Planner's Comments

SIAC contactless punching was a new venture for WAOC - I hope that it was an interesting experience for those trying it for the first time. Whether the failure of control 64 was associated with the extra power demands of SIAC is as yet not known - the battery had been checked before the event. The box was replaced at 13.00 after finishers reported the issue. Those missing this control have been reinstated. Apologies to those affected.

Finish times were on the long side, partly due to those hills and partly due to the convoluted connectivity of parts of Royston adding extra distance. As so often, finding an area suitable for the juniors was the most significant constraint. We did consider putting them on the Heath, but the grazier's electric fences are apt to move, so we settled instead on the estate to the north of the school. A comment from an M12 about his enjoyment of a 'proper urban course' helped justify this decision. Basing the event at the school did mean some less challenging legs through the simpler estates, especially for the shorter vets classes. I wanted to give everybody a chance to enjoy the range of townscapes offered by Royston, and we debated the lengths / climbs in relation to the guidelines. Suggested course lengths do not currently make allowance for climb in urban courses, and after discussion with British Orienteering, I took responsibility for pushing some lengths towards the upper end of the range. This also increased the map size out to a potentially unwieldy SRA3. Comments after the event seemed to be split between navigational challenge and the long run times. The one came with the other on this area, so I hope the tired legs were justified by some more interesting navigation legs. Thankyou to my controller for his understanding of my objective!

Thankyou also to all who supported the planning tasks, and especially to Peter Woods who was helping me set controls in the rain at 07.00 before tackling SI issues later in the day. It would have been a very early start with a headlamp for me otherwise.

Peter Duthie (WAOC)