WIM Galoppen
Inside Park, Blandford Forum, 18 November 2018
Planner - Martin Cross, Organiser - Chris Branford, Controller - Roger Crickmore (WSX)
Organiser's Report
Thank you everyone for turning up to the Inside Park event on Sunday, and what a beautiful day it was (most previous November WIM events have seen copious quantities of mud, rain, sleet and even snow to say the least so we were rather spoilt). Thanks must go to everyone for all the help they gave me on the day - it was very much appreciated. Results and RouteGadget are now up on the WIM website - so don't forget to post your route.
Following on from the event a Formal Protest was received concerning the mapping of control 146 and its effect on the results of the Brown course. On Monday morning I revisited the area of control 146 with a competition map and agreed that the mapping of the distinctive tree is inaccurate.
As a result I have concluded that the protest is valid and have therefore decided that the result of the Brown course should be adjusted and control 25 (140) becomes the conclusion of the course. This removes the leg to control 26 and the leg to the finish control. I apologise for the problem which precipitated this protest.
Chris Branford – Organiser Wimborne Orienteers
Planner's Comments
When I was asked if I would like to plan the Galoppen event at Inside Park, I was slightly surprised that the area was thought appropriate for an event involving courses up to and including Brown. But, since somebody had to do it, I thought I should take on the challenge.
And it was a challenge. However, by using almost every square metre, including a strip of woodland at the north of the map only a few metres wide, it proved possible to produce courses of the necessary distance without making runners crisscross the main wooded area to the west of the Start too many times. This did involve Blue and Brown runners in a couple of path runs to link up bits of woodland, but this also seemed to be acceptable.
Visits to the area in September soon signalled that map changes and updating were required. The warm weather continuing from the summer into the autumn meant that vegetation growth had been stronger than might have been expected and that the vegetation screening on the map had to be altered, as less of the woodland was now runnable. In one or two areas, fallen trees had produced rootstocks which were often significantly larger than mapped knolls nearby! But we decided to ignore all rootstocks for mapping purposes.
Many paths on the previous map had now disappeared, and all the time through September and October forestry work continued, making things look different. Indeed, even on the Friday before the event, I found myself in the middle of forestry work while putting controls out. And then, of course, in early November, all the paths disappeared under heavy leaf fall in about forty-eight hours. This required some sterling work in relation to the White and Yellow courses by WIM helpers to make clear where the route was and was not (with liberal use of sad and smiley faces).
The southern woods offer some of the best running – but only the longer courses could get there. To add a slightly different challenge, I put in two or three controls in the area very close to the building used for registration and download; these did seem to catch out competitors who had not slowed down sufficiently to cope with the detail here.
On the day itself, we were blessed with ideal weather and it was great to see 170 competitors enjoying themselves. It was good to see some youngsters going out again, non-competitively, once they had finished their first run, too. Unfortunately, a late map change after the courses had been finalised meant that one control site (Distinctive tree, 146) was misplaced on the map and this caused problems for some runners although only the Brown results needed adjusting.
All in all, however, feedback seemed very positive and we were able to demonstrate that even such a relatively unpromising area could satisfactorily host a Galoppen event. My thanks go to the Controller, Roger Crickmore, and particularly to the great team of WIM helpers who worked so hard to put on a successful event.
Martin Cross
Photos by Mike Kite - click arrows at bottom to move forward or back
View Green course map