Planning the Creag Mhic event
Sunday March 15th, 2009
When I offered along with Leigh to organise and plan an event for the club, I had in mind a small midweek event with perhaps twenty to thirty competitors on one of the “easier” maps, so Creag Mhic with a turnout of about seventy was extremely rewarding for us both.
I started planning the blue course over Christmas, with the only pieces of advice I could remember from my earlier days in the sport – decide on the long legs first and avoid doglegs. Having drafted the blue and green, Leigh and I walked round the open part of the courses in early January. A couple of changes had to be made because of vegetation growth not reflected on the map. We added the orange and yellow and passed the courses to Ross who made several suggestions, but generally seemed happy with our plans.
We then made a second visit, this time to the wooded area. Problems began to surface at this stage – there was an unmarked gate and a new track and wholesale changes to the fences in the field below the start were being made. All these affected the yellow course. Paul came to the rescue by updating the map and the new fences allowed us to do away with the planned taping of part of the yellow course. Two weeks before the event seventeen of the furthest control sites were marked with canes.
More snags arose a week before the event when my phone and internet connections were knocked out by a lightning strike, making communication slightly difficult. However, I managed to get the courses to Andy D who printed off the maps. Controls were placed at the marked sites on the Saturday and it was on the way back that we realised there was a serious problem on the yellow course – a bog which seemed perfectly crossable on a frosty day in February after a dry spell most certainly wasn’t after a wet period. Panic! Should we tape a detour on what was the longest leg of the course? In the end I phoned Andy (my phone was back in action, but not my internet) at eight o’clock on Saturday evening and described a couple of changes to the course involving an extra control (number 8 for those who did the yellow). Andy made the changes and printed off a new set of maps and brought them along on Sunday. Panic over.
By comparison, Sunday was crisis free. We put out the remainder of the controls and were ready for action at ten o’clock when the first competitors arrived. The weather was much better than we expected, the attendance was excellent and everyone seemed happy with the courses. The only drawback was that we were so busy that Leigh didn’t have enough time to dispense her excellent (free) soup. Congratulations to all competitors, especially winners Ewan, Joanne and John, Briony and Andy.
I can thoroughly recommend the experience to anyone thinking of trying their hand at planning. There is plenty of expertise in the club, so help and guidance is always available.
Our thanks to Ross and Paul for all their help and advice; to Andy for map printing and the Saturday night rescue; to Andy, June and Dave for control collection; and to estate manager Sarah Illingworth and Michael, the stockman, for permission to use the area and putting up with us invading their premises.
Posted on 24th Mar 09
by Alan Partridge - Mapping Co-ordinator
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