Snail Trail Trophy - Epping Forest SW

6th March 2011

Final Individual Results
(including Par Times)

Age Class Results

 Graphical display of Splits shown by Dave Ryder's Splits Browser

Snail Trail Trophy - Club Scores (v2)

Congratulations to the winners: Southdowns Orienteers

Controller's Comments

Having spent nearly 4 hours chatting to competitors at the finish, the comment I heard most often was "this is a much better area than I remembered". In my view this was partly due to ongoing clearing work but also due to the excellent courses planned by Anthony. Anthony's decision to use 2 starts stretched the resources of the small band of determined helpers but was the right one to allow light green, green and short green courses to visit the better terrain.

Several of you made helpful suggestions to improve mapping of vegetation and I have passed your constructive comments on to the mapper. HAVOC were expecting about 220 of you and got well over 300 - many thanks to those of you who gave up your maps at the finish to enable others to have a run.

For those of you who saw a HH runner covered in blood I can report that he is now well, after first aid from the Red Cross and some superglue at his local casualty unit - thanks for those that stopped their runs to go to his aid.

Overall an event of this type is big challenge for such a small Club and one I am sure you will agree that Janet and her small gang of helpers handled it well.

Mike Edwards (HH)
 

Planner's Comments

I hope you all enjoyed your courses and, as I heard from many finishers, you were pleasantly surprised by the area. My aim was to use the area to the best of it's capabilities and provide testing courses. This is tricky with an area like Epping where the vegetation is so variable and paths come and go so quickly, however I didn't wish to compromise the use of the most interesting bits. Looking at the splits it was the complex areas near the beginning and the "sting-in-the-tail" second last controls that seemed to have caused people the most problems. These were uncompromised TD5 level controls (relatively rare in the South East), so it's no surprise that they were testing. I feel all the controls were navigable to based on the mapped information, but have sympathy that precise relocation would have been difficult, especially with the distraction of groups forming in these areas.

On reflection the course lengths/winning times look under called for the Short Blue and Blue. I used the course planning guidance ratios (and in
fact increased them based on initial controller feedback), but still people were 'too quick' on these courses. Not sure if this is the case with other events, and maybe the planning guidelines need tweaking, or if it's just an anomaly due to the quality of these age group competitors in this region.

Thanks to Mike for his controlling guidance and to the HAVOC control collectors who helped swiftly clear the forest.

This was HAVOC's showcase event/area, so thank you again for attending in such numbers and hope you retain positive memories of Epping SW & HAVOC events.

Anthony Squire (HAVOC/INT)
 

Organiser's Comments

Thank you all for coming to HAVOC's event at Epping SW. I hope that everyone appreciated the facilities at the event centre in Gilwell Park albeit some of the car parking was very tight, but the marshals work hard squeezing you all in. As we did not lose anyone between Gilwell Park and the forest the signage and route marking must have worked well enough, thanks to my team who did a lot of walking! I did not get to the main start on the day, but the team there did a good job. The small team at the WYO start had to spend much of their time waiting and I thank them for staying at their post in the cold. Thankfully my order for good weather for the event was partly met as it did stay dry but chilly.

My decision on map numbers was based on the number of entries we had received by the lower rate closing date but, in the end we were a little overwhelmed and had to disappoint some people while others were not able to run their first choice course. The entries, registration and download team worked wonders in trying to meet all your requests and I believe most people went away having enjoyed the day. Thankfully the British Red Cross first aiders did not have much to do but the casualty they treated was fit enough to drive home afterwards. The Cake Stall made a profit to go towards funding the Guides' trip to Sweden. The management at Gilwell Park appreciated our good behaviour and will welcome us back.

Lastly thanks to Anthony and Mike for the courses without which there would not have been an event. Now, I have the bills to pay!

Janet Biggs (HAVOC)

Lost Property

I have two unclaimed compasses:
a left-handed Moscow model 3 thumb compass with thick black elastic loop;
a Silva starter-type base compass with blue print.

Map recycling

If you paid for a map but didn't get to take one home because you kindly passed it on to an EOD competitor (or vice versa), you can obtain a copy of the map by providing the Organiser (Janet Biggs) with your details. Map requests for R.Campbell and Tim Pribul are already in hand.

Contact Janet Biggs jbiggs6@tesco.net ; tel 0208 883 2338