Force Ten Phoenix Long-O - 16/17 Aug

[Freefall]

Entries are still open for the Force Ten Phoenix Long-O in Northumberland. See http://www.newcastleorienteering.org.uk ... phx08.html There are lots of prizes, currently stacked up in my room including tents, sleeping bags, Trangias and sleeping mats. For those who do not know, this is a two day mountain marathon but unlike the OMM you get to the comfort of your own bed/sleepin bag on Saturday night. There's a whole range of courses from A to D, and pairs events for those who want to. Great training for the OMM so get out there!

[Strider]

Why isn't this being publiscised on the BOF fixtures' list??

[Ed]

Probably because it's not registered with BOF.

It does appear in the FRA fixtures list though.

[Strider]

Yeh, seen that, but are they missing a trick here, as it is advertised as a Long O event?

[LostAgain]

Would registering with BOF then necessitate the payment of the levy? If so then it would be an expensive advert!

[Strider]

Would registering with BOF then necessitate the payment of the levy? If so then it would be an expensive advert!

I belive only if there's a certain number to trigger such a payment and it looks at the moment from the entries that they're well short of this.... maybe I'm wrong here...?

[Freefall]

Delayed response to this thread but the event has just happened and was a success from my point of view as organiser.
We registered the event under the FRA to avoid BOF levy. It was intended at one stage to have a low key orienteering event which would have been registered as a C5 with BOF. Due to resource issues we decided against this event and offered the permanent course instead. So - it didn't appear on the BOF list.
The event was however held within Forestry Commission land (Kielder). They don't seem to have the concept of FRA events so we are paying a C4 levy.

Others can comment on the courses and terrain. I think we had around 130 competitors (many in pairs) and a choice of A,B,C and D courses. Winner on the A Course was Nick Barrable, who stormed around in such a quick time on Day 1 he nearly excluded everybody else from the chasing start. Nick maintained his lead to an impressive win. The B Course was won by Stephen Martin of DPFA, but the C and D were won by orienteers ian Maxwell of RR and Bob Cooper of NN respectively. There were some very nice prizes as promised.

Running on Day 1 was near impossible for most mortals, and I had a taste of the terrain by heading out over Deadwater Fell to the impressive Kielder Stone. The description was Boulder - not many people expect a boulder 10m high and about 20m x 20m. Day 2 was easier, though a few runners decided not to come back due to sheer exhaustion from day 1. There were a few river crossings, but despite the rain these were not too exciting. There was still a lot of energy sapping heather and young trees to negotiate, but on the whole the running was better. Photos are starting to appear on the NATO website at http://www.newcastleorienteering.org.uk

Colin Matheson
Organiser

[Strider]

Others can comment on the courses and terrain.

Running on Day 1 was near impossible for most mortals, and I had a taste of the terrain by heading out over Deadwater Fell to the impressive Kielder Stone.

Day 2 was easier, though a few runners decided not to come back due to sheer exhaustion from day 1.

There was still a lot of energy sapping heather and young trees to negotiate.

Colin Matheson
Organiser

I think your quotes sum it up pretty accurately, Colin. From my own perspective, I thought it was a beautifully wild area and the weather on the Saturday was perfect for this time of the year. However, it was a shame that the terrain was so unremittingly brutal on the competitors and the endless heather, ferns and tussocks took a big toll on our party of six. Two dropped out of the C course and one downgraded from B to C on day 2.

Looking at the estimated winning times to the actual winning times, on all but the A course, shows the disparity between the planning and the reality -
B: 7hrs (est - 6hrs)
C: 5:48hrs (Individ) & 7:35hrs (Pairs) (est - 4hrs)
D: 5hrs (Individ) & 4:37 (Pairs) (est - 3.5hrs)

A difficult conundrum to solve, given the area, but the courses should probably have been shorter to reflect the nature of the terrain.

Cheers
S.

[orunner]

Problem with course lengths is that I found it impossible to get anything meaningful in terms of route choice or visits to the open fell (rather than stay in the dark, dank forest all the time) without very, very long walks to the starts. I did actually shorten the courses as much as I thought I could without making them boring.
The one consolation I can offer is that I spent a lot more time tramping through deep heather and fell in more boulder holes than any of the competitors !!
As a footnote, this is about the only area of fell in Northumberland which is not commercially used for grouse shooting (hence we all have free access to it at any time of the year). As a consequence the heather is uncontrolled and we experience the result - fells which are accessible but almost impassable. Something to remember if we get to the point of debating if shooting should be banned.

[mike g]

I was happy to spend Saturday in such a beautiful, wild place, and appreciate the effort of everyone involved in putting the event on. I also agree with the planner's comment that the course lengths were necessary to provide reasonable navigation and route choice challenge. My only gripe is that the advertised EWTs were so unrealistic - surely no-one could have thought that the C course would be won in anywhere near 4 hours.

Unfortunately, not being strong enough to compete in such tough terrain, I'm afraid it has put me off orienteering in Northumberland again, including at next year's JK. If I return to the area it will definitely be in my walking boots.