Nottingham and Lincoln weekend

[Sloop]

Is it too late to observe that last weekend's Nottingham and Lincoln urban races were absolutely excellent ?
Very well done to all concerned.

[King Penguin]

Seconded. What a cracking Nottingham area in particular.

[IanD]

Thirded. Lincoln was good; Nottingham was fantastic. Particularly appreciated the larger scale for the finish section.

There were a couple of late OOB areas - blocked alleys - at Lincoln. Maps in the start lane showed us where they were. Which is fine for those with a photographic memory, but by halfway around the course I couldn't remember the exact locations. I actually took a longer way than necessary out of one of my controls to avoid where I thought - wrongly as it turns out - the blockage was.

Not in any way having a go at the organisers, who did the best they could on the spur of the moment, but I wonder whether the combined brains of Nopesport could come up with a better way of handling this situation.

A few suggestions:

1) given that each competitor spent a minute standing by map boxes, have a (mostly) blank map by each box showing the corrections and the nearest control site on the course with the control number. Remembering that there's a problem close just east of your control 8 is a lot easier.

2) have red pens by the start boxes (plus another set of blank maps showing the problems), and allow competitors the option of copying map corrections in their own time.

3) as above, but allow competitors to pick up their maps early, say 30 seconds before the start.

Personally I favour option 1 except if the issue was near control 1, or if two issues affected consecutive controls, as it would allow leg planning.