Karl put in a lot of work on the 2 events so good to see you all, thank you for coming. Greno is a tough area, particularly at night, although there are many paths so playing careful can pay dividends. Heard comments ranging from 'Great, that's the best night event for a while, a real challenge' to 'Terrible, controls were hidden, etc'. Certainly, you had to read the description sheet for the control location but controls were generally hung high. Sorry about the vandalised control (56) which mountain bikers objected to; the legs either side of this control have been eliminated in the results. I stepped in as controller at the last minute and the work involved was a bit more than I expected so there were a couple of small hiccups but hope that did not spoil the event for you.

 

Planner's Comments:

First of all I hope you enjoyed your run, whether it was at Night or Day (or both for those with a masochistic streak). Planning this event was a real challenge for a number of reasons, but chief amongst them is the devastation of large areas of forest which have been felled and left to the ravages of brambles and bracken following the wet summer. I'm afraid Greno Woods has lost some of it's appeal as an O venue, certainly at this time of year, which is why I incorporated Wheata Woods for the longer courses. For the other courses it was a case of finding nice patches of forest and linking them together without an excess of path running.

After the Night Event I had mixed feedback, which ranged from high praise to criticism that some of the controls were 'hidden'. That was certainly not the intention and it's something I'll certainly bear in mind when hanging controls at any future Night Event. That said, winning times were largely as expected and the real shame for me was the behaviour of the mountain bikers who seemed to think they have exclusive permission to use an area which was needed for one control.

The Day Event was, I hope, satisfactory for most people. Comments I received in the download tent were positive and I think everyone felt they'd been set a challenging course which provided 'value for money' as well as a genuine test of their navigational and physical limits. I know that after spending many hours prior to the event and then around 20 hours on the area over the 2 days, Greno is tough. Congratulations to all the course winners and indeed to everyone for running on what was a bitterly cold but thankfully dry day.

Finally some thanks - to David (and Juliet) Morgan and Ian Cooper for their expert Controlling. Between us we made over 60 amendments to the map as well as trying to create courses which were fair and at the right technical standard. Thanks also to Oli Johnson for preparing the final competition map and Peter Gorvett for ferrying equipment round in the week leading up the event when I was ill. Final thanks to the sterling efforts of Bill Hanley and Colin Lynch for helping me collect all 84 controls on Sunday afternoon, managing to get it all in with around 5mins of usable light remaining.