Thank you to everyone for coming to support our event at Fonthill Abbey Woods. The mist certainly added an atmospheric quality to the forest, but thankfully the rain held off.
Many thanks to Ian Peirce for planning, Ian Moran of SOC for controlling, and Liz Yeadon for organising. And of course to our army of Sarum helpers for making the event possible. A huge thanks also to the Morant family for allowing us to run in their beautiful woods.
Planner’s Comments
Firstly, I must apologise for having a tough climb on the Very Short Green course. There are those that still want a technical course but without too much of a physical challenge. The steep climb from 9 to 10 and just beyond did not meet this requirement and I am sorry that this made their course too much of a physical challenge.
I was surprised that a number of competitors who crossed to the west side of the road did not go through the tunnel, but climbed the bank and crossed over the road. I should have put the control 229 (30-40m before the tunnel) right at the tunnel entrance to have avoided this.
Fonthill Abbey Wood is a beautiful estate, particularly around the Bitham Lake. So all courses were planned to go through the area north-east of the lake. It is a shame that the sun never broke through the mist to show it in its full glory.
A great amount of work was done by Marc Balston to upgrade the map. The estate has been doing a large amount of work thinning trees, removing undergrowth and cutting back thickets. This has improved the area substantially for orienteering. This work is continuing and it was difficult to keep up with it with last minute map updates. Apart from my oversight on the Very Short Green, I hope you all enjoyed your courses.
Ian Peirce
Controller’s Comments
On behalf of all the competitors, many thanks to Liz Yeadon (organiser), Ian Pierce (Planner) and Marc Balston (Mapper), for their efforts putting on a quality level B event. Our sport would not be what it is today without people who are willing to give up their time undertaking these key roles. The team of Sarum volunteers did a great job to make the day a success. If you have not volunteered at an event for some time, do offer, as they say, many hands make light work and there are many different roles which need filling.
Fonthill Abbey is a lovely area and the forestry workers have done well clearing away quite a bit of ‘fight’ in recent weeks which has helped improve runnability. This made planning and mapping quite a challenge, with mapping and planning changes still being made a week before the event. Marc did a great job making many last minute changes, as areas moved from ‘fight’ to walk then rough open in quite a short space of time.
I do recognise that there were some steep climbs on a couple of the senior course with one in particular posing quite a challenge. Please accept my apologies to those who had to endure the climb when something a little easier was possible using a part of the map with fewer contours.
Thank you to my wife Caroline for being a second pair of eyes and helping to check controls sites.
Ian Moran
Organiser’s Comments
I want to add my thanks to the Morant family for their huge cooperation with providing facilities for us on the Estate from the Beaters Hut to the toilets and the Car parking areas. These make an Organiser’s task a lot easier and in the case of the Beaters Hut, warmer! I also thank our amazing Sarum team who just knuckle down and do the tasks needed. I particularly thank Dave Mullins for managing to park so many cars with no discernible trace afterwards – and my thanks to all of you runners who made the effort to consider how to share your transport. I also thank the mapping team for bringing the map up to a suitable level for the events, led by Marc Balston. Working forests are always tricky to map and they do leave logs lying around in heaps like pencils! Thank you also to those who supported Warren and his team with his food and hot drinks!
Sorry we didn’t provide any sunshine on this occasion but there was no rain for which were thankful!! Thanks to all of you for coming to enjoy this lovely wood!
Liz Yeadon
Lizzie Balston would also like to thank everyone for supporting her bake sale. She made almost £200 towards her trip to Nepal in the autumn and was very appreciative of everyone’s generosity (and appetite!).
Photographs
We have a few photographs from the event available via this link: Fonthill Photographs
Results
Results links are below.