Cancellation - Was it my fault?

[MacMan]

However - as one of many who travelled great distances to attend this Interland Selection Race - I wonder what will happen now. There are only three junior selection races - of which this was one. Juniors need to attend two of these races. We missed the first one (too far north), so technically my juniors cannot be considered.

What better reserve than use Hindhead in 3 weeks time ... Assuming there are no more landslips!

[Arnold]

Just to be clear there wasn't a swollen river anywhere.
There was a brook which in places was quite deep and wider than you could have jumped (but not much). Other places you could cross by linking dry bits together.
So you weren't exactly going to get swept away by a raging torrent. But you might have been up to you waist in a mini lake if you tried to cross in certain places.

[awk]

And I have no doubt the decision wasn't taken lightly. I just think it was the wrong decision.

Hmmm. Are you in any position to judge?

(As to swollen rivers: June's VHI saw the organisers report the steam running across the middle of the map at waist depth and barely crossable even at a recognised ford. As a result they changed courses. By the time I got to the crossing point, it was ankle deep. I have no doubt though that the organisers had to deal with conditions as they saw it, not as I saw it an hour or two later).

[cbg]

FFS - respect the organisers' decision. They are the ones who had the risk, had done all that planning and organising and would have been held responsible. You only had to travel there.

[Freefall]

My sympathy you had to cancel. When I was a "southern softy" the November Classic was always my favourite event. Good news up here was that TAY finally managed to stage their event on Dalguise. This was their fifth attempt to run the event, previous races being cancelled due to tempests, snow and horses. The weather was glorious today with a bit of snow underfoot at the highest point of the courses. An interesting 1.3 km+ timed out section that allowed us to use a fine bit of heather and rock that otherwise would have been out of reach. Lovely views north to snowy mountains too and lots of people out for more than 2 hours to appreciate it.

[HarryO]

What better reserve than use Hindhead in 3 weeks time ... Assuming there are no more landslips!

Nice idea but that's the same date as the last Interland Selection Race

[King Penguin]

The officials are quite right to consider the safety of competitors. I am sure it was a tough decision for them, but their call was that the stream crossing was unsafe, and they were the people in the best place to judge so I support their decision.
I did not venture into the competition area, but in late afternoon I went for a run in another part of the forest, where I had walked on Friday. On Friday the ground was wet, but bridges were out of the water. This afternoon, after several hours of no rain the same streams were flowing very fast and most of the bridges were underwater. All streams were much wider and deeper. Anyone attempting to wade across those I saw would almost certainly have been swept off their feet. Were they to get swept onto any low trees across the stream they could have been pinned. In late morning / lunchtime I suspect they would have been highter still.
Unfortunate that the event had to be cancelled, but I fully support the decision of the organisers, despite the fact that we had arranged a long weekend away to conicide with the event. Better we go home disappointed than someone does not go home at all....

[Nathan.]

Personally i think it's outrageous. People had travelled hundreds of miles for hours to come to this event and all for nothing. The November classic is a major race and for it to planned in an area that could potentially flood is ridiculous. Whoever organised this needs to wake up, we are in england in november of course it is going to rain. And for there not even to be any notification the night before and it being cancelled minutes before the first start time is frankly laughable

[mister blobs]

I can't comment on whether it was right to cancel the event or not. The cancellation was not handled well. The event was not cancelled on the BOF website - there is a facility to easily identify cancelled events. We checked the BOF website and the SOC website as we drove down (because we'd heard by phone from other club members that it might be in doubt) but there was no information on either. Even now the SOC website has it as a "news item" it should be in clear bold type across the front of the home page and on the event page.

Surely the organiser's risk assessment included the risk of flooded streams and had a plan for checking and cancelling if necessary and in a timely manner.

[oo_wrong_way]

Even now the SOC website has it as a "news item" it should be in clear bold type across the front of the home page and on the event page.

The horse has gone.

Out in the forest, with limited methods for updating the website, we did the following as quickly as we could: Updated the Events Hotline (number clearly stated on website); Added a news item to the website - apologies it was a one-liner but any other editing using mobile phone was not possible; Posted an item to Facebook and Twitter.

I agree that we could have done more to communicate. Lessons have been learned and will be taken forward into the events communication plan.

[Tatty]

It was not the weather from up above Arnold, but the conditions on the ground. As an experienced Organiser my sympathies are with SOC and the event officials. If somebody had been swept away, and there was every possibility that might happen, they would be to blame. One member was nearly swept away in his car by the force of the water on his way to the event.
For Nathan's information the event is always held in November as this is the first month since the Spring that they are allowed access onto the Forest. This area has been used in the past with no problems.
I wonder if any of the people complaining about the decision have acted as Organisers? It is they who will take the can if anything goes wrong. I don't think BOF's insurance would have covered this.

[Fat and Forty]

The organisers made the decision as I recall on 75% of the courses having to cross what they believed to be a potentially hazardous river. Before M21s etc are too critical perhaps they should consider that this would have probably included M50+ & W50+, and before you say I am not being ageist it I know some of you wouldn't mind a swollen river crossing or two.
The reason given by the organiser for not allowing the shorter childrens courses was one of the most sensible I have ever heard, "that it would be irresponsible to send children into a very wet/marshy forest without the safety net of adult competitors around"

Anyway I made it back home in time to spend a very enjoyable late morning and afternoon hedgelaying

[Gnitworp]

Thoroughly enjoyed the Long Wayfarers. Having been caught by 2 marginally faster runners, I tried to maximize on the limited opportunities for corner-cutting to keep up. Pity there wasn't more opposition, but I'm a bit simple-minded - provided it's timed and there's kites to find, I'm happy

[AndyNash]

I have orienteered in the New Forest many times, in a range of conditions including very wet. However, I have never seen anything like as much surface water as there was today - I don't know how much rain fell overnight but it must have been substantial, and it was coming down heavily again shortly before the first starts were due. November may be a wet month but this was exceptional . . . and clearly the safety of competitors has to be paramount.

[cbg]

Personally i think it's outrageous. People had travelled hundreds of miles for hours to come to this event and all for nothing. The November classic is a major race and for it to planned in an area that could potentially flood is ridiculous. Whoever organised this needs to wake up, we are in england in november of course it is going to rain. And for there not even to be any notification the night before and it being cancelled minutes before the first start time is frankly laughable

And for what it's worth I think that your comment is outrageous too. All you write is "me, me, me". I suppose that you think that the organisers gave no thought to others either. Let's not use any of the New Forest in the winter - there's a stream/torrent (dependent on weather) on every map. "All for nothing" - you could have taken the risk yourself and gone for a XC run wherever you wanted.

I'm sure that SOC will rightly ignore your comments.