Kendal Urban Race

[IanD]

Nice event to round off an excellent weekend's orienteering, and another dry day in the Lake District! Really good map, I appreciated the exaggeration of the alley widths which made them readable. Course planning was basically good, lots of hills and long route choices early on; intricate and tricky alleyways - and more hills - later.

The event was spoilt for me by having three controls in a straight line; I went straight from one end to the other, not spotting the circle in the middle. I know this is my own fault, however I think course planners should make a positive effort to avoid creating situations which make it almost certain that some people will be disqualified.

[Tatty]

Must agree - it was a great event. My course was very well planned - kept you thinking right to the end. The steps in the shopping centre were tricky as was 20 to 21 on course D. Didn't see the virtually direct line route until I got back! I did suffer with rain for the last third of my course. However as we'd expected heavy rain that was a bonus. Great event. Thank you LOC. Can we have another race here as part of the Lakes 5 Day in 2014 please?

[AndyC]

I enjoyed myself despite being out forever and being rained on most of the way.
However (as this is Nopesport)I must comment about Control 13 on C (Control 12 on D) No127 which wasted several minutes for me and others.
Control was in actuality on the Nth side of a building in a little recess area. Description is southern end of Nth most narrow passage. The map appears to show a canopy through the building which narrows at that point- obviously it is the end of a passage through the building I am looking for and I'm approaching from the Sth. Simples.
OH NO there is no passage through the building - I must be missing it.
Detailed examination of the map shows that the blue grid nth line passes across the building at exactly that point giving the impression of a canopy. Free advice to planner (who apart from sadism of too many steps -which for me were wet near the end-has my approval) -you've broken that same line elsewhere WHY oh WHY didn't you break it there as well?
Oh and one final complaint -they'd run out of kendal mint cake when I finished!

[Angry Haggis]

Oh and one final complaint -they'd run out of kendal mint cake when I finished!

Unlucky - the Kendal mint cake was lovely and just what I needed at the finish - great idea LOC! I enjoyed the race and area, funnily enough it reminded me of Edinburgh Old Town.

[easternmost?]

I enjoyed my early run and the Kendal Mint cake. I was happy for my map to be recycled, does any late starter want recycled Mint cake ?

[lindseyk]

Enjoyed the run today but, like IanD, was also stupidly caught out by the 3 controls in a row. And the Kendal Mint Cake had run out too. Not sure which of the two I'm most upset about

[andy]

I'll never really understand the 3 controls in a row thing, if there's a circle you go there, no? (it has actually caught me out before and since then I have made more of an effort to check what number control is next so I don't do it again)

Quality event today, a bit rough around the edges with the dodgy canopy control description and a few numbers covering routes but nothing to detract from the event

[Mrs H]

I really enjoyed the urban race today even though I was walking having been caught between a snake and a hard place at the relays Did anyone else see an adder out there? in my panic I turned my ankle and landed on a rock and scalped my knee!

It was amazing how much detail you can see when you're not running - i knew exactly where that control 13 would be although Mr H read it wrong and with the blue north line going through I could see why - also the print of control 15 over the ally entry between controls 1 and 2 was a little mystifying , although I thought the map was excellent.

There doesn't seem to be a general BOC thread so I'd just like to say how brilliant the warm up event on Friday was? Quite challenging open fell and at £4 for 104 minutes - excellent value for money.

[seabird]

I thought this ranked among the very best urban events I have done, and that's despite being caught out like AndyC by the blue magnetic north line through 127 giving the appearance of a covered passage.

Yes it should have been cut - but hey it's only worth a fleeting grimace; not a moan.

Great map. Great urban area. Great planning.

[awk]

Really enjoyed today's race - thanks LOC.

Missing out one of three controls in a straight line? I think that was your problem Ian, not the planner's.

The blue line through a building is obviously one to watch out for as it caused a couple of problems at the British Sprints - which is why (along with having our timed out road crossing just before) I was lucky enough to avoid said problem, at least on this occasion!

Personally, I need to watch out for the disruptions caused by a series of short, sharp legs - that's the second time in a few weeks I've not managed to keep up with things, having weathered the challenges of the short legs and then been clobbered by the one immediately after, as haven't prepared for it properly. Good planning!

[andypat]

Also very much enjoyed the urban race today, following my enfored deprivation of the non-urban supprot races for family reasons

Tend to agree with seabird's measured approach to the problem with the north line (controls 14 on B). With hindsight it could have been cut - actually its a pretty good leg and probably would have caught me out anyway, but it was frustrating at the time to arrive at the "wrong" side with no way through. If I'd only read all of the control description...

For info of Andy C, these things tend to only show up once the map has been printed. I bet it looks aboslutely clear on the condes file. I'd a similar situation in a sprint selection race I planned a couple of years ago where the final map (received a couple of days before the event) had a contour completely obscuring an important bit of black/green thicket. Nothing we could do about it at that stage.

I'm sure the planner having seen it now would have cut it as he seems to have done elsewhere.

LIked the final section of the race the best and poss could have done with one less Zig on the housing estate, which got a bit samey, but definitely worth the trip and its inclusion in the Nopesport Urban League.

[Roger]

Yes, very good event today. (And I too was caught by the 'canopy'.)

Results have been uploaded to the Nopesport Urban League and North-west Urban League sites.

Early days: only the Hindle sisters from MDOC, SOLWAY's Kerry Willacy (WO) and Paul Caban (INT, MV) have scored in all four races so far.

[haloite]

Some photo's here :-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trailspiri ... 627835104/

[ianandmonika]

Really good event, kept you thinking. Some good long legs, then detailed areas. I can see blue MN lines could have been a problem but I was OK at 127. Also between 122 and 144.
Good area for urban event.

[DJM]

From what I heard afterwards, a contribution to the confusion about 127 was the use of the narrow passage symbol ][ in the control description.

The official description for this is

A gap between two cliffs or rock faces which face each other

and the popular implication of this is that it is a gap you can get through (as the symbol suggests).

With some artistic licence, one could substitute buildings for cliffs but, even so, I'm not sure the choice of this symbol was wise because of the potential confusion about passability. Perhaps something like "building SE corner (inside)" would have been much less ambiguous ...

Excellent race though - one of the best I've done!