Purple Thistle - Post events comments

[SIman]

Thanks to Brooner, Pyrat, Wattok and the rest of [Nope] for a most enjoyable weekend.
There was not a lot they could do about Sunday's weather which meant that only the keenest, most foolish, or most masochistic ventured back onto Arisaig's challenging terrain. Too challenging for me anyway!

Hopefully they are back in the pub and not washed away by the raging torrents while collecting controls.

I have put a provisional set of results here.

[harry]

It was class. I only wish it was bank holiday in Scotland so I could've stayed up there.

Running on Arisaig was a real treat, even on Day 2 the orienteering was fantastic, although I was dressed more like a hiker and therefore a bit slow!

The boys are still working hard putting on the relays today and then back up to Arisaig to finish collecting the individual days controls in!

[misterblister]

Thanks for a really enjoyable couple of runs on Arisaig. Running on Sunday in the rain and wind wasn't as bad as it might have appeared. Once you got going it was fine. The temperature was 17 degC so it wasn't cold despite the wet stuff blowing horizontally over the moor. River crossings were not for the faint hearted though...

Planning was pretty good, better on Day 2 than Day 1 I thought. Couple of moans:-

- What were all the "knoll tops" about on Day 1, guys...?

- Course length on the Medium Thistle was 20-25% more than advertised and probably resulted in some people wishing they had entered the shorter course half way round Day 1. This will put people off future PT events if you don't get this right.

- I think you would benefit from having a reasonably experienced Controller who could provide a bit of wise advice on control siting and course shapes (and check that controls are in the right re-entrant - e.g. Day 2, 198!!)

Good crack down the pub on Saturday night...

[harry]

Re: planning moans

The courses were well designed with a nice combination of short and long legs. I think that both planners could have benefitted from a controller when it came to the siting of controls though. But the BAREBONES ideal is too have as little organisational work as possible so maybe scrapping the controller was part of that? -I think the course shapes were limited by where the start and finish were and I think the planners did a good job with course shapes when you take account of this fact.

The contrast between the two planning styles was quite funny. One making it slightly too easy seemingly to ease us into the competition and the other trying to be a bit too clever!

Wheras day 1 the controls were a bit too visible and could have benefitted from being placed behind features with corresponding control descriptions... day 2 the planner decided to turn a few of the mappers slight wiggles into control features! A tiny blip becomes a spur etc. Brooner admitted that when he got there he realised it was a stretch of the imagination to call it a spur but it didn't really matter. A couple of the control descriptions were incorrect too but i only noticed this when looking over the map last night.

However these ANAL-ytical control siting grumbles were only on the odd control and didn't detract from my enjoyment of what was a fantastic event.

I know what you mean about the stream crossings! A couple of times i was up the my neck in fast flowing streams but it was all part of the adventure.

[Electrocuted]

- Course length on the Medium Thistle was 20-25% more than advertised and probably resulted in some people wishing they had entered the shorter course half way round Day 1. This will put people off future PT events if you don't get this right.

I had entered medium but when I saw the new course length changed to small - not until late on the friday night. The planners were very accommodating about this and had printed extra maps.

Terrain was great on Saturday - having spent most of early Sunday morning trying to stop the tent being washed/blown away I decided against running on Sunday but I believe it wasn't as bad at it looked!

[Wattok]

Just returned back from the short, sharp relays in Glen Nevis which went well i think.

I'd just like to say a big THANK YOU to all who came along for the weekend. I hope you enjoyed it, spread the word & please return again next year.

Also a thank you to all who helped out over the weekend especially Rocky & Andy Mein, it was much appreciated.

Finally a big THANK YOU must go to the two main men of the weekend, Brooner & Pyrat - good work lads, beevies all round me thinks!

[DesignatedDriver]

Well folks - just in the door.

for those poor few that missed the PT '05 - unlucky. it was a mighty event.

We were eased into the mountainside with a selection of courses, which while not technically impossible, were certainly physically demanding.
Day two was a typical scottish summer morning, and yet another challenging event. more technical than before, but this did not deter from the full body workout we had been promised!

and so to this morning - the ever important relay. an interesting use of just a few people, meant two people teams, doing a figure of eight - handover at the twist. The area was water logged (see day two) but highly visible - certainly a spectator event! a small mistake at the first control (yes, in full view of all spectators!) meant i was a good ten minutes down. but my second leg made up for that....

Folks - to the dedicated few, my prize is just inside the front door, awaiting the return of my "wife" - lets just say she will be surprised!!!

Brooner, Pyrat and Wattok - a big thanks for a great weekend! Fantastic camping and social facilities, right on the map!

[Spookster]

Thanks guys - we enjoyed the weekend, despite Sunday's weather. Looking forward to PT'06

[brooner]

thanks for the comments, only just got home and i'll reply about planning & controlling issues tomorrow when i've had some sleep. after the relays we headed back to arisaig to get the last of the controls in (and this was in glorious sunshine i must add, i just wish it had come a day or two sooner ) and were back off the area just after 6pm. i've spent about 15 hours on the area this weekend and need my bed!

big thanks to all involved, all who offered help, impromptu controlling, constructive criticism and great enthusiasm, it all makes it worthwhile.

Individual Results & Splits are on the PT site (although a few wee things need sorted) and Relay results will follow this week (quite a few things need sorted there!)

[swat]

Great event, very big thank you to all involved in putting it on.

I really enjoyed both the individual days. Physical terrain plus demanding courses required plenty of concentration. The run down on day 1 was particularly fun!

The relay was also good due to visibility of runners, and two short legs each rather than one long one worked well to keep up the interest (and the human tent was a laugh too!)

[sgb]

guys, that was an awesome event this weekend. Megabus has just deposited me in Brighton where it's about 30ºC - much preferred Arisaig!

The event was brilliant, you made a great choice of area, the relay format was inspired and made good use of a small area. Shame about the weather but it made Day 2 that bit more of a technical challenge.

Hoping to be back next year!
SGB

[samsonite]

yeah guys, it was really good. im very impressed.

whats this aboot a mispunch though eh? never did get my splits or nuthin.

roll on pt06