Results of South of Scotland Orienteering League Event 1 at Culteuchar, 21st October 2007

Results

String Course results

Name	Time (minutes)
Daniel Stansfield	3
Hamish Weir	5
Clare Stansfield	6
Mary Harper	6
Becca Harper	6
Mhairi Weir	7
Finlay Downie	7
Lindsey Robertson	10
Daisy Harper	10
Lizzie Stansfield	10
David Downie	11
Lily Harper	12
Mairi Eades	12
Ewan Purves	13
Kirsten Robertson	16
Robin Purves	17
Fiona Eades	17
Thomas Ross	19
Matthew Ross	19
Lucy Hensman	33

Organisers' Comments

I suppose there were seven critical success factors for an enjoyable event:

Get the west (new) part of the map surveyed and the old part adequately updated
Get cars to the car park area
Plan courses (and string course) that made the most of the terrain
Lay on good weather
Achieve a good turnout - of competitors and helpers
Build good relations with the 7 landowners / tenants
Clear the Spey 2007 water bottles from my garage (this was for my enjoyment)

Regarding the map - a big thanks to Interlopers for allowing TAY to incorporate their Glenearn and Berryknowe map into the combined map. With the Lochelbank windfarm due to clearfell the forest in the middle of the old map, usage from the S will be severely impacted. The new part of the map, approx 2 sq kms, turned out well, very few features being added, though these did include the small reentrant high on Culteuchar Hill (light green 7!). The G&B map was 10 years old, and with the N part of the map having been little used, changes were necessary - 120+ for the whole map.

Parking became a challenge after the farmer decided in the spring to plant kale in the nice field by the farm which had been rough grazing for the last n years; then the summer rains washed away chunks of the track up to the farm... and I ended up having to take on the organiser role. The farmer was good to his word in that he made up the track to the farm, but did not improve the track beyond there as he decided as a tenant that he couldn't. That was less than two weeks before the event. I am glad you were all good and understanding drivers and heeded the instructions we provided in advance.

The terrain is not technically difficult and one view in TAY was that it should not have been mapped, but it is lovely running. The feedback from the 'After Run' slip indicates that the great majority enjoyed the courses - thanks. For a future event, we will aim to update the forest on West Dron Hill, but it was too much for this event - and too far.

The weather was the greatest disappointment. You could only begin to imagine the great views right down the Tay to Dundee, across Strathearn to the Grampians, west across the Ochils and to Ben Vorlich and south to the Lomonds and beyond. I spent the best part of 7 days in the area and the only significant cloud was on the Sat putting out the controls - next time! I suppose it was just about dry.

Thanks to everyone for coming - 12 up on our SoSOL of 2006, but the BOF Start squad helped - and showed how quickly they could get round green and blue. Also thanks for the response from club members on the day and before.

Before the event I had agreed with landowners that we would use marked crossing points (with stiles if necessary) where required. But there were instances of some runners ignoring crossing points and one competitor has pointed this out. It should have been pretty obvious from comments on the registration sheet and control descriptions where I stated "PLEASE, where fence crossing points are marked, use them" that there were landowner considerations to take into account. All maps had course lines drawn through crossing points apart from the long leg on blue and brown where there was a route choice. To those who did not use the crossing points, all I can say is do you think I drew the course lines through the crossing points for fun and do you think that Davie Frame and I spent a long, tiring day building 8 stiles for the fun of it? Also, is it competitively fair to ignore the crossing points? From (so far) speaking to two of the landowners, I think all is ok as far as relations are concerned.

Finally, last but certainly not least, thanks for drinking all but 11 bottles of Speyside 2007 water!

The course times were about right - an improvement on our 2006 SoSOL! David Eades did a great job as controller - thanks. The feedback from the 'After Run' slip is, I think, interesting, though the % return was low - see what you think about the views expressed. In summary, the verdict was that the terrain was good to very good; the courses very good to good and most without families would walk up from the valley; most with, wouldn't.

Post-race feedback summary (Word format) is available for download.

Next year our SoSOL will be back to the forests!

Dave Prentice

If you have any problems or queries regarding this page or its contents, contact David Sloan - email: dsloan @computing.dundee.ac.uk