42 participants (including 1 shadower) ran in the Club Handicap Champs on 20 January in an appropriately-named White Coppice.
The road was sheet ice on arrival, but less bad by the end. In the woods the ground was fairly firm, but not icy, and with some soggier patches. Those who visitied the controls on the open moor or used the path along the top edge of the woods will have found some more ice, but dobs still gave good grip. The event format used was new to most - a "Ratchet Score" with 21 controls in total, 7 worth 10 points, 7 worth 15 points and 7 worth 20 points. Once a higher-point control has been punched no subsequent lower-value controls count in your overall score. My thanks to PFO who invented the format and kindly provided us with the special SITiming code which made working out the results much easier on the day. There was a standard Score option available for Novices/Beginners where controls could be punched in any order. No-one managed to clear all the controls, though Fraser Dixon came close, only missing out one 15-pointer which the evil planner had placed at the foot of the hill and some distance from the other 15-pointers. Even after applying handicaps Fraser was still the clear winner. The handicaps, for 18+ members, were based on BOF rankings such that in theory if everyone had an equally good run (and subject to control distribution) all would end up with aboiut the same adjusted points. For the younger participants and those without ranking points it was based on age-based champion running speeds, appropriately factored to be in line with the BOF-based handicaps. I was pleased to see that with the exception of the top few and bottom few the gaps between people were fairly small, which I hope means I got it about right. Everyone seemed to enjoy the event and all the comments I received were complimentary. I must apologise for one failure on my part which I not infrequently moan about other planners not doing - I managed to send the map file for printing before I cut the circles and failed to notice on the proofs. I hope it did not inconvenience your run too much. My thanks to PFO for the format, to Chris Roberts for getting to grips with the SiTiming enhancement, to those who went out a second time to collect controls and to the Cottage Tea Room in Brinscall who very kindly allowed us to use their toilet.
The event was follwed by an indoor social / bring and share picnic and annual prizegiving at Hoghton Village Hall. My thanks to Jo Matthew for coordinating the prizes, Alex Finch for the map quiz, Yvonne Hargreaves for opening up the hall and all those who helped to clear up at the end.
John Embrey
