Hathersage & Burbage National Event

[LostOldTimer]

That was fun - yes it was windy, but not too cold. Pleased they didn't insist on cagoules (Competitors compete at their own risk anyway).
Good use of the woodland, and alternating from the open moor, to woodland and back again.
A really good course, and different from previous events, and plenty of tricky bouldery areas to catch you out.
Thanks SYO

[Gnitworp]

I agree, an excellent event, but, can I risk a Mharky flea in my ear, and moan about the 'bread bag' map cases? Good job it didn't rain!

[Gross]

Why oh why do planners & controllers insist on these remote finishes??? This was a national event & a 'major' international & an opportunity to put our sport on disply as an attractive & interesting activity.

In the assembly area there was a nice empty half of the car parking field with a gate open & going out to the moor. The remote finish was about 400m away in the middle of no where. Why not stick the last control on the gate & finish with a proper finish in the field?

When I went up to watch the SHI finishers there was a control marker, a couple of SI units & a guy standing about in a green cag... that was it!!! The finish of one of our top competitions....

All a bit of a joke if you ask me... who was the controller?? Maybe he'd like to respond here... it is ultimitaly his / her responsibility. It was very poor controlling from this respect (not commenting about courses etc etc)

[gg]

I thought the same thing after the race - the courses were good, and maybe there was a very good reason why the finish was there, but it did seem like a bit of a waste.

[MikeWinter]

I enjoyed running at Burbage yesterday but I wonder how many others had real problems finding control 112 (No.1 on course 7)? I had a really good run apart from this control. Despite 2 fine bearings initially in from control 108 and later on from 60, I just couldn't find it, but I did come across a number of others stumbling around looking equally perplexed. Looking at the splits it seems most took over 10 mins and a good number (like me ) took over 20.... As I had no problems finding any of the others, it left me with some questions. Was it misplaced, or is the map qustionable in that part of the wood, or did a large number of us just get it wrong?

Also, I agree the finish did seem a bit bleak and man it was a cold walk back to assembly!

[Gnitworp]

I agree, an excellent event, but, can I risk a Mharky flea in my ear, and moan about the 'bread bag' map cases? Good job it didn't rain!

Just heard from the organiser.

Apparently the bags for the 1:15000 maps were the correct guage, and there was a communication error in obtaining bags for the 1:10000 maps, the flimsy bags being a last minute expedient.

To inveterate map-scrunchers like me this is an important issue.

[Nails]

When I went up to watch the SHI finishers there was a control marker, a couple of SI units & a guy standing about in a green cag... that was it!!! The finish of one of our top competitions....

How long did you stand there for? Would you have stood there any longer if the finish had been in the field? -it was baltic.

Ultimately I agree, but the problem lay in the junior courses. Paths don't lead to the only access gate into the carpark, and this would have meant an additional 400/500m run in from where the finish was along the tapped route back to the carpark to the 'alternative' finish.

[graeme]

many others had real problems finding control 112 (No.1 on course 7)?

I couldn't make sense of the rock mapping either (my eyesight isn't good enough to distinguish standard boulders from rocky-ground dots). Luckily, I'd already been out for an hour by then, there was nobody about and I knew just to look at the contours (I found the northern reentrant first).

Usual principle applies: go slow to the first control in unusual terrains / map styles!

I was totally thrown by 54: I now think the symbol in the legend marked "sandy ground" must mean peat bog, and the peat bog is NOT shown as marsh, and any peat-related contour features are ignored.

Still enjoyed it though, despite the wind and 25 minutes of errors!

Graeme

[DM]

Graeme commented about sandy ground and peat bogs around 54. Most of the sandy ground areas I saw had a covering of peat over them so looked like peat bogs and at first I thought they were, until I went through one and realised the ground was hard. There were peat bogs around aswell, they were the ones with footprints 2 feet deep. After that I used some of them (sandy strips not peat bogs!) to run along, after a quick check on the depth of previous footprints, easier than crossing the heather.

[Nails]

Pretty simple really:

Open sandy ground -anything that is open and has no vegetaion.

[mharky]

There was me thinking open sandy ground meant open sandy ground...

[epocian]

Gross
"This was a national event & a 'major' international & an opportunity to put our sport on disply as an attractive & interesting activity."

To whom? Any motorists driving past were hardly likely to stop and even if they did would runners
straggling in over a period of a few hours mean anything to them? Unless there was a commentary it's not even interesting for orienteers unless one knows the relevant start times - Let's face it Orienteering
never will be a spectator sport by its very nature

[mharky]

What 'nature' is that...???

[Adventure Racer]

The nature of being a time trial where it's pretty hard for an average person to work out what's going on.

Arguably the chasing sprint format can provide a lot more spectator interest in much the same way as the pursuit race has in biathlon - though personally I think the perfect format from this perspective would be a mass start one man relay with micro-o (and penalty loops as with biathlon)!

[Gnitworp]

Pretty simple really:

Open sandy ground -anything that is open and has no vegetaion.

Except bare rock, tarmac, etc?