Northern Navigators
Bewick Moor South - 1st June 2003
Comments

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Organisers comments - Gary Russell
This was my first attempt at organising a badge event and must pass thanks to Rob McKenna for his guidance throughout proceedings.
Many thanks for all turning up and making this event a success in a small way.  The weather was favourable on the day,
if not a bit too warm for some - it had been hotter the day before when we were control setting.
Thanks to all the club helpers and in particular those that volunteered to help collect controls in after the event.  Special thanks to
Boris Spence for providing most of the specialised equipment - tent, generator, walkie-talkies, etc. and for helping to site the stile.
Thanks also to Colin Matheson (NATO) for the loan of his computer and to Andrew Nicoll (NATO) for help with the SI equipment.
The parking seemed a bit rough and ready, but this was to try to keep assembly, parking and other amenities as compact as possible.
There were a few complaints about the long walk back to the assembly area from the finish - restrictions imposed on the planner to ensure
'technically correct' courses for the juniors had meant that the start and finish were positioned down the hill as close as possible to
suitable line features.
Anyway, if it had been at the top by assembly, then this would have meant a run back up the hill instead of a leisurely walk.

Planners comments - Rob McKenna
This was my first attempt at planning a badge event and my first experience of planning with electronic punching.
Someone passed a comment that the courses were 'standard' and not like those planned using this technology.
Bewick is a beautiful area to run round, but does have its restrictions.  The lack of suitable line features makes it very difficult to
plan the technically easy courses and worries about the stream crossing prompted the warning in the final details.
On the day these fears were unfounded and, given past events, I think that you have experienced Bewick at almost its best.
Planning with the SI equipment also had a few slight problems.  The NEOA region has 62 boxes, but only 52 are usable control boxes -
the others being needed for spares, start, finish, clear and check.  I had originally planned to use 62 and we had to hire in the extra boxes
from Martin Stone.
Siting and collecting in the controls is no longer a one man job - they are a lot heavier and more cumbersome than the traditional control site. 
The longest courses were planned to reach Blaewearie - the jewel in the crown at Bewick Moor.  I did try to get as many courses as possible
this far north, but unfortunately a few of the courses ended only half way up the valley.  On reflection these could have been planned to be a
bit more interesting.
Standing at the finish and watching competitors coming in, I saw a lot of exhausted bodies - I hope this was due to the close conditions
on the day.  Dehydration seemed to play a big factor in affecting performances.
On the whole, times were about as I had expected, although the low turn out might have kept some of the top runners away.
I did have a few complaints about the gully on course 4 - comments suggested that the area around the gully may have not been mapped correctly.
Unfortunately when setting the control I did not approach it the way that competitors did and did not foresee this problem.
One other complaint received was the blandness and visibility of the some of the final controls on the longer courses.
This was a bit unavoidable as these controls were used on some of the shorter courses on their way out.
We had one box that failed (115) and one with a dodgy beeper (137) I'm sorry if this inconvenienced anybody.

Acknowledgements
Landowner
Mr John Wrangham and family of Harehope Farms
Phil Harkness - farm manager.
Martin Robison - shepherd.

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