I may be biased but I reckon that was an excellent event - classic long distance orienteering on highly technical Lakeland fells, giving an opportunity for M21s and W21s to really test themselves on M/W21E type courses, and for everyone else to follow exhausted in their wake doing longer courses than they are used to. Proper orienteering!
Everyone seemed to like Alex’s new twist to the planning by having more than one course in most of the classes. It may not be perfectly fair but it was certainly fair enough to produce worthy winners. Course variations were not allocated to competitors. It was luck of the draw on the start line and then the magic of the SI autodownload system sorted it all out later. Because the TWT is a mass start (and this year not run on identical course) it is not a ranking event, so “nul points”, even for the winners.
I persuaded Alex to cut the course lengths down. Fine weather, dry conditions and the bracken dying back in the last couple of months meant that winning times were faster than I expected, so fast that Hector Haines was downloading as I was driving to the assembly area with the start dibbers just after the last start time. However, from the state of many competitors at the finish I do not think that they would have appreciated anything longer.
Thanks and congratulations to Alex for his fine innovative courses and to Dave for organising such a good event in a week when he and Yvonne had a family bereavement. Bussing competitors is always a worry but it worked like magic, meaning that we had a good solid car park and Alex had the opportunity to exploit the Northern part of the area and plan better courses.
The fine weather made putting out and checking controls on the day before particularly enjoyable, and a much easier task given the help of Dave Hargreaves and Frances Watkins. Many thanks.
I hope to see everyone at the next TWT, when it will be my turn to compete.
Brian Jackson