Tony Extance wishes to express his thanks for assistance he received:
"I wish to record my thanks to those who helped me when I had a massive fall in Sunday's event. Jonathan Compton of TVOC (I think the name is about right) insisted on leading me to the path which took me to the finish and retirement when my cheek was streaming blood, the person, I believe a GO member, who kindly walked with me and guided me from the Finish to the download and first aid tent and last but not least the person who administered First Aid. For the record I have been to A&E and have to make a further visit when the swelling has subsided for the wound to be stiched. I was concerned that I had fractured my Cheekbone but XRay's indicate all is well. Thank you to all who helped me."
Originally, we planned to try and use the area west of the car parking area for a change. However, due to changing land ownership and other restrictions, we decided to return to Britty wood and Puttenham common. The basic map of these areas was very out of date in some respects, so a late decision to remap the area was made. A consequence of this was that the courses were planned on the old map assuming that certain changes would be made when the new map was received. Another great uncertainty was what the state of the bracken would be at the end of October and we had to assume that it would still be standing up. As a result of these factors, some late changes had to be made to the courses, but I don't think that they harmed the courses very much.
Originally, I thought we would have to take four courses across the road to Puttenham common. For the shorter of these courses (red and green), this would give rather a lot of uninteresting running for the considerable lengths of the courses. Ultimately only the brown and blue courses needed to cross the road. Lower Puttenham common, which I wanted to avoid as a result of previous experience there (in bracken) and which I thought might be too difficult for red, turned out to be not as bad as I had anticipated. This was achieved by avoiding some of the well featured areas which were in dense bracken.
Planning on Britty wood was a bit easier, as the map had not changed much and the bracken was not as thick. There were enough paths to get reasonable white and yellow courses (often a problem due to lack of paths). The large number of paths does, however, make it more difficult to plan the more technical courses. Hopefully, the more technical courses were not too easy and you all enjoyed your courses.
On the day we had wonderful weather and a really good turnout. All the courses were well received – no further reward is needed!
Iain Cairns (with Linda Pakuls annotation)
I hope no-one was impeded too much by the bracken. We tried to avoid the worst areas, and on the day I think most parts could be crossed without too much difficulty.
Some competitors appear to be unaware of the meaning of a chain of 'X's on the overprint, as I was a little perturbed to hear of a number of competitors travelling along - as opposed to just crossing - the roads near controls 161, 198, 199. If this was you, be aware that a sequence of 'X's means a forbidden route!
Finally GO's team of willing helpers meant that most things went smoothly on the day, and the few hiccups were sorted quickly. As competitors you owe particular thanks to Jeremy, who organised this event only 15 days after organising the BSOA Schools Score championships!
Alan Wallis (SN)
I'm sorry to say we had an incident between an orienteer and a horse-rider during the event - words were exchanged. Far be it from me to lay any blame at anyone's door, but the fact that the rider felt moved to complain to the GO Chairman and her riding stables (who have also been in touch with us) is unfortunate, and says little for the charm and diplomatic skills of the orienteer involved, who may (and I stress "may" as I was not there and cannot claim to judge, I merely offer comment) have not helped to calm a sudden impact between two disparate users of this public access land. In this increasingly crowded world we sometimes have to work hard at "live and let live".
So, the dream sporting weekend is over, with the British Lions, Lewis Hamilton and 7 of our 8 YBT teams fulfilled, having given of their best, not quite won, but had a great time. So well done - to all 8 of the YBT teams - and just remember that you may be SLOW but you can still come first! In the Final too, we all hope.
Jeremy Wilde
Guildford Orienteers would like to thank the Hampton Estate for use of their land, and also the Surrey Wildlife Trust, as well as the Elstead Riding Club for the car park and assembly area.