Best event of 2009?

[IanD]

Perhaps a little early to start this topic, but Saturday night's SO event will take some beating.

It was in Broadstone Warren (the NW corner of last year's JK Ashdown Forest map), using only the wooded bits and not the tussocky open heathland. It's all deciduous woodland, on a slope cut by streams, and scouts camping in the area keep the undergrowth down for at least part of it.

But what made the event special was not the terrain or the well-planned course, but the weather conditions. The temperature had not reached freezing point all day. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground. Earlier freezing fog had cleared, but left every twig and leaf edged with frost crystals. And it was a cloud-free night with a nearly full moon.

So without a torch, it was possible to run along the paths, following the snowy line on the ground, and enjoying the white and dark patterns of the trees and the moonlight ground. Turn the light on, and there seemed to be a crystal chandelier on every bush. A quite magical experience, like running in a Christmas Card!

[geomorph]

Fantastic even without an event.

Ran in the morning through parkland and forest with such beauty, and again that evening and yes, just as you described.

But some time back, to the north of Montreal, got stuck in an ice storm, looked as beautiful, but deadly as tree limbs were ripped off, and phone lines toppled (no power lines fortunately)

[EddieH]

Our night event last week at Balnagowan also took some beating, although it lacked the amazing aethetic you described. In our case the temperature had risen to something comfortable, yet the ground was solid - no wet and the moon shone through the trees in one of the most runnable forests on Deeside.

[DaveK]

Have to agree with IanD, the night event at Broadstone Warren on Saturday was quite magical. Hope this Thursday's (Saxons) Kent Night Cup on 'Enchanted Place', also Ashdown Forest, is as good!