mystery dibber that went missing for a couple of hours, a few more brambles than we'd hoped for...!  Thanks to Mike for producing courses that everyone appeared to enjoy and to Simon for explaining the role of controller and making things easy for me.  Also, many thanks to all the DFOK members who helped to make this a successful event.

SARAH BLUNDELL

CONTROLLER'S COMMENTS

I was pleased to be able to help by controlling this event, but I really had very little time in which to do it because of other commitments.  So it was just as well that Mike produced a series of event-ready courses (or almost such) in time for my one opportunity to check them out in the forest.  He also produced master maps and control descriptions in good time.

This efficiency extended to Sarah's organisation so that everything went well on the day.  Congratulations to DFOK on another enjoyable (brambles excepted) low-key event, which a good number of competitors attended.

The lack of good control sites in the protruding Eastern section of the map meant Mike had to use the distinctive tree, whose main distinction appeared to be having a control on it.  The map also omits many new fences, and the vegetation has changed quite a bit since the survey three years ago.

The system of copying from master maps in race time was retained at this event, with no objections being raised.

SIMON LING

PLANNERS COMMENTS

Accepting the task of planning our Joydens Wood event for the second successive year with prior knowledge of the various restrictions initially caused some concern about whether the courses would emerge too similar to their predecessors. The change of car park  location, the use of electronic punching and the accessibility of several areas that had formerly been covered with impenetrable undergrowth did, however, offer ample scope for innovation although the long courses must inevitably visit most of the available map. Juggling controls and courses drove me around a few circles, and I was  pleased to receive Simon's suggestions before arriving at the final configuration.

Although this was the weekend when everybody was exclaiming Ulrika! long before the control flags had been sighted or the bath water was running, a high proportion of the comments at the finish were yet again about the brambles. Despite the fact that conditions don't get a great deal better than this, a salesman of appropriate protective gear would still have made a tidy profit.

I now understand that the rather undistinguished distinctive tree (418) should have been a holly. We decided to proceed with a prominent kite and, in the event, the majority of  competitors ran a comparatively fast leg here regardless of the colour or texture of the foliage. This was the case generally for longer and less technical legs.

Further inspection of the results shows that the depression (430) caused most trouble on Brown but not so on other courses, possibly because the western approach had a more robust attack point. Another depression (427) proved most difficult on Green followed by the Earthbank Bend (451), which also resulted in a wide range of times for Light Green. Blue seems to have had no such black spots, but the analysis may be distorted by John Butler's storming run at the end of the day.

MIKE GRANT

COLOUR CODED RESULTS

Colour coded results without split times.

Colour coded results with split times.

Colour coded results with split times (uses SPLITSBROWSER).