A quick thank you to you all for turning up and making all the effort worthwhile. I have been organising these score events for about three years and the format, though a little different from the norm seems to go down well.
I think the score format anyway has a lot to offer the novice and the expert alike. For the novice it offers challenges which they can accept without the fear of disqualification, they are richly rewarded for making a successful try at a technical control or they can test out their basic navigational skills around the track network. For the more experienced orienteer there is a need to be realistic about their abilities, both technical and physical, and plan accordingly. Ben Chesters made a mockery of my assertion that no one can do them all in the time but I take comfort from the fact that he is one of the best Orienteers probably in the country and certainly in the South West, congratulations Ben
. Everyone I spoke to on the day seemed to have enjoyed it and I'm glad because I wanted it to be a fun day where you could learn and compete in a friendly atmosphere. Luckily we had a lot of cheerful helpers on the day, in particular Bill Vigar who helped me put out the controls and who, once again, produced the map and the results service and my wife Lennox who helped me both behind the scenes and out front at Registration; there were others of course and I thank them too.
It was great to see you all and in particular to welcome one or two people for whom it was their first or second event. I hope you all keep coming back and trying to better the last performance, and don't worry, even our British Champion can be heard to say occasionally "If only I'd engaged brain before legs!"
See you on the 9th July at Windown. Same format as Buckland.
Ted Heath
Lost Property: 1 very nice compass!