Dunstaffnage, 14th May 09
Results, RouteGadget and WinSplits Online.
We managed it again - we bucked the weather forecast earlier in the week and produced a balmy spring evening for the event. That, plus the absence of midges and bracken only just beginning to check out conditions above ground, made for ideal orienteering.
Some of you might have been less keen to turn out if the weather had been as unpleasant as that experienced by Leigh and me as we tramped along streams marked as paths and across ponds marked as marshes on our exploratory visits. Once again, we were delighted by the turnout (over fifty competitors) and the courses seem to have been appreciated by all.
As a novice planner, I was interested to see the different routes chosen on RouteGadget. For example, about half of you chose to go direct from 3 to 4 (Blue, Green), although Andy avoided the green stuff. I was also surprised how many of you opted to go straight across the marsh from 6 to 7 and Jason didn’t appear to lose much by going to the north and using the path on the leg from 9 to 10 on the Blue. Playing around with WinSplits, I combined the first nine legs of the Blue and Green courses and found that Briony was in fourth place at control 9 where the Blue and Green diverged (having just taken a second out of Andy on that leg).
A few people had difficulty with the 6, 7, 8, 9 loop on the Orange course. Perhaps the intended line features weren’t as obvious as we’d hoped at this level.
Finally, we introduced a new type of control – a mobile kite (actually dropped by me as we put out the controls). Paul and I are working on a map which constantly updates the position of this control (J K Rowling got this idea from us). Lynne spoiled the experiment by picking up the kite along with a faded one from an earlier version of the experiment.
Thanks to all who helped : Ross for his suggestions to our planned courses; Dunstaffnage Estates and Billy Ronald for permission to use the area; Ross, Dave and June Bleazard for help in collecting controls; and, of course, all the competitors.
Posted on 15th May 09
by Alan Partridge - Mapping Co-ordinator
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