Organiser’s Report
I do hope that all competitors enjoyed the IOC Sprint, even those who were caught out a little! The various trips that Richard and I have made to England to get under the skin of the sprint format and ISSOM have proved worthwhile.
You will have noticed some of our developing knowledge applied to the course, especially around the piazza at the main door of the central building (it’s a regret that I didn’t get to see any of those confused runners) and also in the organisation. The indoor start was not just to keep the officials from FermO, (who very capably ran the start) nice and cosy, but to restrict the first view of the start flag until moments before the map is picked up in the midst of unfamiliar terrain with a high adrenalin level. The return route to the download was rather convoluted (and we could have even thought of having a TempO control in the inner courtyards perhaps), but that was to get you back to the download without conflicting with outgoing runners and to again have competitors reappear into the indoor arena.
One of the aims of the event was to pack the start lists tightly at the specified 1 minute interval not only to help to achieve fairness, but to also give us some practise at processing a high volume of runners at both start and finish in the run up to next year’s JK. However we also sought to demonstrate that combined with seeding, it is possible to stage a sprint event in around 2 hours from first starter to end of prize giving. We did manage to start the prize giving on time and whilst the snack bar was selected to be a comfortable environment, we didn’t realise until the evening that the music was centrally controlled and could not be muted.
Thanks to FermO for running the start, to all in LVO who helped out on the evening and in the run up, particularly to Ivan Millar and the Bengy Hill Sawmill Co for manufacturing the trestles and to Charlie Reid of NWOC for running the website. Indeed cooperating with NWOC, who also permitted the use and upgrade of the map to ISSOM, was a key feature of the weekend and cooperation between clubs should surely be considered for future IOC weekends with different clubs taking on different events. Hopefully a Friday evening sprint can become a standing feature of the IOC weekend.
This was the second outing of the JK Sprint team and it has been great fun to work with Igor and Richard. We each bring something to the team in our approach and look forward to putting on the best show we can at Stranmillis and Elms Village next year. We hope you will enjoy it.
Stephen Gilmore, LVO
Individual
North West Most Sand Dune – Planner’s Report IOC 2010
Magilligan is a fascinating place. It’s historical portfolio includes the measurement of the first OS baseline in Ireland in1827, the Martello Tower built in 1812, World War II pill boxes and anti-aircraft gun positions and numerous sites giving evidence of early Christian occupation. You will have seen that today Magilligan is also a busy place: It is home to about 450 boarders at Magilligan Prison; The dunes serve as an excellent training ground for the army; It boasts it’s own Ferry port. It amazes me that in the middle of all this Magilligan is of high international standing as a result of it’s unique and extensive dune slack biodiversity.
I believe that Magilligan is now also a super place to orienteer. When I say now, I mean since cattle were introduced to the area a number of years ago, and since mechanical removal of the thorn bushes has been employed for conservation purposes. When you combine this with the sea, the wildflowers and sky larks, the exercise of Planning was certainly very enjoyable. Thanks to Violet who held the fort whilst I was out having fun.
Despite the intricacy of the area the ground has become suprisingly fast. To give a comparison, Andrew Quinn who came 2nd at IOC 2010 with a running speed of 5.4mins./Km was running at 7.0mins./Km in BOC 2010. Niamh O’Boyle who sprinted around the W21E IOC course at 6.4mins./Km was running at 9.4mins./Km in 2002. Bearing in mind that there are other factors such as current form involved, I think that the above comparisons illustrate the point well.
In broad terms the courses generally were about 80% of the length that they really should have been. As Planner I just hope that there was enough quality to go some way towards compensating for the lack of quantity.
In terms of the event structure, as a small club we needed to keep organisation compact and ensure that in the event of a problem we could react quickly. This is why the start and finish were very close together and easily accessible by vehicle. The linear topography and numerous environmentally sensitive out of bounds areas were very restrictive and made it hard to find route choice legs. This also added significantly to the number of controls required to steer the courses around the out of bounds areas. There were 74 controls in all.
At the outset I set a limit on the number of controls on a course of 28 based upon the maximum number of split times that can be retained by an original SI dipper. It is also a practical number in terms of having code descriptions which fit a code description holder and not needing to consider a second map point. With this constraint I found that with the M21E course I could not sensibly lengthen the course without seriously compromising quality. In retrospect I think that it would have been better to offer a system for hiring new generation SI dippers and allow the number of controls and course length to increase.
Setting aside the issue of course lengths the event ran very well. Dipping of controls on the morning of the event helped to ensure that there were no surprises. There were very few retirals or disqualifications particularly on junior courses which to me is a good sign. I genuinely hope that all who attended thoroughly enjoyed their orienteering.
I would like to thank Wilbert Hollinger the Controller who’s experience and advice was very much appreciated, and for assisting with control setting. Ruth as Organiser and Anthony as overall Coordinator put in many many hours of work which I think was evident on the day. We would have been sadly lacking if it weren’t for Charles and Rachel who coordinated all matters electronic with apparent ease and expertise. Finally it was great to see club members from NWOC, FERMO and LVO all working well together at the Start and Finish helping to make the day.
Steven Linton (NWOC)
Relays
